All posts by Garrett Ormiston

Conservation Report from the Front Lines: Recent Land Acquisition Work of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

by Garrett Ormiston, GIS and Stewardship Specialist, Natural Areas Division, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History

The Museum’s Natural Areas Program

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is home to a unique conservation program which has protected some of the highest-quality natural sites in Northeast Ohio. This program, known as the Museum’s ‘Natural Areas Division’ was formally created in 1956 with the purchase of a portion of a small bog in Geauga County known as ‘Fern Lake Bog’. This preserve acquisition was conducted under the leadership of Museum Director William Scheele. The natural areas program has since grown to include more than 10,000 acres of land that have been conserved through either direct land purchase by the Museum, or through the purchase of conservation easements held over privately-owned land.

In total, the Museum has conserved 58 distinct nature preserves that are as far-flung as Kelleys Island and the Huron River watershed to the west, the Ohio-Pennsylvania line to the east, and the Akron-Canton metropolitan area to the south. These preserves contain a plethora of different habitat types that are wide-ranging and include peat bogs and fens, glacial alvar, forested wetlands, and sand barrens. Indeed, each preserve is a unique example of a particular habitat with distinct plant communities that existed naturally within our region before European settlement.

Natural Areas of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Map by Garrett Ormiston.

The Museum is very focused in its mission to conserve sites that contain unique habitat or that harbor rare species. In Ohio, rare species are listed as endangered, threatened, or potentially-threatened based on the number of populations in the State. The Museum’s program is unique in that its conservation efforts are largely steered by the research and inventory work conducted by the Museum’s staff. For instance, inventory data that is collected from field surveys conducted by the Museum’s various departments is compiled in Ohio’s Heritage Database which is managed by the Ohio Division of Wildlife. It is the data from this Heritage Database that helps determine which species are considered ‘rare’ in the State, as opposed to species that might simply be overlooked or not studied. Indeed, a rare species list is only as good as the data that is fed in to it, and the Museum is the main contributor in Northeast Ohio to the State’s Heritage Database. It is true that the Museum’s collections and research are literally driving its conservation efforts in Northeast Ohio.

The Museum ramped up its conservation efforts significantly around 1980 under the leadership of its Curator of Botany and Director of Natural Areas, Dr. James Bissell. Between 1980 and 2005, The natural areas program more than doubled in size. And between 2006 and the present, the program has more than doubled a second time. Over the last year, the Museum has seen the acquisition of several important tracts of land, which are described in detail below.

Expansion of the Mentor Marsh Preserve

One of the Museum’s oldest natural areas is the Mentor Marsh Preserve which is dedicated as a State Nature Preserve in Ohio. This 780-acre preserve was once a sprawling swamp forest system. Rich silver maple-dominated swamp flats and vernal pools covered the landscape, interspersed with small areas of open water, and emergent wetlands dominated by Greater bur-reed (Sparganium eurycarpum), a species that was likely one of the largest components of emergent wetlands in our region before invasive species like narrow-leaf cattail and canary grass became dominant.

The Museum took ownership of Mentor Marsh in 1965 after a grassroots effort to conserve the site was carried out between 1960 and 1965.  The Museum owns the site through a combination of a land transfer and a long-term leasing arrangement with the State of Ohio.

Unfortunately, the biological integrity of Mentor Marsh was dramatically altered in 1966 with the influx of salt contamination from an adjacent site. The water in Mentor Marsh became excessively saline, and caused the trees within the swamp forest to perish and to be replaced by a nearly 800-acre monoculture of giant reed grass (Phragmites australis), a non-native invasive grass that is salt tolerant, spreads quickly and aggressively, and can reach heights of more than 15 feet in a single season, displacing all manner of native vegetation. What was once a diverse ecosystem was transformed in to a landscape dominated by a single invasive species.

Since 2015, the Museum has been engaged in an ambitious project to rid Mentor Marsh of the invasive Phragmites, and to restore the site to native vegetation. This effort has been led by Museum Restoration Specialist, Dr. David Kriska, and has involved the aggressive treatment and removal of the Phragmites at the site, as well as the planting of native plant plugs and seed mixes to re-establish native vegetation. While the site may never return to the swamp forest it once was, the Museum envisions the 800-acre marsh basin returning to a rich diversity of native wetland plants including swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), and Greater bur-reed (Sparganium eurycarpum), among other species.

