On a very warm, late September weekend, OMLA members joined with the Lichen Likers from Ohio State University at YMCA Camp Tippecanoe in Harrison County to explore the very interesting natural features of the camp, which is on the north shore of Clendening Lake. The camp has a variety of habitats, including ravines, ridges, rock caves, slump blocks, mesic woods, lake shoreline, intermittent streams and wetlands.

The Lichen Likers is an interdisciplinary group of OSU students, faculty, and staff who employ art as a research practice and intervention to engage with the intelligence of the more-than-human world, seeking insights into resolutions for the critical social, cultural, and environmental injustices that plague our anthropocentric society.

We stayed in cabins at the camp and were wonderfully fed by the camp kitchen staff.  Sunday breakfast included huge, homemade cinnamon rolls. We had our usual microscope room on Saturday evening in the meeting room one floor below the dining area. One significant early result from our foray is a specimen of Tetrodontium brownianum, a very small, hard-to-find moss that inhabits the roofs of caves. It is a new record for Harrison County.

Perfect habitat for Tetrodontium!

We are working to identify our collections and will post the results here and in our newsletter, Obelisk.