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

PASSION, PERTINENT, POPULAR INTEREST, PRESERVATION

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.

Sustainable Suburbia

PASSION, PERMACULTURE, POPULAR INTEREST, PRACTICE

by Melissa Amit Shuck

Sustainable Suburbia. It seems like an oxymoron. Yes, there are a few gem homes in the lower latitudes that have achieved just that, zeroing out their lives’ inputs and outputs without retreating to the remote country side.

Just think: how lavish and sustainable would the world be if everyone could live such a life? Yet I could find no model for this in northern climates: urban farms – yes, zero energy living – yes, but no combinations mooshed into the size of a suburban lot. I guess we can blame the cold.

It is a seemingly impossible challenge, therefore, naturally, I have to try with my small suburban home. First: as any good planner would do, I calculated the possibility. This is in order to keep God laughing (as the saying goes: Man plans, God laughs). Stark Brothers has a chart on fruit tree yields and, with some quick conversions from bushels to units I recognize in a grocery store, a semi-dwarf apple tree can yield approximately 1,000 apples.

Square foot gardening and permaculture also make high claims for sustainable living. Integrating those techniques and performing a cross- check between my comprehensive grocery list and their yield potential seems promising. Despite the north’s limitations on growing, my home landscape could produce almost everything I need except some very important staples: cinnamon, coffee, cocoa, beef, dairy, and cumin. Ok, maybe not very important, but those we are not willing to give up—yet anyway.

As for the rest of our home being sustainable, the calculations were simpler. Insulate the house, add window treatments, compost, recycle, redirect water for multiple uses and keep it on the property; investigate and balance solar, wind, and other types of electrical energy; reduce and refine our use patterns for low waste.

The biggest problem with the structural changes, such as the gobs of insulation that need to fill our attic is either money, time, or both The money can, I reason, be saved from the garden. I can generally expect an annual savings of at least $200 off of my annual veggies and berries. The time to install will come in winter when it is too cold to garden.

As my skill improves, my seed selections are refined, and my perennials begin to fruit, my savings increase.

In fact, it’s the rate of return that led me to the garden first. Rarely are investments found to have as high a gain as a garden managed by a knowledgeable gardener. Fertilizer can be free, if you know where to look. Because I have a low fertility soil I demand a lot from, I would need to do a lot of hustling to get enough free fertilizer to meet my demand. Since I already have a plate full of hustle, I supplement my free fertilizers with organic fertilizers.

Seed and plant stock can also be free. Look no further than your trash bin or compost pile. However, there are plants you may never meet at your grocery store that would fill both a niche in your diet and landscape. Thus, in order as much as possible, I decided to order some plants via catalog.

Most seed and plant sellers are happy to send you a free catalog. These are great antidepressants for bored gardeners frozen out of their hobby during winter and great learning tools for new gardeners about variety, timing, and the abundance of species available to us humans in a global world. Such plants as Hardy Kiwi, super sweet wild tomatoes, flowering bush cherries, currants, and more are all available to be mailed to your doorstep in spring.

I figured the $5/bareroot hazelnut bush was worth the $25 of fruit it would yield per year upon maturity. This reinvesting helps increase my annual gains in the garden, as long as a niche needs filling, and it is amazing how many niches there are! I guesstimate that by filling such niches I can save $200 more per year.

This is similar to building a business. The business is our food bill, utility bills, and our health. All which are monetized in our society and at rates that make this a “lucrative business.” The starting pay for any new business is, however very bad. There are one-time efforts and purchases that cost a lot with returns only to be seen years down the line. This being a sustainable business is no different. Fruit trees average three to five years to yield anything substantial, but require TLC every year.

The calculations I described thus far are about what is needed for a homestead outside the city. In the city there is another factor – aesthetics. Some cities require lawns or tell you “no vegetable gardens in your front yard”, or even more commonly, “no chickens.” We chose to live in a city without those rules, but we do not feel that gives us license to annoy our neighbors. Plus, the nicer sustainable gardening looks, the more likely it is to be adopted, making the whole city more sustainable, not just our backyard.

