once at the each end of orchid’s peak flowering period. We We surveyed each site twice, once at the beginning and species to census. ied by Wiegand. Each site had its own unique listfocal of species (listed below) at seven sites that were originally stud started in2010.We surveyed for populations seven of orchid following the reductions indeer density at CATO that and around Catoctin Mountain Park had begunto rebound The NCRNteam orchid hopedto learnif populations in Orchid Census was largely to blame for the observed orchid declines. Wiegand suggests that the over-abundant deer population At the same time, the regional deer population was booming. 21orchidof species populations experienced steep declines. showed that during hisobservation period (1968-2008)19 Catoctin Mountains by Richard Wiegand. Wiegand’s study a41-yearon of part demographic study orchids of inthe Cunningham Falls State Park. The census was afollow-up orchids at sites inCatoctin Mountain Park (CATO) and & Monitoring team (NCRNI&M)did native acensus of In 2016,the National Capital Region Network Inventory indication declining of forest health. when aforest ishealthy, and their disappearance isanearly Orchids are good indicators forest of health. They thrive gand 2014). theseand 51of are known inMaryland (Knapp and Wie- ishome to more than 200orchid species, families, with approximately 20,000species across the globe. The orchid family isone the of largest flowering Importance orbiculata (large round-leaved orchid) Platanthera grandiflora (greater purple fringed orchid) Platanthera clavellata(small green wood orchid) Liparis liliifolia (lily-leaved twayblade) [state rare] pubescens (downy rattlesnake plantain) (showy orchid) Cypripe Orchid Species Catoctin MountainPark Orchids [state threatened] dium acaule (pinklady’s slipper) - in CATO andCunninghamFalls. orchid speciesacross timeat7sites Below. Figure 1. co remains inthe park because of threatened species that likely P. grandiflora isaMaryland- 33 in2016. from 19individuals in2008to P. of count grandiflora grew to 129in2016.Similarly, the from 12individuals in2008 than in2008(Figure 1).G. pubescens for example surged anthera grandiflora were. Both more abundant in2016 These included the species Goodyera pubescens and total 162individual of were recorded at the sites. Two focal orchid species were found at the seven sites. A Results signs deer browse. of location/habitat each of orchid. In addition, we noted any http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/ncrn Phone: 202-339-8314; Email:[email protected] Megan Nortrup More Information frequently during2016sampling. ( Right. ) was found Goodyera pubescens)wasfound unted the orchids number of at each site and recorded the Downy rattlesnake plantain Downy rattlesnakeplantain Population size of Populationsizeof U.S. DepartmentoftheInterior National ParkService Resource Brief August 2016 Plat-

Photo: NPS/Gliss Please cite as:Cunningham, D., Gliss,J., Matthews, E.,and Nortrup M. 2016.NCRNResource Brief: Orchids, Catoctin Mountain Park certain speciescertain may never rebound. some species are nolonger viable and that the population of able for 1to 5years. It ispossible the last batch seedsfrom of Recent research suggests that orchid seedsare typically vi- Longevity seedsmay of also beafactor inorchid declines. (Cameron 2006). could suffer reproductive failures and seedbank depletion and enables seedgermination. Without these fungi, orchids orchids have with fungi provides nutrients at key life stages are dependent may beabsent. The symbiotic relationship species were notfound. The fungi upon which the orchids There are many possible factors affecting why some orchid Discussion CATO area. tored sites and isanew addition to the orchids found inthe ( orchid extirpated from Catoctin Mountain Park. Yellow fringed orbiculata). Prior to 2015,P. orbiculata was thought to be clavellata) and the large round-leaved orchid (Platanthera tored sites including small green wood orchid (Platanthera The team also encountered orchids outside the of 7moni - found in2016at sites they occupied in2008. clavellata, pedium acaule, data. one site for which that species has historical theof monitored sites in2016,but notat the Galearis spectabilis was also found at many pubescens) showed signs browse. of recorded, only 4individuals them (all of G. the orchids found. all 162individuals Of Very little deer browse was detected on to our surveys. prevent browse on the species inyears prior protection (fencing) around the orchids to the efforts CATO of whostaff placed deer Rawinski, T.J., 2016.White-tailed in Northeastern Deer Forests: Understanding and Assesssing Impacts. USDA. pp. 1-27 Knapp, W. and Wiegand, R. 2014.Orchid () decline inthe Catoctin Mountains, Frederick County, Maryland asdocumented Cameron, D.D., Leake, J.R., Read, D.J. 2006.Mutualistic mycorrhiza inorchids: evidence from plant fungus carbon and nitrogen transfers References Catoctin MountainPark by along-term dataset. Biodiversity Conservation. Volume 23,Issue 8,pp. 1965-1976. in the green-leaved terrestrial orchid Goodyera repens. New Phytologist. Volume 171,Issue 2,pp. 405-416 Galearis spectabilis along with Cypri- Platanthera ciliaris) was also found outside moni of -

and Platanthera orbiculata were not Liparisliliifolia,

Platanthera from deer. ( Greater purplefringedorchid ) protected Platanthera grandiflora)protected their beauty to the Catoctin Mountains. gives orchid populations achance to recover and return health should improve. This and deer management, forest continued habitat protection to stable levels. But with ing population to recover It cantake years for adeclin- stood (Rawinski, 2016). it inaways notfully under uncharted territory, changing pushing the ecosystem into disturbance and may still be the forests resilience to forest changes have reduced impacts aswell asother However, decades deer- of plants. P. grandiflora and inthe absence deer browse of on most park. This may have resulted inthe surge G. of pubescens and deer management has reduced the deer number inthe of Yet, while pressure from deer browse isstill present, recent cally favor orchids over lesspalatable plants like grasses. plant species and plant and parts, deer typi- Whitetailed deer feed on awide variety of less palatable to deer.

Photo: NPS U.S. DepartmentoftheInterior National ParkService able habitat. G.spectabilis theirof needed symbiotic fungi infavor theseof species could bedue to availability monitoring site. The observed abundance snake plantain) were found inalmost every focal species. They could also simply be changes intheir environments than other areas and perhaps are more tolerant to were also found inmore heavily disturbed and triguing. Some orchid species were particularly in- Goodyera rattle pubescens (downy - Galearis spectabilis (showy orchid) Large round-leaved orchid ( rediscovered in2015. be extirpatedfrom theparkbut orbiculata), previously thoughtto and G. pubescens .P. - -

Photo: NPS/Schmit