Native plants being planted at Mentor Marsh after Phragmites removal. Photo by Dr. David Kriska.

At the start of the restoration project at Mentor Marsh, the Museum did not own the entire marsh basin. This created a problem in that large swaths of the marsh were still under private ownership. Those areas would not have been able to be included in the Phragmites removal efforts. The Museum addressed this problem through a combination of land acquisitions and management agreements with private owners within the marsh that allowed for invasive species treatment of the entire Mentor Marsh basin.

Sections of the marsh were seeded by a helicopter with a mix of native plant species. Photo by Dr. David Kriska.

In July 2018, the Museum purchased the 25-acre Fredebaugh Property in the southeast section of the marsh basin, a site that extended out in to the Mentor Marsh basin. This property purchase was funded through a grant from the State of Ohio’s Clean Ohio program. At the same time the Museum acquired a 20-acre conservation easement in the far-western section of the Marsh basin.

Consolidating the Museum’s land ownership of the marsh basin through such acquisitions is the best way to insure that the Museum is able to manage the site in the long-term. If isolated stands of invasive Phragmites are allowed to persist in the marsh basin, they will remain a seed source that will allow continued invasion in to the preserve.

The Windsor Woods Preserve

In August 2018, the Museum purchased an additional 572 acres of land at its Windsor Woods Preserve, creating a sprawling 643-acre preserve nestled in the heart of the Grand River lowlands region. This purchase was funded through two grants, one from the State’s Water Resource Restoration Sponsorship Program (WRRSP), and a second grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission through the Clean Ohio program. The WRRSP grant was utilized as matching funds towards the Clean Ohio grant. The Museum had worked to protect Windsor Woods for more than 10 years, and had engaged in discussions with various landowners over the years before finally sealing the deal this year.

Large beaver-flooded open water wetland at the Windsor Woods Preserve. Photo by Trish Fox.

The ‘lowlands’ region of the Grand River watershed is a wild place, where the Grand River and its many tributaries weave in great arcs within the flat valley. Historic meanders of the Grand River eventually transform in to ‘oxbow’ channel ponds, which provide outstanding breeding habitat for many amphibian species. The preserve is home to at least 11 different species of salamanders and frogs. Some of the old channels of the Grand River are now high-quality peat wetlands and the preserve harbors a population of the native wild calla (Calla palustris) that grows within one of these peat systems. Beavers have also exerted a heavy influence on the landscape at Windsor Woods. Through the building of dams, beavers have engineered expansive open water wetland areas, and have contributed to the habitat diversity at the site.

Wild Calla at the Windsor Woods Preserve. Photo by Trish Fox.

The Grand River frequently breaches its banks in this part of the Grand River lowlands which can lead to large sections of the preserve being temporarily inundated with flood waters, and can even necessitate the closing of certain roads in the area due to flooding. Visiting the preserve at different times of year can therefore provide very different landscape views.

Windsor Woods is also unique in that it is situated in a large block of land that is absent of any major roadways. The Museum’s preserve is located in the interior areas of this swamp forest block and is largely buffered from the influx of invasive species that often invade preserves from roadways. The Museum certainly envisions continued expansion of this preserve in the future if the opportunity should present itself.

Swamp Forest at the Windsor Woods Preserve. Photo by Trish Fox.

The Minshall Alvar Preserve on Kelleys Island

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History has a long history of conservation work on Kelleys Island, located in the western basin of Lake Erie. The Museum has a total of nine nature preserves on Kelleys Island presently, including several preserves with frontage on Lake Erie. Kelleys Island is essentially a large limestone block in the middle of the lake, and it is home to many limestone-loving plant species that are not common in the Cleveland area, and are typically more prevalent in areas west of our region. The topsoil layer on Kelleys Island is very thin, with a limestone rock substrate very close to the surface.

Alvar plant communities on the shore of Lake Erie at the Minshall Alvar Preserve. Photo by Dave Vasarhelyi.
Limestone erratic on the Minshall Alvar Preserve. Photo by Dave Vasarhelyi.

