The Athens County Independent, whose mission is to empower community engagement through accessible public service journalism, ran a well-researched article recently about our work to reestablish the rare running buffalo clover. The article – skillfully written by Dani Kington – focuses on how we work to protect and nurture the plant in Baker Preserve. Quoted in the piece are Phil Cantino, longtime board member, and Bill Rucker, land steward:
‘Athens Conservancy carves a path for plant that once relied on buffalo’
ATHENS, Ohio — The Athens Conservancy and Ohio Department of Natural Resources are working together to protect a plant once deemed extinct, which grows in large numbers at the conservancy’s Baker Preserve.
Athens Conservancy co-founder Phil Cantino first found the running buffalo clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) at Baker Preserve in 2015.
“Finding a federally endangered [plant] at an Athens Conservancy preserve – it was just great,” Cantino said.
Running buffalo clover was removed from the federal endangered species list in 2021, after decades of conservation efforts.
READ the full article HERE.
(Top photo: Co-Founder Phil Cantino marks the locations of running buffalo clover for an annual census at Baker Preserve. Photo by Dani Kington.)