More research was needed on foliage color and shape, flower color, bloom time, fall foliage color, etc. As it turns out, since fruit come from flowers, most plants have an aesthetic element that makes them compatible with the average flower garden, accept maybe the tomato. Those small yellow flowers and well known fruit just shout “veggies here!” A maypop or echinacea, on the other hand, would camouflage into even the most stringent suburban landscape. All this research led me into the business of garden design and my Facebook page “Imitating Eden Garden Design.”

With the calculations complete, it was time to get cracking. That was four seasons ago, when we started turning a typical suburban lot to a food forest paradise. The transition continues with some good early results. We are sustainable in or nearly sustainable in: most herbs, onions, garlic, squash, wine, fresh tomatoes, salad greens, snap peas, rhubarb, and most berries. Our diet has changed. After 3 frustrating years trying to grow poppies, I found out broad leaf plantain has small edible seeds that could be used to decorate bread, like poppies or sesame. My celery always turned out stunted at best, so I substituted the more attractive—and still quite edible—prolific rhubarb.

My cooking now more resembles the show Chopped, than following Tollhouse’s chocolate chip cookie recipe.

The conclusion of this study is so far unknown. The data gathered has many positive indications. This recent harvest season has dropped our food bill, despite our growing family. Certainly, if nothing else, there are many lessons to be applied to a general northern city living which reduce the suburbanite foot print. I try to share these lessons on my Facebook page, through the volunteer-led gardens I run, my business, Permies.com and the occasional article or talk. I hope to publish more as the data arrives. If you are interested in learning more, please contact me. My Facebook page has the details.

Global Gardening: Benefits of Gardening with the Newest Members of our Community

PASSION, PERTINENT, POPULAR INTEREST, PRACTICE

by Maggie Fitzpatrick

For parts of our community, particularly newly arrived refugees and immigrants, gardens can be an important source of cultural expression and food for the home.  Having diverse and welcoming gardens can be an opportunity for all to thrive.  It allows for opportunities to learn unique growing skills and new perspectives on gardening. 

Whether people are newly arrived or had immigrant relatives generations ago, growing information is often handed down through generations.  From working with Bhutanese and Burmese individuals I learned about growing cucurbits through what we termed “shelf gardening.”  In other terms using a trellis, like an arbor, allowing for the plant foliage to grow and for the melon, gourd or squash fruit to hang down.  This was done with Asian varieties including bottle gourd and bitter melon.  Try this with delicata or acorn squash, nothing too heavy. 

Living in our commercial milieu, gardeners in the US often think they have to buy something to solve a garden issue.  The perspective on garden supplies is much different for refugee and immigrant farmers.  For trellises, I’ve seen community gardeners scour for large fallen branches.  The results of pole beans growing up and winding around the branches is beautiful and free! 

Working with a diverse set of gardeners also give the opportunity to learn about other cultures.  If you can engage with your fellow gardeners, you can learn about different crop varieties that are particular to other regions of the world.  Thai eggplant, Asian long beans, Thai chili peppers, okra, bitter melon and the list goes on.  By communicating with the people that know these veggies best, you learn how to prepare and cook these special veggies. 

Here are some tips for working with a refugee and/or language-learning community:

  • Have picture-based signage. Put as many garden rules into clear graphic signage so that no matter your language or literacy level you can discern the message.  If you can, interpret and demonstrate the rule to the group so that the meaning is solidified.
  • Seek interpretation when available. If there is a language barrier, try to find a family member or a community leader to help with communication.  Communication is key to good relationships between gardeners.
  • Navigate cultural differences and misunderstandings. Cultural differences will arise, however the benefits are well worth negotiating these issues.  Common misunderstanding can be over perceptions of neatness in the garden, plot boundaries and ownership of produce.
  • Provide information and learning for all levels and styles. Individuals have varying levels of experience and success with formal, classroom-based education.  Some may have no experience.  Remember there are many approaches to learning.  Materials and sessions that are text and graph heavy can be difficult for some.  Consider storytelling, role-play vignettes, and demonstration as techniques to use in addition to plain language handouts to send home.
  • Make space for empowerment and sharing knowledge. Many people have rich backgrounds farming in their homelands.  With pre-set garden rules and typical “ways of doing things” much of the information can seem one-directional.  Adults are most engaged and learn best when they can share and draw upon experience.  Make space for this sharing to happen, and invite leadership from any cultural communities involved in the garden.

