By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
A plant native to Kentucky and other parts of the eastern U.S. that was once thought to be extinct, has now recovered enough to be removed from the endangered species list.
According to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, running buffalo clover was believed to be extinct before 1983, when one population was found in West Virginia. It was listed as endangered in 1987.
Running buffalo clover. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Marci Lininger)
Since then, additional populations have been identified, including 21 populations reported after the agency’s 2019 proposal to delist the plant. Running buffalo clover is now known to occur in 175 populations in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Of the known populations, 88 are on public lands or privately owned lands with conservation agreements.
Running buffalo clover is found in Dinsmore Woods adjacent Dinsmore Homestead in Boone County. The Nature Conservancy’s Dinsmore Woods is a State Nature Preserve and adjacent to the forest is a population of running buffalo clover, found in semi-shaded ares of open woodland and along trails. The site is managed jointly by the Nature Conservancy and the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, which have protected the buffalo clover.
Threats to the running buffalo clover at the time of listing included habitat destruction and competition from invasive plants, such as bluegrass and white clover. Managers of state, federal, and locally owned lands are now providing the habitat needed by running buffalo clover to reducing these threats.
Actions that led to delisting the running buffalo clover included addressing illegal use of off-road vehicles and invasive species management on national forest lands. As tree canopy thinned due to the loss of trees to the emerald ash borer, new plantings replaced them, enhancing habitat for running buffalo clover. Partners and volunteers have spent years monitoring the species, and amateur botanists have discovered many new populations.
“The recovery of the running buffalo clover is a great example of the success of conservation partnerships,” said Charles Wooley, regional director of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Great Lakes Region.
“We applaud the efforts of our state, federal and private conservation partners who came together to ensure its long-term future and who persevered in searching for and discovering new populations.”
Running buffalo clover is named for the stolons, or runners, that extend from the base of its stems. The plant requires periodic disturbance and a somewhat open habitat. Historically, it was often found in areas that were probably maintained by grazing herds of bison.
Today it is associated with areas where mowing, cattle grazing, trampling, logging or other moderate ground disturbance occurs.
