Ohio Natural Areas & Preserves Association

Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Invasive Species Control at Karlo Fen State Nature Preserve
10:30 am – 3:30 pm
Summit County

Karlo Fen is a ground water fed boreal fen exhibiting sphagnum hummocks, marl areas and some prairie species. Located in the Portage Lakes area near Nimisila Reservoir, this fen was once part of a much larger series of glacial relicts that have all but disappeared due to impoundments, agriculture and other developments.

Karlo Fen is home to small fringed gentian, white beak-rush and Ohio goldenrod. Karlo Fen is currently managed under lease agreement by Summit County Metroparks. Project goals will be to remove invading woody species in the fen meadow such as glossy buckthorn, autumn olive and gray dogwood.

Directions: Karlo Fen is located on the east side of Christman Road near the Portage Lakes State Park campground, .25 miles north of the intersection of E. Nimisila and Christman Roads. A parking lot is located on the west side of Christman Road across from the preserve. We will meet in the parking lot and hike into the small preserve.

What to bring: Bring a lunch, water, long-sleeved shirts, gloves, and muck boots. Herbicide treatment will be done by DNAP staff and trained volunteers. Tools will be provided.

RSVP: Please REGISTER HERE. Online registration is important for our planning due to the pandemic. Please contact The Ohio Natural Areas & Preserves Association HERE if you have questions.

Two preserves benefit from ONAPA work clearing woody species in early October

On Tuesday, October 6, six ONAPA volunteers and stewardship assistants worked with three DNAP staff to conduct habitat management at the new addition of the Lakeside Daisy Preserve in Marblehead. It was a beautiful day and we improved two small alvar openings near the glacial grooves by removing red cedars, dogwoods, autumn-olive, and Amur bush honeysuckle.

On Wednesday, October 7, five ONAPA volunteers and stewardship assistants, two members of the Native Orchid Preservation & Education Society (NOPES), and two staff from DNAP continued to work on the bog meadows at Cranberry Bog. This time we cleared an area along the boardwalk to remove the tall, invading poison sumac and glossy buckthorn. The work is tedious, especially cutting and hauling poison sumac, but very worthwhile as we are slowly restoring the bog meadows which have been grown up for several years. We saw a great response from our work last fall as the rose pogonia and grass-pink orchids were plentiful and flowering in June. Our next trip is planned for November 5!

Thinning cedars creates opening for Lakeside daisies.

Cutting and treating woody species at Cranberry Bog.

Good to see everyone who came to collect prairie seeds

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ONAPA has not held any public events, except its regular stewardship projects, until this month. It was decided that the prairie seed collecting event at Denny's prairie in Fredericktown could be held safely with people wearing masks and staying widely separated in the prairie. The event was held on Saturday, September 26, from 10 am until approximately 2:30 pm, with more than 70 people attending. People were able to view samples of many of the prairie plants in seed on tables and visit the ONAPA tents with displays and ONAPA materials (bandanas, shirts, and hats) available for a donation. Approximately 15 ONAPA Board members, stewardship assistants, and volunteers helped to show people around the prairie and identify the various species ready for collection. It was a beautiful day and ONAPA members were happy to see each other again and visit, along with seed-collecting.

ONAPA women help clear Kiser Lake Wetlands of woody species

On September 17, a small but hardy group of women worked at Kiser Lake Wetlands, including DNAP preserve manager, Michelle Comer and four ONAPA volunteers and stewardship assistants. We worked at the Grandview Heights unit clearing out woody species in the fen meadow along the lake edge. As shown in the photos, the vegetation was tall and we piled the woody stems along the lake edge to serve as erosion control. The fen meadow has grown up considerably, but we cleared out a large area and may do some more work there this fall or winter. We were primarily cutting dogwoods, multiflora rose, tree-of-heaven, and autumn-olive.

Partners accomplish much in natural areas during late summer stewardship projects

ONAPA has been busy with stewardship projects lately between Meilke Road Savanna Wildlife Area on August 26, Gallagher Fen SNP on September 5, and Cranberry Bog SNP on September 9. We worked with partners from The Nature Conservancy and Toledo Metro Parks, plus our stewardship assistants and volunteers, at Meilke Road Savanna to remove woody species in the "bowl area". At Gallagher Fen, we removed woody species in the east fen, continuing to open this excellent fen meadow and remove invasives such as common privet and glossy buckthorn. At Cranberry Bog, we removed woody species, including poison sumac, glossy buckthorn, and red maples from the eastern bog meadow. Partners from the Native Orchid Preservation & Education Society in Cincinnati helped us at Cranberry Bog.

