Vaughn Branch
A Sanctuary of Natures Beauty
Fourth Sign - Bottom of the Vaughn Branch Trail by the Stream
Fun Fact
At Vaughn Branch, several fish species including Creek chubs, rainbow darters, fantail darters, and blacknose dace call the stream home.
Endangered Species
The area provides habitat for rare plant species like Braun's rockcress and running buffalo clover. Both species are globally rare and threatened by habitat loss and degradation. Most of the world’s population of Braun’s rockcress is here in Franklin County. When a plant is this rare, every population of plants is important.
The Forest at Vaughn Branch
Forests play a crucial role in shaping and sustaining the environment. They help regulate the climate, preserve biodiversity, and provide ecosystem services like clean air and water, soil conservation, and carbon storage. The forest is integral to the environmental health of Vaughn Branch Nature Preserve and the organisms that call it home.
American Sycamore
Platanus occidentalis
“American sycamore, probably the largest tree native to eastern North America, is a fast-growing species with scaly gray-brown bark that exfoliates to reveal a smooth ghostly white inner layer. It is a deciduous tree (it sheds its leaves annually) that typically grows to 75–100 feet tall with horizontal branching and a rounded habit. This tree develops a massive trunk and broad canopy that casts a dense shade. Adapted to wet sites, sycamores are tolerant of adverse soil conditions but may be messy in the landscape. The large medium to dark green leaves have coarse marginal teeth. In fall, foliage typically turns an undistinguished yellow-brown. Small flowers appear in small rounded clusters in April. Its wood has been commercially used for a variety of products including furniture, cabinets, barrels, crates, and butcher blocks, and Native Americans hollowed out trunk sections for dugout canoes.” - Chicago Botanic Garden
Large Leaf Waterleaf
Hydrophyllum macrophyllum
“The large-leaved waterleaf is similar to the Virginia waterleaf but is rough and hairy and about 60 cm tall. It is a perennial plant with large, deeply lobed, rough, and hairy leaves that often have a mottled white appearance resembling water spots. It produces clusters of white flowers in late spring and thrives in moist, rocky, woodland areas, usually with a stream or creek nearby.” - Britannica
Bobcat
Lynx rufus
“The bobcat's fur is buff to brown, sometimes with a reddish tinge, and marked with spots or stripes of brown and black. The fur on its undersides is lighter in color. Bobcats have facial ruffs, ear tufts, white spots near the tips of their ears and bobbed tails. The bobcat's black-spotted, brown coat blends in well with the rocks, brush and other dense vegetation where it hunts its main prey: the cottontail rabbit. The dense cover where these lynx live may make sound more important than sight while hunting. Their ear tufts are thought to improve hearing and are longer than those of the bobcat. The backs of a bobcat's ears are marked with two white spots, which a female's kittens probably follow in dim light. Another useful adaptation is the white underside of the bobcat's bobbed tail. If kittens fall too far behind their mother, the mother stops and softly calls to them while raising her tail to reveal the white patch below.” - Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute
