[ back ]
Pedaling past petals
(by Jeff Pfeil, staff writer/photographer - July 22, 2010)
|
 West Jefferson resident and prairie plant expert Jack McDowell leads a nature tour along the Prairie Grass Trail in London.
|
Since the late 1960s, West Jefferson resident Jack McDowell has had a major crush on the prairie grasses and wildflowers of Madison County. In recent years, he has shared that love with county residents, leading an annual nature tour for bicyclists along London’s Prairie Grass Trail.
This year’s tour took place on the warm morning of July 17. Fourteen riders met McDowell at the trailhead, located behind the Madison County Senior Center on West High Street in London. There, they learned what makes McDowell the perfect guide for such a tour.
“In the early ’70s at Battelle Darby Metro Park where I was the manager, I began looking for seeds of plants native to the Darby Plains,” said McDowell. “I talked the Metro Parks into letting me plant some plots to build up a seed bank. I started with a 12-acre plot at Battelle Darby. Now, we have over 1,000 acres, mostly at the Battelle Darby, Prairie Oaks and Glacier Ridge Metro Parks.”
When he started the project, McDowell also was a football coach and chemistry, physics, environmental science and biology teacher at West Jefferson High School. He gave up the football job once the seed project got rolling.
“I’d spent 25 years playing and coaching football, so I decided it was time to branch out into a new interest,” he said, joking that one of his reasons for resigning was the thought of telling his tough offensive and defensive linemen that he was interested in flowers.
|
 Thimble Flower: This flower’s seed looks like a sewing thimble and can be made into cottony material for use in clothing.
|
 Spotted Phlox: The phlox has five fused petals, five septals, an ovary with three fused carpels and a nectar disk at the base. It reaches a height of two to four feet.
|
|
 Royal Catchfly: This flower attracts ruby-throated hummingbirds and blooms in July and August. Red is an uncommon color for prairie plants. An endangered salmon-colored catchfly also grows along the trail.
|
 Wild Sweet Potato: Madison County settler Jonathan Alder wrote of Native Americans digging up a 12-pound potato from this wild plant. The root is starchy, but not tasty.
|
|
 Butterfly Milkweed: This plant is unlike other milkweeds in that it has a clear sap. The nectar attracts long-tongued bees, sphecid wasps, various butterflies and hummingbirds.
|
 Common Milkweed: Monarch butterfly larvae eat the leaves of this plant, thereby picking up the leaves’ odor and stickiness, which protects them from hungry birds.
|
|
 Nodding Onion: This plant bends over and then blooms.
|
 Purple Coneflower: This plant grows up to 3.5 feet tall.
|
| |
|
McDowell’s involvement in studying and preserving Darby Plains plant species continues today. He is a part-time land management coordinator for Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks and is West Jefferson’s Parks and Recreation director. As a member of the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails, he has helped volunteers to clear invasive bush honeysuckle from the Madison County bike path to allow flowers and grasses to thrive.
So, he knows what he’s talking about when he points out a wild bush cranberry at the Prairie Grass trailhead and says Euell Gibbons, a well-known outdoorsman in the 1960s, ate the bush’s very sour and not-so-tasty berries on his Grape-Nuts cereal. Or when he says Native Americans wove cord grass into baskets. Or that monarch butterfly larvae become stinky and sticky after eating the leaves of common milkweed, a habit that protects them from hungry birds.
McDowell shared all sorts of factoids with this year’s nature tourists, stopping several times along the six-mile stretch of trail between the senior center in London and the Madison/Clark county line to point out various flowers and grasses.
After the two-hour trip, the cyclists parted ways, some heading further down the Prairie Grass Trail toward South Charleston and some turning back to London. No matter which way they turned, they took with them a greater appreciation of their natural surroundings.
Other Upcoming Bicycle Events
• Evening Ride—Aug. 10, 7 p.m., Prairie Grass Trailhead, behind the Madison County Senior Center, 280 W. High St., London. Go to www.fmcpt.com for details.
• Family Fun Bicycle Fest—Aug. 21, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., behind London Baptist Church, 1440 State Route 665. Games, bike rodeo, door prizes, food, bike rides, raffle and bike inspection, maintenance and repair demos. Free helmet to children who pass the safety class. Registration is $25 per family (up to five members), $10 per adult (age 16 and up), $5 per child (ages 2-15), and free for children under 2. Go to www.fmcpt.com for info and a registration form.
• Full Moon Bike Rides—Aug. 27, Sept. 23 and Oct. 23 at the Prairie Grass Trailhead behind the Madison County Senior Center, 280 W. High St., London. The 20-mile round trip to South Charleston departs at 8 p.m. The 10-mile round trip to Neil Road departs at 8:15. Helmets, lights and light-colored clothing are recommended. Registration is not required. For more info, go to www.fmcpt.com.
• Ox Roast Bicycle Tour—Sept. 5 in West Jefferson. 30-, 62-, and 100-mile routes. Depart between 7:30 and 9 a.m. Pre-register for $15 or pay $20 on tour day. Go to www.westjeffoxroast.com or contact Tom and Debbie Omen at tomen@columbus.rr.com.
|
 Bicyclists stop to check out wild flowers and grasses along the Prairie Grass Trail in London.
|
[ back ]
