Alabama Power right of way becomes path for protecting, nurturing endangered pitcher plant
The Alabama canebrake pitcher plant, found only in Chilton and Autauga counties, grows along an Alabama Power right of way. Recent efforts to improve its chances of thriving in the area seem to be succeeding so far. A biologist with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources counted 113 blooms this spring, compared with 80 one year ago. (Michael Sznajderman / Alabama NewsCenter)
Logan McCord strolls down a slope along an Alabama Power right of way that crosses state-owned property north of Prattville. Although it’s only mid-May, the heat and humidity portends the coming of summer.
McCord, a biologist with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR), stops and crouches down at a slightly soggy section of the slope and carefully parts some strands of native cane. Hiding in the greenery is a slender, almost-prehistoric-looking plant just a few inches tall. It is pale green – tubelike with reddish-orange veins. It sports a curved cap, which creates an inviting, smiling “mouth” so it can draw in bugs – a food source for this carnivorous plant.
The endangered, carnivorous Alabama canebrake pitcher plant. (Michael Sznajderman / Alabama NewsCenter)
Hovering over this structure is the plant’s flower, which blooms for only a few weeks. It almost resembles a tiny space station, with upward-curving propeller-like petals of the same orange-maroon hue. The flower is suspended by a stem and hovers over the plant’s tubular sprout.
This is the Alabama canebrake pitcher plant, which grows in Autauga and Chilton counties and nowhere else. Last year, a rare batch of the plants, on the federal endangered species list, was discovered on this Alabama Power transmission line right of way. And, through the cooperative efforts of Alabama Power and ADCNR, a strategy is now in place to not only protect these unusual plants, but hopefully expand their numbers.
So far, the strategy is working.
Last October, ADCNR, in coordination with Alabama Power’s Environmental Affairs and Power Delivery organizations, conducted a prescribed burn along this section of right of way. The goal: to make this strip of land even more hospitable to pitcher plants. The prescribed burns help remove woody brush and other flora that can crowd out pitcher plants.
Seven months later, the team gathered on this steamy pre-summer day to see the results. And what they hoped for had indeed taken place: This spring, there are more pitcher plants than existed in spring 2021.
“Last year we found seven clumps” totaling about 80 blooms, said McCord, who oversees this state-owned property.
This year, he counted 113 blooms.
“This is definitely a success story,” said McCord, who is now eyeing another section of the right of way to repeat the technique.
“We’re in the business of creating suitable habitat,” McCord said, noting that the state is also in the process, just up the hill, of planting native longleaf pines in the hope of re-establishing a section of longleaf forest – an incredibly diverse habitat that once dominated the Southeast but has fallen victim to two centuries of fire-suppression, timbering and human development. Like the pitcher plant, the longleaf ecosystem relies on periodic fires to thrive.
The Alabama canebrake pitcher plant, however, is a tad more finicky than the longleaf. In addition to needing open land and relishing periodic fire to keep it open, the pitcher plant prefers wet, sandy clay soils, often found in what’s known as seepage bogs or hillside seeps – the kind of environment that just happens to exist along this rolling section of Alabama Power right of way.
McCord identified some “indicator” species on the right of way – plants that pointed to the habitat being right for the Alabama canebrake pitcher plant. They include the already-noted native cane, plus sphagnum moss – both of which also favor wet soils kissed by the sun.
“We knew we had the possibility of pitcher plants being out here because of the indicator species,” McCord said.
McCord also showed off some other native plants on the right of way that have him and Alabama Power biologists excited. Just a few steps from a clump of pitcher plants, McCord showed off a tiny rose pogonia, a fragile, lavender flower that is sometimes called a snake mouth orchid – rarely found in Alabama. Just a few paces from the pitcher plants was a Harper’s heartleaf, a type of wild ginger that is being considered for federal listing. The Harper’s heartleaf was in bloom, but to see its flower, McCord had to pull back the plant’s lush, heart-shaped leaves. Underneath, a tiny blossom with three fuzzy purple petals and a dollop of green in the center – surrounded by a spiny starburst of white veins that fade into the purple petals’ fuzz.
Alabama Power biologists Chad Fitch and Dylan Shaw joined McCord for the right of way visit, along with LaDon Glover, an arborist with the company’s Power Delivery organization. All three have had a hand in crafting and executing the management plan for the pitcher plant with McCord. In addition to the periodic application of fire, the plan calls for careful hand-clearing of woody plants on the right of way and limiting the use of certain herbicides.
“We’re happy to collaborate with ADCNR to continue to protect Alabama’s biodiversity,” said Fitch, who is working with McCord and Glover to identify another section of the right of way for similar treatment, in hopes of nurturing and further expanding the population of Alabama canebrake pitcher plants on the property.
And perhaps next spring, after another prescribed burn, there will be even more pitcher plants blooming.