Removing invasives at Meilke Road Savanna

Working to protect Cranberry Bog

Opened savanna at wildlife area

Cranberry Bog colorful in late summer

Myersville Fen south meadow's rare plants get help from ONAPA

ONAPA volunteers and two stewardship assistants worked with DNAP preserve manager Emily Archibald at Myersville Fen to control purple loosestrife, hairy willow herb, and invading woody species such as glossy buckthorn. The group accomplished a significant amount in the southern meadow. This work is important for maintaining the open character of the meadows as habitat for native and rare fen plants.

Sun shines on summer projects

With our four stewardship assistants on board and well-trained now, we have been busy on preserves during the summer. We are thankful we still have a small core group of volunteers joining us and have even recruited some new volunteers this season. We had volunteer projects at Clifton Gorge and Myersville Fen. We have also been working hard at Brinkhaven Oak Barrens with the Killbuck Watershed Land Trust to control Japanese stiltgrass, a relatively new invasive grass there.

In addition to invasive plant control, we:

Assisted USFWS with surveys for the Eastern prairie fringed orchid on four days;
Searched for other rare plants to update records at Pallister Preserve and Sheldon Marsh;
Collected purple loosestrife beetles from Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area to distribute at Jackson Bog.

On July 28, we partnered with Richfield Heritage Preserve to train volunteers on eradication of marsh invaders: yellow iris, non-native cattails and purple loosetrife. Interns from Knox County Park District joined RHP volunteers to learn the fundamentals from Jennifer Windus, with help from Stewardship Assistant Madison Brown.

July projects in nature preserves remove invasives to preserve space for native plants

ONAPA has been busy in July, despite the heat and humidity. We completed surveys for Eastern prairie fringed orchids on

July 7, then went to Cedar Bog SNP on July 9. Five volunteers and three stewardship assistants worked to remove woody species from the prairie and cut white cedars in some of the fen meadows. It is important to thin the white cedars in the meadows each year to keep them from shading out the rare fen meadow plants.

On Saturday, July 11, ten volunteers and two stewardship assistants worked at Jackson Bog SNP to remove purple loosestrife and clean up a downed tree in one of the fen meadows. It was a super hot day, but we accomplished a significant amount of purple loosestrife removal. We were happy to have a new volunteer, Tom Fishburn, join us too. On Thursday, July 16, six volunteers and three stewardship assistants worked with preserve manager Michelle Comer at Clifton Gorge SNP to remove invasive woody shrubs such as bush honeysuckle on the scientific side of the preserve (no photos available).

Stewardship assistants and volunteers accomplish much in preserves during June

In spite of the continuing coronavirus pandemic, ONAPA stewardship assistants and volunteers have been busy with stewardship activities and rare plant projects throughout June. We had two scheduled stewardship projects at Milford Center Prairie June 4, and Chaparral Prairie June 18. At both prairies, we worked to remove herbaceous invasives such as sweet-clover and common teasel. Small groups of volunteers, combined with our four stewardship assistants, have been effective in accomplishing much needed work on the preserves so far this season.

We also visited Cranberry Bog to check on our stewardship projects last fall and were impressed to see so many orchids, both rose pogonia and grass-pinks. We collected purple loosestrife beetles from Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area to distribute at Jackson Bog Preserve. We collected Lakeside Daisy seeds from the Lafarge Quarry to be distributed later this year on the new portion of the preserve. We pulled garlic mustard at Davey Woods and Bonnett Pond Bog.

Our stewardship assistants have been busy at Brinkhaven Barrens,

working with Randy Carmel, president of the Killbuck Watershed Land Trust, to begin control of Japanese stiltgrass. Most recently, we have been conducting surveys for the Eastern prairie fringed orchid in several locations, in cooperation with the US Fish & Wildlife Service.

Volunteer Stewardship Project Reports

For the latest Stewardship Project Reports,
CLICK HERE.

Member Activities

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Stewardship
Projects

We have several stewardship projects planned for 2020, some of which are again on weekdays this year. We will include a short field trip on each project to see some of the preserve we are working at. RSVP HERE.

Member
Field Trips

Preserve
Monitoring

The 2020 ONAPA member field trip schedule has been put on hold due to the pandemic. Watch the website and Facebook page for updates.

Not a member? Join HERE.

Any state nature preserve in your area can be visited and a report completed to help inform ONAPA and the preserve managers about the condition of the preserve. Click HERE for information.