The Museum has long considered the Minshall Alvar property, located in a less-developed area in the northwest corner of the Island to be an important conservation target. Through a partnership with the Trust for Public Land, the Museum finally acquired the Minshall Alvar Preserve in October 2018. The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the Museum secured funding from the Clean Ohio Conservation fund to purchase the property. The Minshall family generously provided the matching funds that were needed to be eligible for Clean Ohio funding in the form of a bargain sale of the land. The site harbors two globally-rare snakes including the Fox Snake and the Globally-imperiled Lake Erie Water Snake. The preserve’s plant communities are very diverse. Wave-splash alvar wetlands are present along the Lake Erie shoreline at the preserve, and unique microhabitats are perched atop large limestone blocks on the shoreline. The rare mountain rice (Piptatherum racemosum) is among the unique plants that are found on these limestone blocks at the preserve.

Sunken forest area in historically-quarried section of the Minshall Preserve. Photo by Dave Vasarhelyi.
Limestone Blocks on the Minshall Alvar Preserve. Photo by Dave Vasarhelyi.

The preserve also protects the most mature forest present on Kelleys Island, a noteworthy forest dominated by hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata), and honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos). And the honey locust at the preserve are not the thornless cultivars that we are used to seeing in our gardens! They are fully-adorned with long painful thorns that can be both ornamental and agonizing to the touch.

The Minshall Alvar Preserve also contains a formerly quarried area in the center of the property that is home to the State-endangered lakeside daisy (Tetraneuris herbacea). The Kelleys Island State Nature Preserve is located next to the Museum’s Minshall Alvar Preserve, and the lakeside daisy was re-introduced to the State-owned property in 1995, and it subsequently naturalized and spread to the Minshall property over time. More than 200 individual lakeside daisy plants were counted by Museum staff on the Minshall property in 2017. Unique switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) meadows and even shallow buttonbush wetlands are also present in the former quarry area, creating a diverse matrix of different plant communities. And shrublands dominated by Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) are also abundant at the preserve.

Lakeside Daisy (Tetraneuris heteracea) which has naturalized at the Minshall Alvar Preserve. Photo by Judy Semroc.
Switch-grass meadow in a historically-quarried section of the Minshall Alvar Preserve. Photo by Dave Vasarhelyi.
Saw Whet Owl in a Red Cedar on Kelleys Island. Photo by Judy Semroc.

Conclusion

The Museum is actively growing its network of nature preserves in Northeast Ohio. Its focus is on expanding existing preserves, especially when it results in the protection of entire wetland systems or other natural features, or when additional acquisitions can be useful from a preserve management perspective. Anyone who is interested in learning more about the Museum’s conservation work is encouraged to sign up for a field trip through the Museum’s website, www.cmnh.org. Several trips to Museum preserves are offered every month.

Diverse Landscapes for Shaded Areas Using Ferns and Sedges: With Photos!

by Garret Ormiston

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Shaded areas of our gardens have been one of the most under-utilized parts of our landscapes for many years. For too long, these areas have been relegated to the category of ‘space that needs to be filled’.

It is recognized that trees are a critical component of our landscaping, and provide us with many benefits. They provide critical food and nesting habitat for our native wildlife, and they make our yards and gardens places that we want to spend time in by blocking out the heat of the sun during the summer months. However, it seems that choosing plantings for the shaded areas beneath these trees is a significant struggle for many gardeners, and in many cases these areas end up being very one-dimensional and uninspired, lacking in both interest and diversity.

For decades, there was a feeling that if an area of your yard was too shaded to plant grass, then it should be planted with ‘ground-covers’ to eliminate areas of bare soil where weeds and other undesirable plants could become established. A ‘triad’ of non-native ground covers quickly became dominant fixtures in the landscape. This triad consisted of English ivy (Hedera helix), pachysandra (pachysandra terminalis), and myrtle (Vinca minor). These ground covers fulfilled their intended purpose, and they quickly covered ground! Quick to establish, aggressive in nature, and pleasantly evergreen, these three plants became one of the most dominant plantings in the American landscape.

Unfortunately these ground covers rarely ‘play nice’ with other plantings. In many cases, gardeners are often stuck with single-species plantings or ‘monocultures’ in these areas. Even if gardeners try to diversify the space by adding additional plantings, myrtle and pachysandra will quickly choke out other plantings with their carpet-like fibrous root systems. They hog space and draw out moisture and nutrients from the soil, aggressively competing with other plantings in the landscape. English ivy is even worse, and it will climb over and up other perennials, shrubs, and even trees. Forcing English Ivy to co-exist with other plantings often involves a tough regimen of regular trimming and pruning to keep the ivy in check. These plants also escape our garden boundaries and out-compete native vegetation in our parks and natural areas.

