Pearl's Fen Update

boardwalk under construction 10-11-19

Work is proceeding on a new trail system and boardwalk at Pearl's Fen.  A contractor, hired by Greene County Parks & Trails is installing the boardwalk at this writing.  GCPT has installed a new hiking trail loop too and the contractor has installed two bridges over "Pearl's Run", the stream that begins in the fen at a large spring.  Eventually this trail could be extended to connect with the trail system of the adjacent Oakes Quarry Park.

bridge 1 completed

This project is funded with a Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation grant that the Park District received a few years ago.  The second phase of the project will be the removal of a large portion of the woody vegetation that has encroached on the fen, which used to be open.  This growth has been at the expense of the diversity of herbaceous plants that lives there.  It is hoped that this "haircut" will allow these rare plants to come back.

bridge 2 completed

My friend Dr. Jim Amon did some research at the site some twenty years ago.  He and his student documented that the fen is getting drier, apparently because the stream is cutting down and lowering the water table.  It may be necessary to follow their suggestion and install some small check dams on the creek to help raise the local water table back up.

Another piece of good news, GCPT is in the process of purchasing another house tract on Byron Rd. to improve the visibility and entrance to the site.  Also, a 7.5-acre parcel on the north side of the fen property is also being acquired and restored, with the help of a Clean Ohio grant.  This tract was going to be developed into houses but a conservation team including GCPT, BW Greenway Community Land Trust, and Beaver Creek Wetlands Association worked with the developer to set this buffer aside.

Huffman Prairie: A Little History

On Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Greene County Ohio is Ohio's largest remnant tallgrass prairie.  The site is 112 acres and an Ohio Natural Landmark.

My familiarity with the prairie prairie remnant adjacent to started in 1984.  I had been looking at and compiling old surveyor records of northwest Greene County, and those records showed significant stretches of prairies and wetlands in the region.  Here is a map from the project that was published in the Ohio Journal of Science back then.

You can download the study here: https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/23075/V085N3_125.pdf

The big blob on the left side of the map was, in 1802, a large open tallgrass prairie on the east grading  to a large alkaline fen/sedge meadow further west.  

Back in the early 1980's I caught "prairie fever" and started learning all I could about the prairies that once existed in Greene County and Ohio.  I started driving my rusty Nova around and looking around the areas where the first land surveyors documented prairies in 1802 to see if there were any remnants of these old prairies and wetlands.  To my surprise there were quite a few, some of them in great shape.  The biggest one used to be on what is now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.  Back then you couldn't just drive your car out there, it was on a secure military installation.  Fortunately, my dad worked on the base and had a car with a sticker, and he agreed to haul me around and look for prairie plants on a nice September day.  We didn't see much of anything until we turned onto Pylon Rd., and after several hundred yards there was big clump of big bluestem grass in the ditch on the left side.  I felt like I had found King Tut's tomb!  Dad was not so impressed.  He directed my attention to the right side of the road and asked "what about all that over there"?  There, stretching over a large field was field with big swatches of bluestem and indian grass swaying in the breeze.  Fortunately, I was too young for a heart attack, but it was a thrill.  It was then we noticed a big yellow tractor with a mower going through the field mowing the prairie down. 

When he passed near us I sheepishly flagged the fellow down.  He got out of the tractor and dad and I did our best to explain why these weeds should be left standing.  He let me take his picture.   He contacted his boss, who came out to see who these crazies were.  Here is a picture of dad with the poor fellow, who was pretty laid back about the whole thing.

We got some names of who to contact at the Base about the "discovery" and started pestering them to recognize and protect the prairie.  I was put in contact with a young woman named Terri Lucas who was the Base's Natural Resources Manager.  Terry was quite intrigued and interested.  She even applied to have the prairie designated as a State Natural Landmark through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.  Her efforts paid off and Landmark status was formally awarded in 1986.  It didn't give a legal protection to the site, but it did identify it as important and showed Wright-Patt's commitment to protecting and managing it.

A birder/photographer friend of mine, Mark Dillon, took an interest in the site.  Mark discovered that the big prairie was also a haven for rare nesting grassland birds like bobolinks and Henslow sparrows. He took some beautiful pictures documenting them.  Paul Knoop wrote an article in his newspaper column about the Prairie, which helped raise awareness of the site.

Wright-Patterson officials took the remarkable step of actually surveying the prairie and documenting it on their facility maps.  When this was accomplished 108 acres was set aside to manage for prairie management and restoration.  

Something that is kind of confusing about Huffman Prairie is that there are two of them.  The "natural" site is the Huffman Prairie State Natural Landmarka, established in 1986.

