Ohio Natural Areas & Preserves Association

Photo by Ian Adams

Thursday, September 28, 2023
Woody Species Control at Prairie Road Fen State Nature Preserve

10:30 am to 3:30 pm
1976 Buck Creek Lane, Springfield
Clark County

One of the largest and finest prairie fens remaining in Ohio, Prairie Road Fen is a 97-acre gem tucked away in northern Clark County. Admittance to this site is by permit only due to the fragile nature of this site. The ground water emerging here is cold, calcareous and oxygen-deficient which provides a harsh habitat that

only a number of specially-adapted plants can tolerate. Intermingled with the fen plants are relics of a time when a prairie extension thrived in this part of Ohio. This prairie fen complex is another unique feature of this site.

The goal of this project is to remove woody vegetation in the fen meadows, which by means of succession, are invading the fen meadows. We will target all woody species, but glossy buckthorn will be the primary species of concern. To control woody vegetation, we will cut and treat the stems with herbicide.

REVISED Directions: More specific directions will be emailed to those who pre-register. We will be parking along Old Mechanicsburg Road in New Moorefield, near Prairie Road. We will NOT be meeting at Buck Creek State Park.

What to bring: Please bring lunch, water, loppers, waterproof boots, and gloves. Herbicide treatment will be done by DNAP staff or trained ONAPA stewardship assistants.

RSVP: Please REGISTER HERE. Online registration is important for our planning. If you have questions, please contact The Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association HERE.

August a busy month in the field

August was another busy month for our stewardship team with nine projects! Our team decreased in size as Rachael and Jordon went back to college, and Maddie took a full-time preserve manager job at Cedar Bog. We are down to two stewardship assistants now for the fall and winter. We are always looking for more volunteers, so come help us with preserve stewardship soon!

In August, we transitioned to working on woody species control. This started at Clifton Gorge (August 1) working on bush honeysuckle, then to Wolf Run Regional Park in Mount Vernon (August 3). We worked on woody species and cattails at Kiser Lake Fen on August 10. We had two days at Myersville Fen as there was plenty to clear in both fen meadows (August 15 and 22). We continued our work at Brinkhaven Barrens (August 17) and Daughmer Savanna (August 24). In the last week of August, we worked at two new preserves for ONAPA, Kitty Todd in northwest Ohio on August 29 and Grand River Terraces on August 31. Several of these projects included working with partners including Knox County Park District, Killbuck Watershed Land Trust, Crawford Park District, The Nature Conservancy, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Myersville Fen

Kitty Todd

Great Blue Lobelia spectacular blooms promise the approach of autumn

Great Blue Lobelia blooms a showstopper

Reference: Gracie, Carol. 2020. Summer Wildflowers of the Northeast. Princeton University Press. Princeton, New Jersey.

Story and photos by John Watts

Spring wildflowers are such a welcomed sign in April after a long winter and much is made about their blooming and beauty. While this is true, fall wildflowers deserve their due as well. Even though summer is not really over as we enter September, the blooming of certain plants begins to remind us that cool, crisp, mornings and the blue-sky days of autumn are on the way. The Great Blue Lobelia feels like one of those plants. The beautiful deep violet color of the fresh flower spikes really jump out against the fading green leaves of summer. The distinctive petal arrangement of the flowers with three lower lobes and two partially upright upper lobes quickly identifies this as a Lobelia, a member of the Bellflower Family. Great Blue Lobelias are generally found in moist habitats with partial to full sun. Roadside ditches, wetland edges, streambanks, and sandbars are good places to search for this species in September. They are often found blooming with Turtlehead, Purple-stemmed Aster, Orange Jewel-weed, New England Aster, and even Cardinal Flower. While hummingbirds will occasionally visit Great Blue Lobelias, it is mostly pollinated by bumble bees. Some species of bumble bees are known to “steal” nectar from the flowers without pollinating by probing between slits in the lower corolla, gaining access to the nectar and thus avoiding the pollen and not pollinating every flower. Like many other wildflowers, an occasional white form of the Great Blue Lobelia can be found, though it’s fairly unusual. Even with a few hot days remaining, the Great Blue Lobelia is our promise of autumn’s return.

Collect seeds of prairie plants for your garden October 7 with the help of guides

Prairie Seed Collecting - October 7, 10 am: Here is your chance to try your hand at growing native prairie plants. Visitors to the free Saturday event may collect all the seeds they want from Denny’s Tallgrass Prairie and learn how to establish their own prairie gardens. Several prairie specialists will be on hand to answer questions and help identify various species of prairie plants.

Participants should bring hand pruners, and containers such as paper bags in which they can deposit and label the seeds they collect.

This “free to the public event" takes place at Denny’s Tallgrass Prairie which is a 20-plus acre prairie located in Knox County about 45 minutes north of Columbus. The street address is 6021 Mt. Gilead Road (SR95) Fredericktown, Ohio. From the junction of Interstate 71 and State Route 95, follow SR95 east just under 5 miles to the Knox County Line Just about 20 feet beyond on the North side of SR95 is the driveway where there will be an ONAPA events sign directing participants up the drive to the designated parking area. Registration is not required.

Callery pear removed at Honey Run Highlands

Jordan levels invasives at Daughmer Savanna

July a month for education and stewardship

In July, the ONAPA stewardship team kept busy with some habitat management and rare plant surveys.

We finished up Eastern prairie fringed orchid surveys on July 6 at Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area. A survey for a newly found rare plant, tower mustard, was taken at Cedar Bog on July 27 in an area ONAPA had cleared previously. An educational day was spent at Kelleys Island on July 11, visiting two preserves, the glacial grooves (with its new improvements), and Lakeside daisy sites.

