Ohio Natural Areas & Preserves Association

Thursday, May 13, 2021
Garlic Mustard Control at Clear Fork Gorge State Nature Preserve

10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Mohican Park Road # 51, Perrysville, OH
Ashland County

The 29-acre Clear Fork Gorge State Nature Preserve is situated along the north bluff of the Clear Fork of the Mohican State Scenic River. The white pine-hemlock forest community here, although only 8 acres in extent, is one of the best remaining woodlands like this in the state.

Huge native white pines and eastern hemlocks grow on the steep sides of the gorge wall. In addition to rare nesting warblers, one of the most interesting species observed here is the round-leaved orchid.

We will walking through the preserve in search of garlic mustard in an effort to eradicate it from this preserve which is surrounded by state forest and state park land. Hiking will be on steep, rugged terrain.

Directions: Proceed to the fire tower in Mohican State Forest on Park Road 51 and park at the fire tower. We will leave from this parking lot and hike into the preserve.

What to bring: Lunch, water, hiking boots, and gloves.

RSVP: If you would like to attend, please REGISTER. If you have questions, please contact The Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association HERE.

Fowler Woods boardwalk comes alive during spring wildflower season

By Dick Moseley
Spring wildflowers are on display along the new boardwalk at Fowler Woods Nature preserve, which opened again to visitors October 26 when it was completed ahead of schedule. The Division of Natural Areas and Preserves held a ribbon-cutting ceremony October 23 to reopen the preserve for visitation on the preserve’s new boardwalk. ODNR Director Mary Mertz and DNAP Chief Jeff Johnson spoke to the small gathering of ten invited guests at a ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the walkway that replaced the 40-year-old boardwalk.

Jagger Construction Company of Lima replaced the 1-1/4 mile trail with a fully accessible trail from the entrance parking lot. Whether physically challenged or accompanied by young children, everyone has an opportunity to experience this beautiful Beech-Maple Swamp Forest. The trail winds through the wetland swamp forest and the upland beech and maple forest, offering a variety of habitats and flora.

The project. costing $486,200, was funded by an 80 percent Federal Recreation Trail Grant, matched by the Division of Natural Areas & Preserves' 20 percent, which was financed from the Income Tax Checkoff Program.

Come enjoy this beautiful Nature Preserve when spring wildflowers are on full display.

Dwarf ginseng along the new boardwalk at Fowler Woods State Nature Preserve.

April is time for . . . pulling garlic mustard!

ONAPA had two more garlic mustard control projects at the end of April. On Tuesday, April 27, eight ONAPA volunteers worked with three DNAP staff at Rhododendron Cove State Nature Preserve to pull garlic mustard. There is a huge infestation there this year and we pulled 15-20 large garbage bags filled with garlic mustard. On Thursday, April 29, three ONAPA volunteers worked with three DNAP staff at Hueston Woods SNP and pulled 23 large garbage bags of garlic mustard. While some sites have had declines in garlic mustard this year, these two preserves had plenty to pull!

Clockwise from top, left: taking a lunch break at Rhododendron Cove; Lead Stewardship Assistant Madison holds not-so-fragrant bouquet of garlic mustard; truck full of pulled garlic mustard at Hueston Woods; long trail through Hueston Woods, registered as a National Natural Landmark.

Early to mid-May is peak time for warblers migrating through Ohio

Northern Parula

By John Watts

Spring bird migration is one of the most exciting times of the year. The arrival of birds during the six to eight weeks period is often predictable as some arrive in early April, others mid to late April, and then the big push from early May to mid-May. But for many the anticipated excitement of this annual northward journey of migrating birds is a highlight of the naturalists’ yearly calendar. The peak of this movement generally occurs during the first half of May with late migrants lingering into late May. While many species of birds are part of this phenomenon, few groups receive more attention than the eastern wood warblers. Ohio has recorded 40 species of warblers with 36 of them occurring annually. Most are very striking, displaying an array of yellow, orange, black and bluish-gray colors. Others such as the Ovenbird, Worm-eating Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Northern Waterthrush are predominantly brown to greenish-brown ground color. Learning all 36 warblers is challenging since many closely resemble each other and we only have the opportunity to see some of them for a short period of time each spring. Local metro parks, city parks, small woodlots, and even a wooded yard provide productive birding areas.

American Redstart, male

Ovenbird

Many notable sites occur along Lake Erie, including
Sheldon’s Marsh State Nature Preserve and Headland Dunes State Nature Preserve, where large concentrations stop to fuel up before venturing across Lake Erie and continuing northward. The viewing of these large numbers is truly impressive. Beyond appreciating and enjoying their beauty, take a moment this spring to consider the wonder of spring migration. The extraordinary feat these small birds accomplish as they travel from their wintering grounds in Central and South America to their breeding areas across the United State and Canada is nothing short of amazing.

Clearing the way for wildflowers at Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve

On Tuesday, April 19, four ONAPA volunteers worked with preserve manager Coleman Minney at Lake Katharine scouting the floodplains for garlic mustard, pulling as we went. We have covered these areas of the preserve before and it was encouraging to see that there is much less garlic mustard at present. We pulled the plants and carried them out in plastic bags to make sure they did not produce seeds as they were already in flower. The wildflower display in the floodplains was impressive, full of bluebells, large-flowered trillium, spring-beauty, chickweed, and Dutchman's-breeches.

Prescribed burns help prairie habitat during March and April with ONAPA help

ONAPA has been busy in late March through mid-April conducting prescribed burns in cooperation with several of our partners. ONAPA has a small burn team and we work in cooperation with other agencies and private landowners to implement prescribed fire as needed on natural areas such as prairies and savannas. This spring we conducted burns on 10 different sites, including units at Daughmer Savanna SNP with Crawford County Park District, Wolf Run and Honey Run Highlands with Knox County Park District, Deep Cut and Archery Range with Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District, and five privately-owned prairies. Guy Denny and Jennifer Windus served as the certified fire managers for these burns.

March weather finally cooperates for Medway Prairie Fringed Orchid project

On Tuesday, March 30, four ONAPA volunteers worked with DNAP and USFWS at the Medway Prairie Fringed Orchid site to remove invading woody species. This project had been cancelled twice in March due to the weather, so we were glad to finally get some work done there removing willows and dogwoods. ONAPA has worked with DNAP and USFWS typically in the spring and fall to remove woodies for the past several years and the site is finally looking more open again. We are hopeful that the prairie fringed orchids will respond well this summer!

Stewardship work clears way for endangered plants

Sheldon Marsh beach

On Tuesday, March 16, eight ONAPA volunteers worked with DNAP preserve manager, Warren Dunegan on the barrier beach at Sheldon Marsh to remove woody species in the beach grass areas. This was a new project for ONAPA and we all enjoyed working on the beach on a beautiful, sunny day. We worked in several small openings among the cottonwoods where there is beach grass, rare sedges, and beach wormwood, a state threatened plant. The beach area has grown up in woody species such as willows, cottonwood, dogwood, and osage orange over the years, plus many larger cottonwoods have fallen down on the beach from storms and higher lake levels. Our project was a great start to restoring some of the open beach habitat for rare plants and shore birds.

On Tuesday, March 23, six ONAPA volunteers worked at Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area, in one of the sedge meadows where prairie fringed orchids occur. We removed willows, alders, and dogwoods, opening the sedge meadow which should improve the habitat. ONAPA will assist with surveys this summer to see how many blooming orchids are found.

Killbuck Marsh sedge meadow

Volunteer Stewardship Project Reports

For the latest Stewardship Project Reports,
CLICK HERE.

Member Activities

For the latest Member Activity Reports,
CLICK HERE,

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.