Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Woody species control at Medway Prairie Fringed Orchid Site
Woody species control at Medway Prairie Fringed Orchid Site
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Union Road, Medway Clark County This site is a small wetland, primarily an alkaline wet sedge meadow surrounded by farm fields, and is owned by the City of Dayton’s Water Department as a wellfield. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and DNAP have been cooperating with the City of Dayton by verbal agreement since a significant population of the Eastern prairie fringed orchid was reported at this site in 1993. Regular habitat management is necessary to maintain the open sedge meadow, which has been declining for several years due to woody species encroachment. ONAPA will be cooperating with USFWS and DNAP on this project to cut and treat woody species in the area where most of the orchids are located. Directions: From Columbus, proceed west on I-70. Take exit 26B to exit onto Spangler Road north towards Medway. After crossing the Mad River, turn right on to Union Road. The site, owned by the City of Dayton, Water Department, is on the right. Parking will be along the roadside. |
What to bring: Bring lunch, water, gloves, and good hiking boots. Herbicide treatment will be done by licensed or trained ONAPA stewardship assistants and volunteers. Tools will be provided.
RSVP: If you would like to attend, please REGISTER. If you have questions, please contact The Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association HERE. Online registration is important for our planning.
RSVP: If you would like to attend, please REGISTER. If you have questions, please contact The Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association HERE. Online registration is important for our planning.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Woody species control at Medway Prairie Fringed Orchid Site
Woody species control at Medway Prairie Fringed Orchid Site
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Union Road, Medway Clark County This site is a small wetland, primarily an alkaline wet sedge meadow surrounded by farm fields, and is owned by the City of Dayton’s Water Department as a wellfield. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and DNAP have been cooperating with the City of Dayton by verbal agreement since a significant population of the Eastern prairie fringed orchid was reported at this site in 1993. Regular habitat management is necessary to maintain the open sedge meadow, which has been declining for several years due to woody species encroachment. ONAPA will be cooperating with USFWS and DNAP on this project to cut and treat woody species in the area where most of the orchids are located. Directions: From Columbus, proceed west on I-70. Take exit 26B to exit onto Spangler Road north towards Medway. After crossing the Mad River, turn right on to Union Road. The site, owned by the City of Dayton, Water Department, is on the right. Parking will be along the roadside. |
What to bring: Bring lunch, water, gloves, and good hiking boots. Herbicide treatment will be done by licensed or trained ONAPA stewardship assistants and volunteers. Tools will be provided.
RSVP: If you would like to attend, please REGISTER. If you have questions, please contact The Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association HERE. Online registration is important for our planning.
RSVP: If you would like to attend, please REGISTER. If you have questions, please contact The Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association HERE. Online registration is important for our planning.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Woody species control at Medway Prairie Fringed Orchid Site
Woody species control at Medway Prairie Fringed Orchid Site
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Union Road, Medway Clark County This site is a small wetland, primarily an alkaline wet sedge meadow surrounded by farm fields, and is owned by the City of Dayton’s Water Department as a wellfield. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and DNAP have been cooperating with the City of Dayton by verbal agreement since a significant population of the Eastern prairie fringed orchid was reported at this site in 1993. Regular habitat management is necessary to maintain the open sedge meadow, which has been declining for several years due to woody species encroachment. ONAPA will be cooperating with USFWS and DNAP on this project to cut and treat woody species in the area where most of the orchids are located. Directions: From Columbus, proceed west on I-70. Take exit 26B to exit onto Spangler Road north towards Medway. After crossing the Mad River, turn right on to Union Road. The site, owned by the City of Dayton, Water Department, is on the right. Parking will be along the roadside. |
What to bring: Bring lunch, water, gloves, and good hiking boots. Herbicide treatment will be done by licensed or trained ONAPA stewardship assistants and volunteers. Tools will be provided.
RSVP: If you would like to attend, please REGISTER. If you have questions, please contact The Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association HERE. Online registration is important for our planning.
RSVP: If you would like to attend, please REGISTER. If you have questions, please contact The Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association HERE. Online registration is important for our planning.
Early arriving Pine Warblers visit feeding stations
Story and photos by John Watts
Early March marks the arrival of our first spring warbler. Within the first few days, especially if we have an early warming trend, a striking yellow bird with wings bars and faint streaking on its breast may appear at feeding stations in southern Ohio. The Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus) is the first of our breeding warblers to return to the dry pine woods of southern and southeastern Ohio. Territorial males typically return during the first week of March and become increasingly widespread between March 12-18 and the second half of the month. While our resident birds return during March, spring migrants passing northward through Ohio are typically observed during mid-April and early May with other waves of migrating spring warblers (Peterjohn 2001). While their early return is a welcome sign of spring, these early individuals will likely have to endure a few unpleasant days of snow showers and colder temperatures. During these times they may regularly visit suet feeders at backyard feeding stations. Peanut butter suet seems to be a favorite source of nourishment for these colder days. Pine Warblers continue to be rare winter visitors; however, in recent years their wintering numbers have increased and they are an annual winter resident in Ohio (Harlan 2022). This year reports of arriving Pine Warblers at feeding stations in Athens, Hocking, and Fairfield Counties were noted during the last week of February. As a breeding summer resident, they are rare to locally distributed statewide and are becoming a locally common |
resident in the dry ridgetop forests of eastern and southeastern Ohio’s unglaciated plateau. They tend to prefer woodlands with intermixed populations of native pines: Virginia, Pitch and Shortleaf Pines. In northwestern Ohio, they regularly use mature pine plantations for nesting. Shawnee State Forest in Scioto County supports one of the highest concentrations in the state, but they are regularly encountered in other forests and nature preserves in areas such as Hocking County and scattered locations in northeast Ohio. Keep an eye out on those cold days in March for a bright yellow visitor in your backyard.