One great resources for working with refugee and immigrants as farmers and community gardeners: ISED Solutions (2017). Teaching Handbook Refugee Farmer Training. Happy garden planning!

Maggie Fitzpatrick is the Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator at Cuyahoga County Extension

November

PERTINENT, POETRY, POPULAR INTEREST

by Mark Gilson

One day the leaves are gone.
And the wind makes dying sounds
within the humbled branches.
It is time.
The slow earth yields its precious heat.

In a cold hush before the sun
our garden perishes within the arms
of a stranger.  Vain, inexorable, patient,
He chalks his victims
in a pale and savage dust.

Marigolds and sweet alyssum
wither uncherished beneath the brittle weeds
that overtook our nobler intentions
in warmer months, when we were young
and soon distracted.

Rain, snow, frozen soil, the way
the blackbirds undulate across drab
sheets of grey sky in curving
arrows toward the recent past…
so many things go unremembered.

The Great Lakes Cycle

PERTINENT, POPULAR INTEREST, PRESERVATION

by Elsa Johnson

On Tuesday I spent an hour (not really enough time, but I had a meter running) at Cleveland’s Museum of Contemporary Art, free on election day (great idea there, MOCA). I wanted to see the current exhibit, The Great Lakes Cycle, by artist Alexis Rockman, who aligns environmental activism with art in a most satisfying way. The exhibit introduces itself through a collection of some of Rockman’s field ‘sketches’ – which are actually not sketches but black and white watercolor renderings with a delicious, ephemeral watery look –

Following that, in the first exhibit hall, is a collection of large scale equally watery, equally delicious watercolor paintings that allow one to appreciate Rockman’s loose yet explicitly detail-suggestive handling/execution of this challenging medium.

Leading to the largest room, in which hang the five great paintings for which the exhibit is named. These fill-the-wall scale paintings are visually rich, emotionally affecting, and intellectually exhilarating, educating, and depressing. Don’t let that last keep you away. This is a must see exhibit.

These five paintings are visual studies through a vast extended timeline of man’s interaction with and effect on the Great Lakes. One ‘reads’ the paintings from left to right, with the left side representing the original pristine natural environment.

 In all the pictures the left side is the oldest in the timeline, and the timeline changes progressively through time toward the right side, which is the historically most recent and most ecologically disturbed, abused, and debased. That juxtaposition on one canvas, of those effects of which we are not unaware but often not thoughtful about, brings the alteration profoundly home. It is a slice through time and physical reality that shows us, both above and below the water, the changes wrought as it enumerates the natural, the unnatural, and in one painting the imaginary, denizens of the lake and shore. The paintings are a little overwhelming and deserve more study than a ticking meter allows.  

A little Great Lakes history here, cribbed from an accompanying book of the same title (available in the gift store): The Great Lakes were carved by glaciers over vast millenia of geologic time, and were equally slowly revealed as the glaciers receded. Better described as inland seas, they reached their current form roughly 5,000 years ago. They carry 18 to 20% of the surface freshwater on the planet. If combined into one, that sea would span the combined landmass of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The Great Lakes hold 6 quadrillion gallons of water – enough to cover the continental United States with a layer of water 10 feet deep. The northernmost lake, Superior, is the world’s largest lake by volume of water, while Lake Erie, our canary-in-the-mine lake (my description, not the book’s) is the southernmost and shallowest. Lake Erie has the most productive fishery, and is the most quickly flushed (my choice of words, not the book’s – and believe me, fast flushing is a good thing). Surrounding the Great Lakes is a rich diversity of ecosystems. 

There are 5 paintings. It is not really clear to me that each painting represents a specific lake. Rather, each painting addresses a common issue all the lakes have.  The painting titled Pioneers, focuses on aquatic life, and the in-migration of aquatic life since the end of the last ice age, from the sturgeon that fed the first Native Americans to today’s aquatic invaders, shown as a stream of small creatures ejected from an anchored ships ballast water.   

