Dutch Fork Wetlands is an incredibly interesting spot in rural Ohio. Despite the fact that the majority of Ohio’s “natural” lands are now forested, the pre-colonial landscape was dominated by swamps and grasslands. Currently, 90% of Ohio’s wetlands have been destroyed, largely for agricultural purposes. The wetlands at Dutch Fork were destroyed for road construction, but have been restored by the Dawes Arboretum. Over the summer, I spent a lot of time there during my internship with the Arboretum, one of only 30 Level IV arboreta worldwide, monitoring pollinator species and volunteering with management projects such as invasive species removal. More importantly, I chose this spot because of how great it is for birding; I love going there with my birder friends and adding unique species to our life lists that we might not see in other spots. Although they aren’t present at this time of year, Dutch Fork is also home to many vernal pools and thus important homes for many amphibian species that need protection in my state.
The most common woody species I saw were:
The area surrounding the wetlands was pretty much uniformly grassland, primarily composed of indianagrass. As I got closer to where the trees began popping up, some tall goldenrods began appearing. Speckled throughout the grass were the seed pods of hibiscus flowers, however I was unable to confidently determine a species since the leaves and flowers were dry and shriveled. The trees surrounding the larger wetlands were almost entirely common alders (at least as far as I could see from the path), but some of the smaller pools had multiple black willows surrounding them. Speckled throughout the understory, I found many multiflora rose shrubs, which was concerning considering they are invasive in Ohio.
Special Shoutout: my friend Madi for coming with me to ID plants!
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