Restoring Ohio's Historical Landscapes and Trends in Species Change John Watts, Resource Manager Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks
“National and United States Road” through Licking County, Morris Schaff recalls that during his boyhood between 1840 and 1858 “…three fouths of Etna Township was covered by a noble primeval forest. And now, as I recall the stately grandeur of the red and white oaks, many of them six feet and more in diameter, towering up royally fifty and sixty feet without a limb; the shellbark hickories and the glowing maples, both with tops far aloft; the mild and moss-covered ash trees some of them over four feet through….. I considered if fortunate that I was reared among them and walked beneath them.” Trautman 1977
“The sedge-grass grew to an enormous height, sometimes sufficient to hide a man and horse when traveling through it…..” (History of Madison County 1883)
What did the original prairies of the Darby Plains look like? “ It is a well authenticated fact that a great portion of Madison County was, originally covered with water most of the year. The first settlers called these lands “barrens” and looked upon them as utterly unfit for farming purposes.” (History of Madison County 1883.)
Nearly every autumn prairie fires swept over the country, destroying everything in their path, endangering the lives and property of the pioneers, as well as the existence of the denizens of the forest that fled before the devouring elements to places of safety; but with the gradual settlement of the country these fires grew‘less frequent, until at last they became a thing of the past. (History of Madison County, Brown, 1883)
It was a grand sight to see those prairies on fire, especially at night, when hundreds of acres were surrounded by the destroying element, whose forked tongs shot upward above the interspersed oak openings, and its light almost equal to that of a mid-day sun, revealing the rapid retreat of the deer and other wild animals to some secluded place of safety. The very nature of the vegetation that grew upon these prairies made the fires formidable and to be dreaded by the first settlers…. ( History of Madison County, Brown, 1883 )
1785 Jonathan Alder then living In the Sandusky Plains recounts carrying the largest bull buffalo head he had ever seen as he was the focus of a practical joke played on him by the young braves ( Davis, The Journal of Jonathon Alder, 1988 ).
Native Remnant Prairies Of the Darby Plains Bigelow Cemetery Smith Cemetery State Nature Preserve State Nature Preserve
W. Pearl King Prairie Savanna • 350 year old Burr Oaks • 7 species of prairie grasses • Rare Native Prairie Plants Carex conoidea – T Eleocharis compressa – P Carex retroflexa – P Helianthemum bicknelli – P Carex bicknelli – T Viola pedatifida – E Viola nephrophylla - T Sporobolis heterolepis - T
Royal Catchfly -T Queen-of-the-Prairie
Prairie False Indigo - P Bunchflower - T
Sullivant’s Milkweed
Purple Coneflower
Project Area 2007
Project Area 2013 Franklin County and Columbus 1872
Bull Frog 2018
August 2010 August 2010 July 2011 June 2012
Virginia Rail - SC American Bittern - E Sora - SC Swamp Sparrow
Alvin Staffan Summer 2012 Bronze Copper Fall 2013-Tiger Salamander Summer 2014-Marsh Wren -SC Carolina Saddlebags
Tiger Swallowtail Common Wood Nymph Red Admiral
Report on the Birds of Ohio 1879, Dr. J.M. Wheaton of Columbus writes of the northern harrier, “In the vicinity of Columbus it was once rather common, and bred in the swamp prairies south of the city.” Northern Harrier
The Original Forests of Southeastern Ohio
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No Novem ember er 1 1924 24 Co Courtesy Co Columbus and Franklin Co County Metro Parks Ma March 2015
Edward S. Thomas, 1923-1940: Breeding Bird Surveys in Neotoma Valley, Clear Creek Metro Park. Lawrence Hicks, 1935: Distribution of Breeding Birds of Ohio; 1937 Breeding Birds of Unglaciated Ohio. Worth Randle, 1960-1977 (1980): A Guide to Summer Birding in Hocking Hills State Parks. Tom Thomson, 1972-1997: Breeding Birds of the Clear Creek Valley in Hocking and Fairfield Counties, Ohio. Jerry Cairo, 1978-1982: Bird Surveys within the Clear Creek Valley. Bruce Peterjohn, 1982: Breeding Avifauna of the South Bloomville Quadrangle. Dave Minney, 1988: The Breeding Bird Survey of the Crane Hollow Watershed. Daniel Rice, 1998: The Breeding Birds of the South Rim of Queer Creek Gorge, Hocking State Forest. Columbus Metro Parks Staff: Breeding Bird Surveys 1994-present. John Watts 2013-present: Bird Survey of the Crane Hollow Preserve, Hocking County, Ohio.