The painting titled Cascade is a study of man’s continuing impact on nature, a mix of human and natural history, from the elk swimming across the water on the left to the blighted industrial landscape pictured on the right, set off by buoys.

The painting titled Spheres of Influence explores how the interaction of the global ecosystem (weather, birds, insects, bats, and air-borne micro-contaminants) has shaped the current condition of the lakes

The painting Watershed illuminates the shift that happens as pristine streams and rivers are contaminated by modern agriculture and urban development. It’s pretty disturbing…

And finally, the picture Forces of Change illustrates these – both the past, and the potential future – complete with an imaginary e-coli kraken – if we continue on our current polluting ways.

A day following my trip to MOCA to see this exhibit I attended an evening panel symposium at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, discussing the state of our lake. What good timing I thought! I  thought I could include a synopsis of that panel discussion here at the end of this article, but I have come to see that it is a separate article of its own. So I will end here with a synopsis of each lake’s problems as taken from the book:

Lake Superior is the fastest warming large lake on the planet. Warmer waters threaten this lake’s cold water fishery. Lakes Michigan and Huron are essentially one lake; they have been invaded by zebra mussels, which filter immense quantities of plankton through their bodies. This gives the water clarity, but that clarity is indication of meager fish. Lake Erie suffers from toxic algae blooms, which are likely to double as the climate changes. And Lake Ontario suffers from being used as a toxic dumping ground, which are now locked into the lake’s bottom sediments. What follows is a map from the book showing cumulative stresses on the lake. It does not differ significantly from one projected on the screen at the museum talk, so I include it here:

I hope you will go see this exhibit and spend some time with it. Take the kids.

Exploring the Paine Creek Parks

PERIPATETIC, POPULAR INTEREST

by Elsa Johnson

Parks play an important role in greening a metropolitan area—including the parks that are not actually within the city itself. Cleveland is lucky to have an especially rich park system close in.  But Cleveland area people often miss some cool parks that are a little further out —  close by but not real close by – and a bit harder to get to. From the eastside. It’s easy to get to Holden Arboretum; the Lake County parks that are close by Holden are hard to miss and draw a lot of visitors – like Penitentiary Glen. But way out on the farthest fringes of Lake County there are a collection of not so easy to find parks with some unique features. As a long-practicing landscape designer I have often gone to Klyn Nursery. It was easy to get to Klyn’s via Route 90 and Vrooman Road. When I would get to the bottom of the hill on Vrooman, before it passed over the bridge crossing the Grand River, I would notice a gravel and dirt road that turned right and wandered off ….somewhere.  The road less traveled.  It always intimidated me a little bit, looking  isolated and rough, as it did, and I was on my ‘getting plants’ mission anyway. So I’d pass it by. Then they (the ubiquitous ‘they’) closed the Vrooman Road bridge. So I found myself looking for other ways to get to Klyn’s, and began exploring the back roads, and In doing so I discovered a trio of interesting parks.

I’ve written before, I believe, about Indian Point Park, which is where you find yourself if you if you take that road less traveled. Paine Creek, a small tributary stream to the Grand River, enters that larger flow at Indian Point. Yes, there’s a real legitimate reason it is called Indian Point, and you can discover it via the Lake county Parks website. You can climb up to the top of the point for a view out over the Grand, an Ohio Wild and Scenic River. In the springtime the forest floor here is covered in Virginia bluebells; and in a few weeks there will be glorious fall color. Then, were you a duck you could swim or waddle up Paine Creek, pass under the I-90 freeway, and, not too much further on, arrive at Paine Falls Park. But if you are human, you will have to use your phone navigator or an old fashioned map and zig here and then zag there. The duck will arrive first.

From Paine Falls Park, if you are a duck, having flown to the top of the falls, you will continue up the Paine Creek stream and soon arrive at Hell Hollow Wilderness Area. But if you are human, you’ll get in your car and zig and zag again, and eventually, with luck, find yourself at the same place, but at the top rim of the hollow rather than down in the bottom with the duck.

