Cleveland Pollinator
& Native Plant Symposium
SAMPLE FIELD TRIPS
Regional field trips were a new addition to our Symposium in 2019! As part of the symposium attendance fee, attendees selected from five free field trips and one private garden experience on during the two-day symposium. See below for past choices.
TRIP# 1: Be Wild for Biodiversity at Mentor Marsh
5185 Corduroy Road, Mentor, OH
TRIP #2: Newell Preserve
County Line Road, Gates Mills, OH
Becky Donaldson, the Mentor Marsh naturalist, will lead a tour of one of the largest natural
marshes remaining along the Lake Erie shoreline. Mentor Marsh became Ohio’s first state nature preserve in 1971 and is co-owned by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources-Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. Facilities at Mentor Marsh include a nature center and three trails including a boardwalk into the middle of the marsh. Since 2015 CMNH has undertaken a large scale restoration project by removing the very invasive Phragmites. Explore the marsh restored with more than 170 native plant species where wildflowers will be at their peak bloom, insect life will be buzzing and we will tag monarchs too!
There will be a brief introduction at the Mentor Marsh Nature Center, then we will caravan
to the boardwalk to experience firsthand the resurgence of the wild biodiversity of Mentor
Marsh.
Join Garrett Ormiston, naturalist from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, for a hike
through one of the museum’s newly acquired natural areas. The preserve features a dynamic
combination of habitats from open meadows to a mixed-mesophytic upland forest and a deep,
picturesque ravine through which a Chagrin River tributary flows. The “virgin forest” is more
than 200 years old and consists largely of American Beech, Sugar Maple and Hemlock trees. The variety of habitats is very important for sustaining a migrating bird population and includes bobolinks, which are declining. The rare Northern two-lined salamanders are found here and are indicative of high quality habitat. Be sure to bring your camera to catch photogenic butterflies, insects and wildlife on the trails.
TRIP# 3: Acacia Reservation
26899 Cedar Road, Lyndhurst, OH
Discover the amazing transformation by the Cleveland Metroparks of the former 155-acre
Acacia Country Club back to its original form—a forested wetland and meadows. Cleveland
Metroparks naturalist Natalie Schroder will take you through their process of restoring a 100 year old golf course into an urban eco-park with swales, wetland areas and meadows. The west branch of Euclid Creek, which flowed through the golf course, has been returned to its natural banks, including flood plains that naturally filter pollutants.
The Euclid Creek restoration now reduces downstream flooding, erosion and pollution and fosters the regeneration of riparian areas and whole new layer of urban ecology. A one day “Bioblitz” event with naturalists, scientists and volunteers yielded a count of more than 350 species of plants, animals ( including minks) and insects in the reservation. More than 175 birds have been documented, including merlins, which are small falcons with a powerful
build.
TRIP# 4: Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve
8701 Lakeshore Blvd. NE, Cleveland,OH
Delve into an area once known as Dike 14, where U.S. Army Corps of Engineers disposed of
sediment dredged from the Cuyahoga River in a walled-off area that juts out from the Lake Erie
shoreline. Over the years, layers of sediment—essentially sand, soil and clay—built up. After the USACE stopped using Dike 14, nature took hold, and with very little human intervention, the
peninsula became filled with plants, trees and shrubs that attract diverse species of birds,
butterflies and other wildlife. Habitats include grasslands, a forest area, meadows, mudflats,
shrub lands and wetlands that are now home to 280 bird species, 42 butterfly species, 26 Ohio
native plant species. And the bonus is a fantastic view of the lake and the city of Cleveland!
TRIP #5: Holden Wildflower Garden and Butterfly Garden
Holden Arboretum/Corning Visitors Center, 9550 Sperry Road, Kirtland, OH
Stroll through the dazzling Holden Wildflower Garden with horticulturist Annie Rzepka Budziak
to observe the glorious fall blooms of Ohio’s native wildflowers. This garden is a showcase of
Ohio’s native flora and a repository for the vanishing flora of the Great Lakes Region. Holden uses only local genotypes in the garden and all the plants are seed propagated.
As a big bonus, Annie will guide visitors in collecting seeds from the plants to take home and create your own beautiful wildflower garden. Lori Gogolin, Holden Butterfly Garden horticulturist, will highlight the many butterflies, birds and insects taking advantage of this perfect setting. Be sure to bring your cameras!
TRIP# 6: Private Garden Experience
Shaker Heights, OH
Landscape designer and Cleveland Pollinator & Native Plant Symposium founder, Ann
Cicarella, opens her private gardens featuring sun and shade native plants for all seasons. Explore a suburban backyard designed to provide habitat for birds, honey bees, native bees, butterflies and moths.
Ann’s garden has been featured in Ohio Magazine and Country Gardens. She is a beekeeper, a Certified Pollinator Specialist and handraises monarch butterflies.
DESIGNING LANDSCAPES FOR BEAUTY, BIODIVERSITY AND ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS