Ohio Natural Areas & Preserves Association

On Tuesday, May 2, enjoy a spring wildflower workshop and help the Friends continue their Invasive Species Management at Richfield Heritage Preserve. Join us for “Protecting Ohio Wildflowers and Fighting Invader Plants” from 10 am to
3:00 pm at The Lodge at Richfield Heritage Preserve. 4374 Broadview Road, Richfield.

The program includes light morning refreshments, a box lunch, door prizes, helpful handouts to distinguish native wildflowers from invasive plants, ways to control invasive plants and a wildflower walk from 3:15-4:30 pm. Richfield’s own Native Roots, Inc, will have a selection of plants for sale.

The event features four speakers: Jennifer Windus, retired ecologist from the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves and vice president of the ONAPA; Judy Semroc, naturalist, NatureSpark, Jennifer Johnson, vice president of Native Roots, Inc., and Travis Morton, land steward, Medina County Parks District.

Cost of the program is $45 ($35 for Friends’ members-use promo code FORHP). To register, visit Protecting Ohio Wildflowers no later than Wednesday, April 26. Participants are asked to bring a mug and/or reusable water bottle.

Proceeds from the event will be used to support the Friends’ Invasive Species Management Team to continue its program of clearing non-native plants and restoring native habitat in high quality areas.

Applications for 2023 Stewardship Assistants are now open

The stewardship program is now in its eighth season and ONAPA is looking for qualified stewardship assistants to help us for three to six months starting in May.

Stewardship assistants work on natural areas and preserves throughout Ohio, conducting rare plant surveys, preserve monitoring, and assisting with some administrative duties. The position is part-time with fieldwork two to three days a week. The program is designed to contract with recent college graduates in the fields of botany and zoology, natural resources, environmental science, and related fields. We will also consider college students who recently completed their junior year as well as graduate students.

We expect to have several returning stewardship assistants this year, but hope to contract with individuals from

southwest Ohio to help us build a stewardship team in that region.

The position description is found HERE and to apply, use the CONTACT US link.

This experience is guaranteed to make for an exciting and rewarding summer if you like working outside with people!

Remember Ohio's Natural Areas on your tax return this season

Ohioans can donate all or part of their state income tax refund by checking “Natural areas” on the 1040 Individual Income Tax Return. Contributions made on the tax return, filed this year, are considered deductible charitable donations made in the following year.

This tax season, we hope that you will remember the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves when filing your state income tax return – and join us in protecting Ohio’s natural treasures, forever.

Photo courtesy of ODNR

The long downward hanging male flowers and the smaller upright female flowers.

Smooth Alder (Alnus serrulata) is an early spring bloomer

Story and photo by John Watts

One of the first signs of spring in parts of Ohio is the blooming catkins of the Smooth Alder. Also called the Hazel Alder, is usually found in wetlands, streams, and lake edges as a multi-trunked shrub growing 12-20 feet tall and generally forming dense stands where they grow. Along lake edges they can be an effective bank stabilizer from wave action and provide valuable cover and habitat for a variety of wildlife. Smooth Alder is scattered throughout Ohio being more commonly encountered in southern and eastern Ohio and nearly absent from Ohio’s limestone region.

Smooth Alder is one of the earliest woody plants to bloom in Ohio. The staminate male flowers are catkins that range in color from green to yellow to purple. The male flowers range from 1.5 to 2.5 inches in length and are quite noticeable when in bloom. The female, pistillate flowers, are small typically .5 inches in length in the tip of the stem and are usually a reddish-brown color. Smooth Alders can generally be found blooming in southern Ohio during the first week of March; however, this year the warmer late winter temperatures produced the flowering catkins the third week of February. While certainly early, let’s hope the spring’s arrival is just around the corner.

References:

Braun, E. L. 1961. The Woody Plants of Ohio. The Ohio State University Press. Columbus, Ohio.