The charm of the Paine Creek parks and the Hell Hollow Wilderness Area is not to be found in a long hike – there are no long trails – rather, the charm lies in the intimate exploration of Paine Creek (even though you’re not a duck, you get to play in the water). But at Hell Hollow, before you do that, you have to walk down two hundred and sixty three steps (remembering that what goes down must come back up again).

There are great views from the rim trail out over the hollow to the creek below.

The creek bed is shale, not mud, and on a warm summer or early fall day, with the water low, wearing water sneakers, we walked both along and in the water, feeling like explorers, noticing the creek side vegetation (knotweed even here!) and the tiny darters dashing from one sheltering stone to another. Nowhere was the water higher than my ankles.  A young naturalist we came across in the stream showed us a crayfish he held in his fingers, a sign of the unpolluted quality of the water.

I should note that in higher and colder water this watery exploration probably would not be a good or safe idea.

These three destinations put together would make a nice day trip for a city dweller, or someone looking for a little adventure, although I find myself wishing that somehow these three parks, so well connected by nature, were better connected by and for people, so that one could explore them as a continuous hike.

Perhaps someday.

Get Ready for a Little Breaking and Entering

PERTINENT, POPULAR INTEREST

by Joe Boggs
Ohio State University Extension, Hamilton County
OSU Department of Entomology

Our drop in temperatures throughout Ohio will no doubt convince fall home invading insects that it’s time to seek winter quarters.  These unwelcomed guests typically include Boxelder Bugs (Boisea trivittatus); Western Conifer Seed Bugs (Leptoglossus occidentalis); Magnolia Seed Bugs (Leptoglossus fulvicornis); Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles (MALB) (Harmonia axyridis); and the most notorious of all, Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs (BMSB) (Halyomorpha halys).

These home invaders have several things in common.  First, their populations may vary considerably even across relatively short distances.  Some homes may be inundated while those located just a few miles away remain free of insect marauders.

Even more challenging, late season outdoor populations are not always a reliable predictor of indoor excursions.  Just because you didn’t see them in September doesn’t mean you won’t see them sitting next to you on your sofa in November.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

The second thing these home invaders have in common is their “cold-blooded” physiology meaning the speed of their metabolism is mostly governed by ambient temperature; the higher the temperature, the faster their metabolism, and the faster they “burn” fat.  Yes, insects have fat, but it’s confined by their hard exoskeletons so they don’t suffer ever-expanding waistlines.

These insects feed voraciously in late summer to accumulate fat.  They then seek sheltered locations in the fall where cool temperatures slow their metabolism during the winter so they will not exhaust their stored fat reserves.  This survival strategy keeps them alive since there is nothing for them to eat throughout the winter.

The insects are attracted to the solar heat radiating from southern or western facing roofs and outside walls as well as the warmth radiating from within.  This can lead them into attics, outside wall voids, and spaces around door jams and window frames that make perfect overwintering sites.  They stand a good chance of surviving the winter as long as they remain in these cool, protected sites.

However, sometimes they make a terrible error; for both the insect and a homeowner.  Instead of staying put, they continue to follow the heat gradient into homes.  This is accidental and disastrous for the insects because the high indoor temperatures cause them to burn through their fat reserves and starve to death.  And, they do not go gentle into that good night!  Starving brown marmorated stink bugs and multicolored Asian lady beetles commonly take flight to buzz-bomb astonished homeowners and terrified pets.

The Best Defense is a Good Offense

The best defense against home invaders buzzing or lumbering around inside a home is to prevent them from entering in the first place.  Although there are effective indoor BMSB traps, they shouldn’t be used in place of sealing openings that allow the bugs to enter the home.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of bugs. 

Large openings created by the loss of old caulking around window frames or door jams provide easy access into homes.  Such openings should be sealed using a good quality flexible caulk or insulating foam sealant for large openings.