 The one that most people visit is the Huffman Prairie Flying Field, a component of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.  The two are adjacent to one another and share a similar natural and human history.

Orville and Wilbur Wright at Huffman Prairie (Flying Field) in 1904

They both were once part of the 3 square-mile prairie/fen complex that filled that part of the Mad River Valley.  In 1896 they were both owned by Dayton banker Torrence Huffman.  In 1904 an 84-acre portion of Mr. Huffman's land was being used to pasture livestock.  Mr. Huffman granted Orville and Wilbur Wright permission to use the pasture for a flying field, so long as they didn't let the animals out.

The Huffman Prairie Flying Field is a component of the Dayton Aviation History National Historical Park which was established in 2004.  It is where the Wright Brother learned to turn, control, and effectively pilot the worlds first airplanes.  It is well marked with National Park interpretive signs along a maintained path that effectively  explains the important events that happened on this old prairie.

 A reproduction of the Wrights 1904 storage hanger and launch on the Flying Field and adjacent to the Natural Landmark.

Huffman Prairie Conservation Area is marked by several interpretive signs, a kiosk, and a brochure.

Restored prairie wildflowers with the restored 1904 hanger in the background


The land that is now the Flying Field and a large portion of the lowest land on WPAFB used to be an alkaline bog, or fen.  It has now been drained and the original vegetation mostly destroyed.  Back in 1904 the Wright Brothers had to deal with a very hummocky terrain, likely from the remains of the big sedge clumps that lived in the wetland.  Similar "sedge meadows" can still be found in the Beaver Creek Wetlands, but this one has been lost.

Hummocky terrain on the Wright's Flying Field in 1904.  These clumps were likely the remains of the hummock sedge, or Carex stricta.

Living Carex stricta sedge meadow in Beaver Creek Wetlands

The Huffman Prairie State Natural Lanmark has been a restoration project for over 30 years.  Organizations including WPAFB, Fiver Rivers MetroParks, The Nature Conservancy, and US Fish and Wildlife Service have done much to restore the site, which had been damaged by years of agricultural and military use.

Controlled burn bu WPAFB and US Fish and Wildlife personnel in 2016

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The Herbarium of John Van Cleve Part II

Back in January, 2014 I made a post about the John Van Cleve Herbarium in the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery.   Since that time I have photographed the specimens and made a book of it so that anyone can see it.  I hope it will preserve a record of this beautiful work, one that is slowly deteriorating over time.
Here is a link to a pdf of the herbarium:
https://www.dropbox.com/home?preview=The+Herbarium+of+John+Van+Cleve.pdf

The Mills of Three Springs Run

Since retiring in August of 2015 I've had time to look into things that I was long curious about but did not have the time to investigate.  Since then I have been looking into the changes that were made to the small stream called Hebble Creek in northwest Greene County.  I grew up in this area and know (or knew) the land well.

It turns out the creek had two grist mills on it between 1820 and 1900.  Both of these used rather ingenious methods to maximize the limited water supply and power several sets of  mill stones.  The course of the stream was heavily modified from what is now Fairfield-Yellow Springs Road all the way to the Mad River to feed the mills and control flooding.

The mill are gone now, and they are largely forgotten.  At one time though they were vital parts of the local community.

Here is an article with some details about these mills.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ruu2ky6siv0apjf/The%20Mills%20of%20Three%20Springs%20Run.pdf?dl=0

The Fairfield Mill at it appeared about 1920.  This mill was established around 1820, and was located just west of what became Central High School in Fairborn.  Photo courtesy of Ann Armstrong-Ingoldsby.

The John Van Cleve Herbarium

John Whitten Van Cleve was born in Dayton in 1801.  His father Benjamin was one of the first settlers of Dayton.  John was an enthusiastic student of the sciences, language, and the arts.  He was admitted to the bar in 1826.  He became involved in a rather amazing number of endeavors including 3 terms as mayor of Dayton, City Engineer, owner of a drug store, founder of Woodland Cemetery, and accomplishments in local geology and botany.

John's botany book with notes

Perhaps John's fascination with botany began in 1832 when he purchased a copy of Torrey's Compendium of the Flora of the Northern and Middle States for $1.25.  He filled the margins of the book with field notes about specimens he found near Dayton.  This book can be observed in the special collections of the Dayton Public Library.  He also corresponded with Mr. Torrey, and sent him specimens that he could not identify.  Two of these, Oligoneuron riddellii and Oligoneuron ohioensis came from fen habitat near to Dayton, and became the type specimens for these species.

