Center for Cedar Glade Studies

The Center for Cedar Glade Studies will copartner hosting a workshop about native seed collecting with the Tennessee Plant Conservation Alliance, at Cedars of Lebanon State Park, Friday, May 3, 2024.  Due to the limitations of space, the event is by invitation only. For more information about the workshop contact our TPCA partner, Cooper Breeden, cooper.breeden@segrasslands.org PH 615-545-3277 cell, or for other questions related to the Center, contact: Dr. Jeff Walck, email: jeffrey.walck@mtsu.edu PH: 615.904.8390

Please join us for the Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade Wildflower Festival, the evening of May 3 and  all day May 4, 2024 at Cedars of Lebanon State Park. Most events will take place outside, weather permitting. Keep in mind extreme weather or excessive rain will cancel most outdoor activities.  Click here for the 2024 Schedule.

Please NOTE: Preregistration is required for some events due to space limitation and  some events require a small fee for materials. Click here for more information. 

What’s Happening in 2024!

Friday Evening Prgram, May 3: Join us at 7pm at the Cedar Forest Lodge for two great presentations! Dr. Matt Niemiller will talk about Karst, Caves, and Creepy Crawlies. Steve and Sara Samoray from the TN Working Bat Group will have a Q & A session for us, and weather permitting, we will venture outside to observe these magnificent animals in action. Light refreshments will be served, complements of the Friends of Cedars of Lebanon, please come!

Saturday, May 4: Bird-watching in the morning (7am to 8:30am) with Dr. Jeffrey Walck, Professor of Biology at MTSU.
-Sam KIng, Stewardship Ecologist with DNA, will share  from 9am to 11am about restoration practices in cedar glades in action. -There are 3-hour morning and afternoon hikes with botany professionals: the morning hike is 9am to noon and afternoon hike is 1pm to 4pm with Holly Taylor, Associate State Naturalist, and Milo Pyne, NaturServ, retired. 
-Native plant specialist Kathy Powers will lead a program (9am to 10am) about gardening with our beautiful native plants, showcasing the native plant garden at the Nature Center.
-There are family-friendly activities from Ranger Shauna Bridges throughout the day that teach cool things about cedar glades. -You will learn more about the geology of the glades from 10am to 11am and a discussion about fossils from 3pm to 3:30pm with Ron Zurawaski, TN Department of Geology, retired. 
-Sharen Bracy will lead a native edible plants program (noon to 1pm) and provides samples of her delicious jellies, juices, and dips.
-Two other programs are a photography workshop by David Pineros, Data Specialist with DNA (10am to 12:30pm). Back by popular demand, ‘Paint a Coneflower’ session (11am to 12:30pm) with in-residence artist, Renee Moore will let you explore your creative side.
-We welcome Dr. Matt Niemiller, Friday evening speaker, AND as he leads a Saturday program to discover “Karst and Kreepy Krawlers” in Jackson Cave (3:30pm to 5pm).
-Grab dinner in Lebanon or grill hotdogs at the park on your own. Plan to stay Saturday evening for the evening program (7pm to 8:30pm) Owl Prowl led by Cedars of Lebanon park rangers. Here is the 2024 Elsie Quarterman Program of Events.

Sunday, May 5: Couchville Cedar Glades at 10am with Jason and Leslie Ann Allen.  Then indoors at Long Hunter State Park Visitor Center in the afternoon, learn more about glades from Jason Allen!

If you have questions, contact Kim.Sadler@mtsu.edu PH: 615.904.8283, or contact Ranger Sarah Geeslin Sarah.Gesslin@tn.gov or call the park office which is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. PH:  615.443.2769.

Limestone cedar glades are globally unique and fragile habitats found primarily in Middle Tennessee. Viewed historically as wastelands, they support a plant community of highly specialized species, many of which are found nowhere else in the world.  (Slideshow photographs by Darel Hess.) 

• What are the cedar glades?
• Research on the cedar glades
• Teaching from the cedar glades
• Preserving the cedar glades
• What is the Center for Cedar Glade Studies?
• Video and Media