This is not to say that gardeners have not tried to integrate additional plant diversity in to their shaded landscapes! If anything, the selection of shade perennials that are available for purchase from local garden centers has expanded over the years. New varieties and cultivars of shade perennials and shrubs are constantly being developed which underscores the demand for shade plants in the landscape industry.  Endless selections of popular shade perennials such as hostas, coral bells, and astilbe have been developed, which feature dazzling foliage color variations. There is now ample choices for creating striking foliage contrast and vivid flowering in our shaded landscapes. There is also an exciting trend towards utilizing native plants in shade gardens. Native wildflowers such as wild geranium (Geranium maculatum), trillium (Trillium sp.), spring beauty (Claytonia virginica), and Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum) have garnered significant interest from gardeners in recent years.

However, too many of these plantings (native or non-native) quickly fall victim to the heavy level of deer browse in the urban and suburban landscape. With deer now fully integrated in to residential neighborhoods, the efforts of gardeners to ‘diversify’ their plant choices are rarely rewarded. As gardeners, we are all too familiar with the sight of perennials ‘mowed to the ground’ amidst a smattering of hoof prints in the soil. Its important to note that deer generally do not browse pachysandra, myrtle, or English Ivy. So it is understandable that many gardeners choose to ‘throw in the trowel’, and stick to the traditional ground cover plantings of our forefathers.

But with adversity comes opportunity! The scourge of deer browse in our gardens have forced us to examine overlooked groups of plants and to seek out the landscaping potential in plants that we have taken for granted in the past. When choosing plants for our gardening projects, the ornamental characteristics now often take second seat to a plant’s ‘deer resistance level’. After all, what good is a perennial or shrub that promises vibrant flowers and benefits to pollinating insects if the plant is eaten by the deer before it ever reaches that stage? When it comes to shade landscaping plants that are deer resistant, perhaps two of the most overlooked and under-appreciated groups of plants are the ferns and the sedges.

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Unfurling Christmas frond

As gardeners we have learned the painful lesson that the deer will eat any plant if they are hungry enough. However, ferns and sedges are about as close as we can get to a ‘sure bet’ on deer resistance. It has been observed in both our gardens and our parks and natural areas, that ferns and sedges are one of the last plants to fall victim to deer browse. They are generally only eaten when all other food choices have been exhausted.

The gardening public has become increasingly aware of the benefits of choosing native plants for their gardening projects. These plants tend to better adapted to the unique climate conditions of our region, require less in the way of fertilizer, and provide food and shelter for native wildlife that have co-evolved with these native plants. Also, native plants do not escape in to our parks and natural areas and out-compete our native wildflowers, the way that other more traditional ground covers such as English ivy, and myrtle tend to do. Many of the ferns and sedges that are available in the nursery trade are native species or selections of native species. There are also non-native (but non-invasive) species of ferns and sedges that can be considered as additional plantings for these shade gardens.

Ferns and sedges have sometimes been considered to be ‘boring’ groups of plants by many traditional gardeners. However, anyone familiar with the variation of foliage color and texture in the groups, will understand that belief is simply not the case.

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Carex-nigra (above)

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Carex-flagelifera (above)

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Carex Silver Sceptre (above)

The typical gardener is familiar with the lush foliage of ferns, but in many cases is less familiar with sedges. Sedges while grass-like in appearance and habit, are not true grasses. They are also stunningly diverse with more than 160 different species of sedges native to Ohio alone. Sedges grow in a variety of different conditions, but many are very well-adapted to shaded locations, both wet and dry.

The foliage contrast and variation amongst species and cultivars of sedges, both native and non-native, is outstanding. The sedges are prized for their ornamental foliage, although they also have brown-to-black grass-like blooms which can be ornamental when viewed up close.

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The wide evergreen leaves of the native plantain sedge (Carex plantaginea) (above)

The cheery grass-like lime-green foliage of the native Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica) is another welcome addition to the shade garden, especially in moist areas. If you have drier conditions, the Appalachian sedge (Carex appalachica) is a good choice and is somewhat similar in appearance to Pennsylvania sedge.