Starting in the early 1830's Van Cleve made a remarkable book of pressed specimens of native plants he found growing near Dayton.  The collection contains 207 species, and were obviously mounted with care and skill.  They emphasize showy flowering plants, especially those associated with prairies and fens.

The Van Cleve Herbarium

Canada Burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis)

Label in Van Cleve's hand

Tall Larkspur (Delphinium exaltatum)

Royal Catchfly (Silene regia)

Pale Indian Plantain (Arnoglossum atriplicifolium)

Whorled rosinweed (Silphium trifoliatum)

Sweet Scented Indian Plantain (Hasteola suavolens)

Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid (Platanthera psycodes)

 Upon his death Van Cleve had made arrangements to donate his herbarium to the Cooper Female Academy, which occurred in 1858.  There is received little attention or care until the school closed in 1886.  At that time it appeared the herbarium was acquired by noted botany teacher at Dayton Central High School, William B. Werthner, who donated it to the Dayton Museum of Natural History (now the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery).   There the herbarium was forgotten until 1967, when botanist Larry Morse was regorganizing the museum collections.  He was intrigued by the age and quality of the specimens and tracked down most of the history I have related to this point.  Larry made a presentation to the Ohio Academy of Sciences about the herbarium in 1967, and wrote two short articles about it.  Larry Morse passed in 2012 after a great career.  Here is a part of his obituary:

Larry enjoyed a nearly 30-year career in plant conservation that included serving as a botanist for the Maryland Natural Heritage Program that led to roles as chief botanist at The Nature Conservancy and then NatureServe until his retirement in 2006.  He was a walking encyclopedia of information about plant identification and conservation as well as the cultural uses, historical relevance, and colological contributions of plants.  

I took the photos displayed here nearly 10 years ago, and have not looked at the Van Cleve Herbarium since.  It was crumbling then and needed care to preserve it.  There were a few attempts cooperating with the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery staff to acquire grant funds to restore it, but these were not successful.  At the least it should be completely and properly photographed.  Perhaps that will be a retirement project!

Pearl's Fen




Fringed Gentians at Pearl's Fen

When the last glacier, the Wisconsinin, left northwest Greene County about 10,000 ago it left some things behind.   Deposits of sand and gravel that had been encompassed by the moving ice were dropped in small to large deposits called moraines, kames, eskers . The terrain of what is now Bath Township gained a series of low rolling hills from these deposits on what was otherwise a bulldozed landscape.  The gravel and sand was derived from pulverized limestone and was (and is) limey.  Meltwater and rainwater that saturated the deposits picked up the lime (calcium carbonate) and became very alkaline.  Water, after moving through them often hit something hard, bedrock, and where the rock met the air cold limey springs poured out.  Most plants are not happy to live in cold limey mud, but the exception are sedges.  These grasslike plants thrive in these harsh conditions.  Because it is so cold and harsh that bacteria and fungi don't break things down very fast.  So when the sedges died they formed organic peat.  Over time the deposits of peat can become quite deep, 6 or more feet in some places.  These wet, limey, springwater fed wetlands are now called fens.  In the Miami Valley they are a very special type of fen called a prairie fen.  These fens were invaded by prairie plants some 6,000 years ago when western prairies covered southwestern Ohio, and many of these prairie species took up residence with the sedges, rushes and other plants that had persisted there for thousands of years.

Fringed Genitians Closed



Prairie Rattlesnake Root

Fens and their unique environment have been refuges for plants and animals that now live nowhere else in the region.  They boast extraordinary biodiversity.  Unfortunately all that organic matter also made for great farmland if one can figure out how to drain the water away.  People have gotten pretty good at this and most fens are now destroyed and growing corn or soybeans.  However, some were never drained and carry on as they have for thousands of years.  One of these is Pearl's Fen.

I first encountered Pearl's Fen in 1984,  I was looking for prairie and fen remnants based on old surveyor records.  Old records showed a fen/prairie complex going west of Byron Rd.  Looking from the car there was some swampy looking ground behind some small houses along the road.  I parked at one of the houses and asked the woman if I could look around back there.  Her name was Pearl Wegiel, and she owned the land.  Her son lived next door and he had recently built a small barn for horses and let the swampy ground serve as a horse pasture.  It was October, a fine warm day and the land became increasingly wet and peaty as I walked past the horses standing in the muck.  It was a "mound" fen.  This is a fen that sticks up from the surrounding land because groundwater pressure pushes the peat up.  This strange situation results in a wetland that is higher than the drier land around it.  It was filled with all the usual plants one can find in a high quality remnant.  The biggest thrill was the fringed gentians growing from many spots the horses couldn't reach!  The downer was that the horses has eaten and stomped most of the trees, shrubs and plants to nubs, and churned up the peat into a wet black mess.  It looked pretty bad.




