settings provide ideal lupine habitat there: • the ancient sand dunes east of the Chesapeake Bay (11), • Patuxent River microdeserts (3), • terrace gravel deposits of the Fall Line. Unfortunately we found that all the lupine populations that once existed in the terrace gravel deposits have died out, the last lupine was seen in that habitat in 2009, where it succumbed to hydrologic changes related to recent construction. On the more positive side, we were also able to locate two large, previously unreported populations on the Coastal Plain.
We found that wild lupines have nearly disappeared west of the Fall Line, where only four populations still exist. Two of the western populations are being shaded out by forest succession and have dwindled nearly to nothing (n=1, n=4). The third was being sprayed annually, and the fourth was being mowed every spring, and occasionally hit by herbicidal drift from treatment of nearby woody plants. In three cases the property owners were completely unaware of the presence of lupines. The western populations will only survive if we succeed in working with property owners to alter property management plans.
In 2009 we began monitoring lupine populations for aerial extent, flowering density and seed set. In 2010 we began recruiting and training volunteer site sponsors. Volunteer