On July 20, we visited Gode Prairie and Greenville Falls in Miami County, checking to see if ONAPA may be able to help the park district with stewardship work at these preserves. Habitat management work took place at Daughmer Savanna (July 13), Honey Run Highlands Park (July 18), and Jackson Bog (July 19). Stewardship assistants also helped with an OIPC invasive plant workshop at Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District in Lima on July 25th.

July was full of diverse and educational activities!

Clearing out around tower mustard at Cedar Bog

As always, speakers and field trips are highlights of ONAPA Annual Meeting

ONAPA’s 10th Annual Meeting on Saturday, August 5, at the Caesar Creek Lake Visitor Center in Waynesville enjoyed a good turnout of 60 people, which included 16 walk-ins. The first of our morning speakers, David Nolin, retired from Five Rivers Metro Parks, outlined research showing a more detailed evaluation of pre-European settlement flora in Ohio, which gives new knowledge about plant communities. DeVere Burt, retired from Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, gave an entertaining look at the creation of Birds of America and its author, John James Audubon.

After a brief business meeting, most attendees headed out to one of three field trips in the afternoon: Caesar Creek Gorge, led by Dick Moseley, Huffman Prairie, led by Daniel Boone, and Doorley Natural Area, led by Nolin.

Thanks to our caterers: morning refreshments were from the Coffee Hub and the box lunches were from Brock Masterson's Catering.

Field Trips:

Daniel Boone led a small but engaged group through the historic Huffman Prairie in full bloom, explaining the uniqueness of this original prairie and its species. Thanks to royal catchfly, cup plant, spiked blazing star, and plentiful purple coneflower, the prairie abounded in color among the grasses and sedges. A giant swallowtail butterfly and a number of ruby-throated hummingbirds made an appearance, bringing even more life to our exploration of this vibrant tallgrass prairie. (Lydia Radcliffe)

Approximately 20 people joined Dave Nolin on the field trip to Doorley Natural Area, a private preserve. The property, protected by a conservation easement, has an impressive combination of native xeric prairie, small fen remnants, and a white oak woodlands. The group also took a short tour of the nearby Pearl's Fen, part of the Greene County Park District. (Jennifer Windus)

During the walk at Caesar Creek Gorge State Nature Preserve, participants enjoyed leader Dick Moseley’s knowledge of area plants. Participant Jack Laverty exclaimed in his Facebook post: “Imagine going hiking in a woodland full of so many species of plants that you might have just walked past, not knowing what most of them are. That sums up most of my 55-plus years of hiking and backpacking. But imagine doing that with someone who knows what all of those plant and tree species are! What an amazing experience.”

Stewardship assistants make the difference

ONAPA has a full team of five stewardship assistants this season, with four of them returning from previous years. Madison Brown is in her fourth year with ONAPA and Lydia Radcliffe is in her third year. Mariola Castrejon worked for ONAPA in 2019-2020. She recently finished her Master's degree at OSU and is returning for a third season. Rachael Patterson is also in her third season and will return to Michigan State University in mid-August. Jordan Tackett is a new stewardship assistant, currently enrolled at Ashland University and working part-time for the Richland County Park District as a land management assistant. He will also return to college in mid-August. We are pleased to have this great team of enthusiastic and experienced stewards!

However, we will be losing one of our stewards soon as Maddie has accepted the full-time preserve manager position at Cedar Bog in Champaign County. ONAPA has been working hard at Cedar Bog for the past four years, so Maddie has plenty of experience with the preserve. We are excited that one of our stewardship assistants will now be managing one of the highest quality fen ecosystems in Ohio. We look

Left to right: Jordan Tackett, Mariola Castrejon, Rachael Patterson, Jennifer Windus, Madison Brown and Lydia Radcliffe.

forward to continuing our partnership there with the Cedar Bog Association, Ohio History Connection, and ODNR's Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. Maddie will start at Cedar Bog on July 26, so welcome her there if you visit the preserve. She is thrilled to get this position and will do an excellent job.

Habitat management and plant surveys mark June stewardship projects

Lady Slipper survey at Cedar Bog

June was another busy month for the ONAPA stewardship team, with some habitat management and several days monitoring rare plant populations. We conducted habitat management at Chaparral Prairie June 13, pulling sweet-clover & teasel. At Jackson Bog June 20, woody species were cut in the fen meadows. We did a survey of the showy lady's-slipper population at Cedar Bog on June 15, a follow-up to one we started last year to estimate the number of plants at the preserve. Near the end of June, we spent three days surveying Eastern prairie fringed orchids at eight sites. This important work is done in cooperation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the state Division of Natural Areas & Preserves, following specific survey protocols. Conducting the rare plant surveys is excellent experience for our five stewardship assistants.

Pulling sweet-clover at Chaparral Prairie

Prairie fringed orchid survey - Photos by Lydia Radcliffe

May projects varied and in different regions of the state

Four of the five 2023 Stewardship Assistants

May was a busy month for the ONAPA stewardship program with eight projects and getting the stewardship assistants back on board. We have five stewardship assistants again this season, four who are returning - Madison Brown, Lydia Radcliffe, Rachael Patterson, and Mariola Castrejon. We added one new assistant, Jordan Tackett, who also works for the Richland County Park District.

We had four projects removing garlic mustard and Dame's rocket: Lake Katharine (May 9), Davey Woods (May 11), Irwin Prairie (May 16), and Bonnett Pond Bog (May 30). Two days were spent working with Lakeside daisy projects

Lakeside Daisy project volunteers

Downed trees that needed to be cleared in the Crane Hollow pine plantation

- monitoring planted plots and collecting seeds. We
helped improve habitat at DuPont Marsh for a rare iris species, in cooperation with DNAP and Erie Metro Parks (May 4). We also assisted Crane Hollow in the clean-up of downed white pines in a plantation (May 17).

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.