Pearl's Fen Heavily Grazed by Horses in October, 1984

After a few more visits I asked the Pearl and her son if they would be receptive to the installation of a fence around the fen to keep the horses out.  They were fine with it if I came up with the cost and labor of installing it.  I measured the feet of fence that would be necessary and got a price for fence and posts from a farm supply store.  I didn't have any money and knew nothing about putting up a fence.  I asked my friend Paul Knoop if he had any ideas.  He told me that the fringed gentian was the favorite plant of Marie Aull, and we should ask her for the money.  Paul and I visited Marie at her home and after explaining the situation she pulled out her checkbook.  I bought the materials had them delivered to the fen.  For the labor I recruited some of my friends from the Dayton-Montgomery County Park District to help put it up.  We had quite a time making it work.  Putting farm t-posts into peat doesn't hold things up so we had to anchor it with existing trees.  An old fence gate from a park scrap pile served as a gate.  It seemed to work though and we anxiously awaited the next growing season to see what would happen.



Fence Showing Recovery, Summer 1985

The next growing season surpassed all hopes. Native fen and prairie plants sprang up from the seedbank/roots and transformed the pasture to a garden of rare plants. Fringed gentians, prairie rattlesnake root and many others made Pearl's Fen a delight to visit.



Pearl's Fen Late Summer, 1985





High Volume Spring That Originates on Site

In October of 1984 Paul Knoop and I arranged to take some dignitaries to the fen to see the what had been achieved.  Attending were Scott Huston (Director of Miami County Park District and a great botanist), Ralph Ramey (Director of Glen Helen), Clara Weishaupt (retired botany professor from Ohio State and author of The Vascular Plants of Ohio), Sylvia Koons (Friend to Marie Aull and MetroParks volunteer, and Marie Aull (Matriarch of Miami Valley Conservation and Horticulture).  It was a delightful day with outstanding company who enjoyed themselves.


Scott Huston, Clara Weishaupt, Sylvia Koons, and Marie Aull Visit Pearl's Fen in 1985

In 1991 botanist David Dister did an intensive botanical inventory of the fen.  He spent a season finding and identifying the plants there.  He ended up finding 167 species in 54 plant families.

Over the years Mrs. Aull made many offers to buy the fen from Pearl.  She was never interested in selling but welcomed visitors.  The fen gradually changed over the years.  The rare, diminutive plants disappeared altogether, and the site became dominated by prairie grasses and shrubby cinquefoil.  By 2003 the site was completely dominated by the native cinquefoil.  I have always assumed that this was evidence that these fens undergo their own form of natural succession and that many fen species depend on periodic disturbances.In the spring of 2003 Pearl, was admitted to a nursing home.  Bob Jurick of the BW Greenway Community Land Trust was very concerned for the future of the fen.  He did not know if Pearl still had family in the neighborhood, so he went door to door and finally located Pearl's daughter.  Bob made it known that he could help find a way to protect the fen if she decided to sell it.  After some time she contacted Bob about selling.  Bob contacted me as to how to get some funding.   I approached MetroParks Board member Irv Bieser with the problem.  Irv was on the board of the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and he knew a a bequest left to TNC for conservation in the Dayton area.  It was more than sufficient to cover the purchase!    Terry Seidel of TNC facilitated the purchase of the fen by The Nature Conservancy in February 2003.  Tim Leiwig, Director of The Greene County Park District agreed to apply for a Clean Ohio Grant to purchase the fen from TNC.  The grant funding was received and the fen was transferred to the Greene County Park District, now called Green County Parks and Trails in June, 2004. 

The challenge now for the fen is management.  The  fen responds well to management, and likely needs it to maintain diversity.  It's current condition as a shrubland and recent invasion by Japanese Honeysuckle indicates a management plan is needed.  This fall I attended the Natural Areas Conference in Chicago and had a tour of fens in that region.  Their prescription for over abundant shrubby cinquefoil and other shrubs is fire.  They burn their fens with great results.  That sounds like what needs to be done at Pearl's, either that or bring in a herd of horses for a while!



Pearl's Fen October 2013

Shiloh Woods Conservation Area

Shiloh Woods Conservation Area (SWCA) is a 365 acre undeveloped natural area along the Stillwater River in Montgomery County.  SWCA is located northwest of Dayton and southeast of Englewood MetroPark.  This beautiful land base contains 2 tracts of high quality upland forest, bottomland hardwood forest, meadows, shrubland, a large 80 acre planted prairie, a natural glade prairie, a pretty pond, and significant frontage on both sides of the scenic Stillwater River.  Several unmamed headwater streams flow into the park land.