Donations needed for new stewardship assistant team in 2023

ONAPA is still planning to start a second stewardship team in 2023 in the west and southwest portions of Ohio. Our development committee is working to raise $50,000 towards this effort and will be working in several ways to raise these funds.

If you would like to support this effort, feel free to CONTACT US or send a donation directly to our ONAPA address: PO Box 415,
Johnstown, OH 43031. If you specify that you want your donation to go towards stewardship, we will make sure that happens! With almost 20 partners across Ohio now, our stewardship team is helping to manage natural areas, besides state nature preserves, that need our help, including sites owned by the Cleveland Museum of Natural

2022 Stewardship Assistant team

History and The Nature Conservancy. In SW Ohio, we will be working with Great Parks, Beaver Creek Wetlands Association, and other partners.

February projects in the field concentrate on woody species control

Photos by Jennifer Windus

In February, a couple projects were cancelled, but we managed to accomplish seven projects at Crane Hollow (February 2), Beck Fen with The Nature Conservancy (February 14), Cedar Bog (February 15, 21, 28), W. Pearl King Prairie Savanna with Columbus Metro Parks (February 23), and Sheldon’s Marsh with DNAP (February 28).

At Crane Hollow, we assisted Crane Hollow Inc. with clean-up of a white pine plantation which we are in the process of removing (planted years ago when it was owned by the Division of Forestry). At the other natural areas, we were removing invasive woody species. It was the first time for ONAPA to work at Beck Fen and W. Pearl King Prairie Savanna, so it was a great opportunity for volunteers to see different preserves with different partners. A super added benefit at Beck Fen was seeing a saw-whet owl at the end of the day – such a treat for all of us!

Two stewardship projects completed and a workshop on woody species ID mark January in the field

In January, we had to cancel a couple of projects, but we had a small crew work at Brinkhaven Oak Barrens with the Killbuck Watershed Land Trust (January 4) and a large group of 18 people work at Cedar Bog (January 19).

We also had a volunteer appreciation lunch and winter woody identification workshop with Bob Klips on January 25. The weather was problematic, so only half the volunteers we planned for showed up for the workshop, but we had a great day at Highbanks Metro Park. We learned how to identify woody species in the winter using a key and looked at great specimens provided by Bob.

At lunch, with box lunches from Chelley Belly in Delaware, we recognized several volunteers for their contributions to ONAPA. In the afternoon, we went on a short hike at Highbanks to look at woody species near the nature center.

Workshop with Bob Klips (standing) - Photo by Lydia Radcliffe

December projects wrap up a productive stewardship year for ONAPA

Crabill Fen (Photos by Jennifer Windus)

Crabill Fen

Daughmer Savanna

Daughmer Savanna (Photos by Madison Brown)

Despite challenging weather and busy holiday schedules, we were able to conduct three ONAPA stewardship projects in December. We had to cancel one project at Beck Fen with The Nature Conservancy due to rain forecast. We worked with Cleveland Museum of Natural History staff and volunteers at Geneva Swamp on December 1 with 11 people to remove glossy buckthorn at a wet woods site with rare plants. On December 6, seven ONAPA volunteers worked with five DNAP staff at Crabill Fen to remove woody species in the fen meadow. On December 13, ten ONAPA volunteers and one DNAP staff removed woody species in the understory at Daughmer Savanna. All were productive days to deal with invasive woody plants!

See our January-March schedule for more projects starting in 2023 and come join us!

Volunteer Stewardship

Stewardship Project Reports

Member Activities

Member Activity Reports

Stewardship
Projects

We plan stewardship projects year-round throughout Ohio and we are always looking for volunteers. We will include a short field trip on each project to see some of the preserve where we are working.

Member
Field Trips

Preserve
Monitoring

Field trips are scheduled from late spring into early fall. Most are easy walks through our state's Division of Natural Area's preserves. Watch the website and Facebook page for updates.

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.