Christmas Birds Counts Sugar Grove CBC: 1944-1954
First Bird Record for Hocking County Carolina Parakeet February 9, 1773 Courtesy The Museum of Biological Diversity Reverend David Jones: "As I passed a certain place called Great Lick, I saw the last flock of parrots." [He had been on the lower Scioto and the Ohio since late December and was then on his way to Tuscarawas County.] "These birds were in great abundance about Siota in winter, and in summer 'tis probable they may be seen much further towards the north." [I am fairly confident his reference is to the vicinity of Salt Creek in southwestern Hocking County (and a branch of the Scioto River)] (McKinley, 1977, p. 5).
Golden Eagle by Dr. J. M. Wheaton appeared in his Report on the Birds of Ohio (1882, page 433). He notes: “A specimen in my collection, for which I am indebted to Mr. J. L. Stelzig, was wounded in Hocking County in the fall of 1877, and presented to the City Park of this city [referencing Columbus, Ohio] . It died in February, 1878.” The county’s first Bald Eagle record comes from the late 1800s. In 1882, Oliver Davie, a noted ornithologist and taxidermist, wrote of a dead Bald Eagle from Hocking County presented to him on October 4, 1880, one among a number of Bald and Golden eagles he received between 1878 and 1881.
Bachman’s Sparrows; 1929-1936 Courtesy The Museum of Biological Diversity Last Report June 1966 Bewick’s Wren; April 26, 1936 Courtesy The Museum of Biological Diversity Last Report June 1976
Species That Have Disappeared or Declined Since Hicks 1937 12 Species Total Disappeared: Declined: Bachman’s Sparrow Northern Bobwhite Bewick’s Wren Ruffed Grouse Loggerhead Shrike Eastern Whip-poor-will Barn Owl Black-billed Cuckoo Cerulean Warbler Upland Sandpiper Lark Sparrow Vesper Sparrow
Species That Have Increased Since Hicks 1937 23 Species Total Canada Warbler Great Blue Heron Blue Grosbeak Canada Goose Purple Finch Mute Swan House Finch Hooded Merganser Pine Siskin Mississippi Kite Savannah Sparrow Bald Eagle Tree Swallow Rock Pigeon Pine Warbler Winter Wren Prothonotary Warbler Veery Magnolia Warbler Hermit Thrush Blackburnian Warbler Blue-headed Vireo Chestnut-sided Warbler
Bewick’s Wren; Neotoma Valley Clear Creek Metro Park Breeding Commonly in 1920-1940 Now Gone
Cerulean Warbler Nest May 8 - June 9, 2016 Clear Creek Metro Park • Hicks 1937 noted at 7 on scale of 1-10. • 75% Decline since the mid-1960’s. • Estimated 69,000 during the 1980’s. • Current estimated population 28,000 Rodewald et al 2016; Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Ohio Photos by Nina Harfmann
“To the dwellers of the plains there is an appeal to the hills which is irresistible. One never tires of feasting his eyes on the majestic cliffs and the graceful, rolling summits of the ranges.” (Sandstone Cliffs, February 4, 1923, Edward S. Thomas). As published in Hicks, 1937. Courtesy Sewickley Valley Historical Society Thank You
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