Restoration is for the Birds

Reserve your spot for a chair. unlimited overflow outside the tent without reservation.

As one of the most species-rich sites on the Great Lakes shoreline and Ohio’s 3rd largest Lake Erie coastal marsh, Mentor Marsh was part of the very first list of National Park Service-designated National Natural Landmarks in 1964. The Marsh was also named Ohio’s first State Nature Preserve in 1971 and is a National Audubon Society Important Birding Area. This 801-acre wetland is now in its 11th season of being restored after it suffered dramatically in 1966 from salt-mine tailings leaching into it. By 1973, most of the swamp forest trees and marsh plants had died, and the 4-mile-long wetland basin was overtaken by reed grass (Phragmites australis), a 15’ to 24’ tall nonnative invasive plant from Eurasia. With Ohio’s largest Phragmites monoculture nearly gone, the pursuit is on to find and eradicate the last Phragmites plants standing. Native habitat restoration from the start has been focused on a “build it and they will come” goal: restore native plant structure that in turn attracts imperiled wetland species. That goal is becoming a reality as several species of endangered Bitterns and Rails have been recently documented. We’ll discuss this and other ongoing projects, including using audio recorders and trail cameras in the marsh.

David Kriska, Ph.d, Restoration Ecologist

David joined the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 2003, working for the Natural Areas Division, where he specializes in rare plant and animal surveys, community ecology, and habitat restoration. The Natural Areas’ mission is to protect the region’s rarest species and habitats. Today, the Museum currently stewards 66 scientific Natural Areas spread across 12,500 acres. Each Natural Area contains unique habitats, such as old-growth forests, marshes, bogs, swamps, and fens. These special places represent the last remaining refuges in our bioregion, as many are globally rare, and together protect 275 different kinds of endangered, threatened, or rare plant and animal species.