References: Harlan, Robert N. 2022. Ohio Bird Records Committee Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Ohio. 65 p. Peterjohn, Bruce G. 2001. Birds of Ohio. The Wooster Book Company. Wooster, Ohio. pp. 441-443. |
Small prairie openings at Greenville Falls get attention from ONAPA
Story and photos by Lydia Radcliffe
ONAPA had its first project at Greenville Falls State Scenic River Area February 15. The day turned out to be an excellent opportunity for partner organizations to work together. This site is managed by the Miami County Park District. Last summer, Jennifer Windus and others from ONAPA’s stewardship team met with the park district’s natural resources management staff, Trevor Diegel and Hailey Demmitt, to visit Goode Prairie State Nature Preserve and Greenville Falls State Scenic River Area to explore opportunities for future collaboration with stewardship projects at one or both sites. This winter’s stewardship project at Greenville Falls was a result of those discussions and focused on removing woody vegetation in the small prairie openings north of Greenville Creek. In addition to ONAPA stewardship volunteers and Miami Park District staff, DNAP preserve manager, Michelle |
Comer and Scenic Rivers staff, Bela Clutter, Rowan Coburn-Griffis, and Autumn Moore also came out to join the effort. A reporter for local WYSO radio station,
Adrianna Martinez-Smiley also participated to collect information for a story on ONAPA and this stewardship project. Our group of fourteen made significant progress in opening the prairie areas up for prairie plants such as grey-headed coneflower, butterfly weed, and nodding wild onion. The team was able to thin and clear cedars, basswood, Asian bush honeysuckle, autumn olive, and other woody vegetation from four prairie clearings. One of these overlooks the limestone cliffs along Greenville Creek; such areas at this site are home to rare plants including rock sandwort, harebell, tufted hairgrass, limestone savory, and wand lily. Projects like these exemplify ONAPA’s role in bringing together like-minded organizations to accomplish valuable stewardship work. The Miami County Park District is one of ONAPA’s newer partners, and thus far natural resources staff there have been more than welcoming to the assistance ONAPA has offered for their high-quality natural areas. We are grateful to the many hands that came out to help at Greenville Falls, and we look forward to more collaborative projects in the future! |
January greets stewardship volunteers with weather challenges in the field
January weather was challenging, but we managed to complete three stewardship projects, even with rescheduling two of them. Two were new projects, OSU Marion Prairie on January 11 and Castalia Quarry Metro Park on January 25.
At OSU Marion campus, we helped remove woody species as part of their prairie restoration efforts. At Castalia Quarry, we primarily removed red cedars in one of the Lakeside daisy areas. The third project on January 18 was at North Bend Bog, a Cleveland Museum of Natural History preserve. We assisted museum and The Nature Conservancy staff remove glossy buckthorn in a degraded buffer area to the bog, with a large group of 16 people (8 from ONAPA). |
Apply by March 15 for ONAPA Stewardship Assistant openings
The Ohio Natural Areas & Preserves Association (ONAPA) is once again offering 3-6-month part-time contract positions, beginning in May, designed to assist ONAPA with stewardship activities including habitat management on nature preserves, rare plant monitoring, preserve monitoring, and administrative activities.
These activities will provide an individual recently graduated from college, or college student going into their senior year, with excellent field experience, training, and good contacts for future employment. |
Program Highlights
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CONNECTIVITY: GROUNDWATER AND SURFACE WATER
This symposium, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., is for natural resource and water planning
professionals as well as river enthusiasts and conservationists.
Register Now
This symposium, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., is for natural resource and water planning
professionals as well as river enthusiasts and conservationists.
Register Now
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December projects finish out a strong year
ONAPA's stewardship team finished up the year with four projects in December, all in cooperation with great partners. We worked at Erie Sand Barrens on December 7 with DNAP, Crane Hollow on December 12 with Crane Hollow Inc., Kitty Todd on December 14 with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Herrick Fen on December 21 with TNC. We had impressive turnouts at Erie Sand Barrens (15 people) and Crane Hollow (24 people - photo). We were cutting and treating woody species at three of the sites, while at Crane Hollow, we were cleaning up downed white pine trees and branches. At Crane Hollow, we have been eliminating an old pine plantation in an effort to restore it to native oak-hickory forest so the pines were purposely cut earlier by DNAP and Crane Hollow staff. |
Project pace slowed in November
ONAPA's stewardship program slowed down in November, partly due to the weather and winter plans. We are mainly doing projects once a week now, but sometimes when we reschedule a project it may be twice a week. The projects in November included one new site, Travertine Fen in Greene County, owned and managed by the Greene County Park District. It is a high quality fen in need of lots of woody species removal so it was great to get a good start on one of the fen meadows. We will plan another day this winter. Projects in November included the Medway prairie fringed orchid site (November 2), Gallagher Fen (November 9), Lakeside Daisy Preserve (November 14), and Travertine Fen (November 16). All involved woody species removal with cut stem herbicide application, primarily to open fen meadow, savanna, and alvar habitat for rare plant species. We will also be recruiting for new stewardship assistants for the spring, so contact us if you are interested or know someone who may be interested in this opportunity. These positions are for college students or recent college graduates. |
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VOLUNTEERWe have many volunteer opportunities available throughout the year. Invasive control, preserve monitoring, etc.
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