Poorly attached home siding and rips in window screens also provide an open invitation.  The same is true of worn-out exterior door sweeps including doors leading into attached garages; they may as well have an “enter here” sign hanging on them.  Venture into the attic to look for unprotected vents, such as bathroom and kitchen vents, or unscreened attic vents.  While in the attic, look for openings around soffits.  Both lady beetles and stink bugs commonly crawl upwards when they land on outside walls; gaps created by loose-fitting soffits are gateways into home attics. 

Handle with Care

Insects that find their way into a home should be dealt with carefully. Swatting or otherwise smashing these insects can cause more damage than leaving them alone since fluids inside their bodies can leave permanent stains on furniture, carpets, and walls.  Also, mashing multicolored Asian lady beetles and brown marmorated stink bugs can release a lingering eau de bug; lady beetles have stinky blood and stink bugs are called stink bugs for a reason!

Vacuum cleaners present their own sets of risks.  A “direct-fan” type of vacuum cleaner should never be used.  Passing the refuse through an impeller will create a horrifying bug-blender!  Even a “fan-bypass” type (e.g. Shop-Vac) with the refuse bypassing the impeller can develop a distinctive scent if used on stink bugs because the bugs will release their defense odor in response to swirling around inside the vacuum tank.

However, fragrant misadventures with vacuum cleaners can be minimized with a slight modification involving using a nylon ankle sock as pictured below.  The method is clearly described in the OSU Factsheet titled, Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle (see “More Information” below).

Small numbers of home invaders can be scooped-up and discarded by constructing a simple but effective “bug collector” using a plastic pint water bottle as pictured below.  Large numbers of insects can be quickly dispatched by placing a small amount of soapy water in the bottom of the bug collector.

MORE INFORMATION:

OSU Factsheet, Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle, ENT-44

 

Masterful gardener Lois Rose shares autumn in the garden

PASSION, PERTINENT, POPULAR INTEREST

by Lois Rose

These images are from Heights area gardens in September this year.

Anemone.  Needs full sun to partial shade, rich well drained soil.

Aster needs full sun.  They will self-seed around your garden if you fail to deadhead. Can be lanky so cutting back early in the season, by early June, can create a shorter and later flowering plant. Aster tataricus is blooming right now—very late, with lavender-blue tall stems.

Hardy begonia. Partial or full shade, bloom for months, prefers moist rich soil, come in late.

Belamcanda, or Blackberry lily likes full sun, sometimes reseeds. Needs good drainage. Seed pods are great for arrangements.

Plumbago—cerratostigma plumbaginoides. Blue flowers late in season, full sun to partial shade. Good drainage is important, slowly spreading ground cover.

Chelone—pink turtlehead, full sun or partial shade. Seedheads are nice. Plants can be pinched back in spring to reduce height.

Heuchera likes full sun to partial shade.  Don’t prune in winter.  Mulch instead.

Kirengeshoma palmata likes partial shade, suffers in drought. Prefers slightly acid soil.

Liriope, creeping lilyturf. Full sun or shade, do not deadhead for interesting fruit. Clean up in spring.

Perovskia or Russian sage in full sun. Long flowering, tendency to flop. Pinch by one-half when a foot tall for fuller plants.

Phlox in full sun. Seedlings are not true to type. Thin by a third early to reduce mildew, or choose wisely. Pinching produces shorter plants and delays flowering.

Physostegia, obedient plant. Full sun or partial shade, deadhead to improve appearance and possibly lengthen bloom time.

Sedum likes full sun or partial shade—Autumn Joy is a four-season plant, so it is cut back after winter has taken its toll but only then. Can flop in shade but can be pinched or cut back to a few inches when 8 inches tall in June for shorter and later blooming.

Solidago is full sun.  Can be cut back by a half in early June for shorter more compact habit and delay of flowering.

Trycyrtis, hairy toad lily likes partial shade. Can be cut back by one half in early June. Needs rich soil.

Heptacodium miconioides, Seven-son Flower. Grown as a shrub or tree, outstanding calyx display in pink after flowering is done in late fall. Needs moist, well drained, rich soil, partial shade, exfoliating bark.