There are a number of interesting cultivars of the non-native broad-leafed sedge (Carex siderosticha), which can add striking foliage contrast to your shaded landscapes. Cultivars include ‘snow cap’ with bright cream and green variegated foliage, and ‘banana boat’ with bright yellow foliage. The more wiry foliage of Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii) can also offer noteworthy foliage contrast options including the green and yellow variegated foliage of the cultivar ‘variegata’, and the delicate white and green variegated ‘ice dance’ is particularly showy.

Lastly, the unusual copper and dead-brown foliage coloration of the non-native weeping brown sedge (Carex flagillifera) can be an interesting foliage play and an unusual conversation piece! The most intense copper and brown foliage color is shown when the plant is placed in a sunnier location. But the plant takes on an interesting copper-orange hue when planted in shade. If planting brown sedge, make sure that a cultivar is chosen that is cold-hardy, as some of the selections of brown sedge are borderline-hardy.

The lush, lacy and finely detailed texture of fern fronds is a welcome addition to shade gardens. There are species of ferns that will grow to a wide range of different heights which enables layering in the perennial landscape. There is also something primeval and enticing about an established fern-laden garden.

Ferns such as ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) (below)

Ostrich fern Matteucia struthiopteris

will quickly multiply as they spread by rhizomes and will create a pleasant natural effect in the garden. Ostrich fern tolerates moist to average soil. If you have a poorly-drained area in your shade garden, royal fern (Osmunda regalis) can be an excellent choice. Both of these species are among our largest native ferns, reaching mature heights of up to 4-5 feet. Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) with its conspicuous cinnamon-colored fertile fronds, is another tall and beautiful choice for moist areas.

Many native ferns have the added benefit of being evergreen plants.

Christmas fern. Polystichum acrostichoides (1)

Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), (above) has thick leathery fronds that stay green year-round. Christmas fern is a medium-sized fern, reaching mature heights of up to 2 feet. Another evergreen fern is the marginal wood fern (Dryopteris marginalis) that grows to 1.5 to 2 feet. Both of these ferns will thrive in average moisture conditions. The non-native but non-invasive autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) is another interesting choice, especially in dry to moderately-moist conditions. The cultivar of autumn fern, ‘brilliance’ is an excellent choice for adding foliage contrast to the landscape. This evergreen fern produces new fronds that display vivid shades of red and orange.

The delicate and lacy native maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) (below)

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is another interesting choice for the shade garden. Its black wiry stems and olive green foliage is a standout in the landscape, especially when planted in mass. Maidenhair ferns have long been considered popular house plants, and gardeners will enjoy that there is a hardy member of this genus as well that can survive our winters. Maidenhair fern can grow to mature heights of 2 to 2.5 feet.

Smaller ferns such as the native rock polypody (Polypodium virginianum) can also be interesting additions to the shade landscape. This small fern only reaches mature heights of 18 inches and is at home on shaded rocky slopes or rock gardens. The native lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) is another smaller fern that grows to about 2 feet tall in moist to average conditions. The cultivar of lady fern called ‘Lady in Red’ has distinctive red stems and is very ornamental. Hybridization between native lady fern, and Japanese lady fern (Athyrium niponicum) have produced extraordinary selections including ‘Ghost’, which has brilliant silvery fronds. A selection of Japanese lady fern known more commonly as Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. ‘Pictum’) contains foliage undertones of silver, pink, and green.

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The list of ferns and sedges goes on and on! Suffice it to say, they open up a world of deer-resistant opportunities for shade gardeners. Ferns and sedges work well when planted amongst native woodland shrubs such as spicebush (Lindera benzoin), and witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). Other native deer-resistant perennials such as wild ginger (Asarum canadense), black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), and Allegheny foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) can also be planted amongst ferns and sedges with exciting results.

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Hopefully the exploration of these under-appreciated and under-utilized groups of plants will open doors for gardeners, allowing us to move past the traditional ‘triad’ of invasive ground-covers that have dominated our landscapes in the past. In so doing, we will be able to incorporate more interest and more diversity in to our shaded gardens, transforming them from ‘spaces that need to be filled’, to artistic places that beckon us to spend more time amongst the trees, and that contain exciting examples of our region’s native plant species.

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