Land acquisition started in 1995 and was completed in 2007.  However, a 23 acre tract now under contract will bring total acreage to 388 acres.

The story of Shiloh Woods begins with a couple who loved the land.  The Duncans donated their 57 acre wooded tract to the Shiloh Church on North Main Street.  The woods was (and is) a beauty with large upland and bottomland hardwoods, rich wildflowers, and a series of ravines.  The woods attracted the "Huck Finn of the Stillwater", naturalist Paul Knoop.  Paul was the Education Supervisor for the Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm for many years.   He thoroughly explored the Stillwater River corridor and advocated for protection of natural areas along its banks.  After discovering the "Church Woods" as he called it he made several approaches to them about the significance of the property and the living things there.  He was politely received but the tract was given no official protection.  Paul contacted me at the Park District, showed me the property and encouraged us to help protect it.   I went with him to talk to church leaders without any more results.  However, I made a point of writing a letter to them every year to make sure they knew of our interest.  The congregation and church leaders were not in agreement as to the best future of the very valuable piece of real estate.

Spring at "Duncan" Woods at Shiloh Woods Conservation Area

In 2000 we received a letter from the church announcing that the property was on the market for general sale.  An appraisal confirmed a rather high market value, and there was interest from local developers.  A stub street with full utilities borders the scenic land.  Coincidentally a grant fund was made known to the Park District (now Five Rivers MetroParks) called WRRSP.  This odd acronym stands for Water Resource Restoration Stewardship Program.  This program generates money from interest on loans made by the State to cities and jurisdictions for sewage treatment plants and sewer lines.  These needed facilities greatly improve water quality, but building them can have a negative impact on the streambanks where they are installed.  The fund sets aside funds to offset the damage with land protection along high quality rivers.  Metroparks applied for the fund to protect the Shiloh Church Woods as well as 4 other undeveloped tracts along the Stillwater River.  We were overjoyed when the 1.8 million dollar grant was awarded and we could protect these gems.  We ended up purchasing the Shiloh Church Woods for the appraised value in 2001.  WRRSP also funded the purchase of 4 other large tracts nearby including the beautiful "Wegner Woods".

Fall in Wegner Woods, Shiloh Woods Conservation Area

This woods was owned by 4 sisters.  Two wanted to protect the woods and the other two wanted to maximize profits from the sale of the land by selling to an interested real estate developer.  The issue was finally settled in 2005 with help of WRRSP and an appraisal that they all liked.
Another key property along the river was owned by a local law enforcement officer that wanted to build a country home along the river where he would raise his family.  He started the house and build a pretty pond.  Sounded good, but unfortunately he got into the unfortunate habit of  arresting prostitutes and asking them to forego the judge and pay their fine with him at a local fire station.  Of course he was caught, lost his job, lost his wife, and had to sell the land to MetroParks.  At the closing he blamed his wife saying she spent too much time with her friends!

Pond at Shiloh Woods Conservation Area

Another source of funding that helped with the rather expensive property in the Shiloh Woods area was the Clean Ohio Fund.  This fund, generated by a State bond issue approved by Ohio voters was instrumental in the purchase of 4 additional large parcels.  Much of the land adjacent to the Shiloh Church Woods was owned by the Developer Singer Properties/Harson Investments.  I visited them one day and asked them if they would be interested in selling.  The fellow chuckled and unrolled a large plan showing the whole area with streets, curbs, lots, and houses.  I left feeling pretty bummed because the old woods was doomed to be bordered by dense housing.  However, after a few weeks he called back.  In looking at their accounting they decided they would do better to sell the land to MetroParks at a fair price, take a tax deduction, and develop a commercial property instead.  Clean Ohio was available and the land was ours in 2002.

A big 80 acre tract was owned by a fruit farm business that went out of business and put the land up for sale.  It was bought by a real estate developer who wanted to make it into a residential housing plat.  Montgomery County also wanted the land for a wellfield so they bought the land from the developer for a very steep price.  They then found that is wasn't really a very good wellfield and sold it for the same price to MetroParks in 2007.  We used WRRSP funds and got the land with no out of pocket costs.  The next year Mary Klunk and her staff planted a prairie on it and now it is great grassland habitat.

Planted Prairie at former Mumma Fruit Farm, Shiloh Woods Conservation Area

Stillwater River flowing through Shiloh Woods Conservation Area

This Conservation Area has a rich diversity of habitats, wildlife, terrain and potential enjoyment opportunities by the public.  Someday it will likely be a popular MetroPark.