If you want more information about the perennials or shrubs or trees, there are two very useful books that will help. One is “The Well-Tended Perennial Garden,” by Tracy DiSabato-Aust.  This is the kind of book you keep by your bedside so that you can read up on what you have to do tomorrow in the garden. The other book is Michael Dirr’s “Manual of Woody Landscape Plants.” Again, the go-to source for all kinds of information, from beginners to advanced. There are no color illustrations, but he has produced another book to fill that gap. It has less detailed information, but the pictures are worth—well, you know.

If you haven’t seen enough plants, here are more images, offered without commentary.

A Gardeners’ Market for Northeast Ohio

PASSION, PERTINENT, POPULAR INTEREST

by Tom Gibson

That’s right.  A Gardeners’ Market, not a farmers’ market.  August 2019 will see the launch of what its founders believe will be the region’s first market in which only home and community gardeners, and cooks (and no professional farmers) can sell extra produce and flowers, as well as certain “cottage” products like baked goods that pass muster by the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture.

The Noble Gardeners’ Market, as it has been named, is tentatively scheduled to run for 8 to 10 weeks into early fall and take place on a mini-park at the corner of Roanoke and Noble Roads in the Noble neighborhood of Cleveland Heights. (See www.nobleneighbors.com for continuing updates.)

The inspiration for the market came to Brenda May, a leader of the Noble Neighbors community group from a small market she encountered in Wilmore, Kentucky, just south of Lexington, the state capital. “This market had only about 8 sellers,” she says, “but people came and stayed for hours.”

Some people came with just 20 tomatoes to sell from backyard gardens and one woman sold herb cuttings for a dime a piece. Some of the sellers wanted to make a few extra dollars, but others simply wanted to connect with the community.

Recalls May: “It was clear that the herb seller might not earn three dollars that day. So why was she there? It was about connecting with people, exchanging information, checking up on each other. That’s where I had the “aha” moment about community building and about not needing to have box loads of produce to make a successful market.”

To test the idea, May and a half dozen other members of Noble Neighbors tested the idea in late summer on three successive Saturdays from 10 AM to noon.  The response was strong. Said Jill Tatum, one of the Noble Neighbors participants: “We learned that there was tremendous interest among buyers, that people loved to stay and chat with each other, and that our two-hour market time is perfect for both buyers and sellers.”

Although the Wilmore example started initial thinking, May and her Noble Neighbors colleagues are actually aiming higher. They are looking not only for participants whose highest priority is community connection, but also for home producers who want to use their skills to make extra money.

They are also looking for participants across the region, not just Cleveland Heights.  So far, growers in South Euclid and Cleveland’s Hough Neighborhood have indicated interest.

“We need sellers,” says May. “The more sellers we have, the more customers we’ll be able to attract.”

Sellers will need to bring their own tables or ground cloth and must be able to make change for their customers.  

“Right now,” she says, “we want potential sellers to start thinking.  Since we know that gardeners start planning their gardens during the dark, snowy days of winter, we hope they will be thinking about the Noble Gardeners’ Market. How much they plant next spring will determine how much extra they will have to sell in late summer.”

The gardeners’ market has the enthusiastic support of the City of Cleveland Heights.  Mayor Carol Roe says, “This idea for a community market is just the latest in a series of creative ideas from Noble Neighborhood that bring people together by ‘thinking green.’  We have high hopes that this market will become a landmark for the region.”  

Whether

POETRY

by Elsa Johnson

A Simple Poem about Whether

How I love      a growling sky                                            after the grey

cloud dragons have slipped in                     stealthy                on their

thick     padded      feet     —      so many of them                  crowding

together                                They are alchemists                   conjuring

weather                           muttering guttural spells                   arguing                          

over whether                                             to send down sheets of rain

  /       walls of sleet        /                                      or merely a damping

dribble           Who should start the wind machine?                 Should

it stroke cheeks    /    or crack stone?                 caress trees    /     or

crush them?            harrow birds ?      oh yes !     —   and harry them             

How much     and where          —        all      the whethers of weather                                   

I love             the gravel                of their                    muffled ire      —                   

their mounded shapes                         But see    —    they can’t agree          

They’re              stealing away                                 down sky corridors