Grand River Terraces
Morgan Township, Ashtabula County
East Trumbull & Jefferson Quads
745 acres
When the Museum acquired the Grand River Terraces in 1982, the plan was to allow the natural process of succession to claim the open fields on the property and return them gradually to forest.
That changed in 1985 when a black and orange butterfly, the Harris checkerspot, was found at the Terraces. In its caterpillar stage, this rare butterfly feeds almost exclusively on a particular kind of plant, the flat-topped aster (Aster umbellatus), which happens to proliferate in old fields at the terraces. Based on this new information, stewardship plans were revised to include periodic mowing of the meadow lands. Had succession been allowed to run its course, the Harris checkerspot would have disappeared along with its host plant.
Located in Ashtabula County, the Grand River Terraces is a 700-acre natural area with one mile of frontage along the Grand River. In spring, the river's floodplain is the locale for the most spectacular display of wildflowers, a riot of luxuriant color strewn across the canvas of the landscape. Virginia bluebells, purple bittercress, Steward's Jack-in-the-pulpit, orange Turk's-cap lily, Solomon's seal, trillium and hepatica in many hues-such sights may once have been common in Ohio. As recently as ten years ago, similar habitats existed in floodplains all along Rocky River in Cuyahoga County. But grasses invaded, replacing the ephemeral beauty of the wildflowers. Control of the stubborn canary grass at the Terraces is part of the stewardship plan for this sensitive ecosystem.
If the terrace meadows are remarkably diverse, the number of rare species found in its muck-bottomed swamp forest is even more extraordinary. The most significant habitat at Grand River is its hemlock swamp-possibly the finest in Ohio. The swamp harbors the state's largest population of dewdrop (Dalibarda repens), a member of the rose family that is threatened in Ohio. Wild calla (Calla palustris) and Hobblebush (Viburnum alnifolium), a rare member of the honeysuckle family, are at home here. No less than five kinds of orchids grow at the Terraces, the most unusual of which is the crane-fly orchid. Blooming in mid-summer, its flower petals mimic the wings of an insect; the orchid attracts nocturnal moths to pollinate its flowers. Cinnamon and royal ferns also abound here, along with the rare Virginia chain-fern.
Three species of mole salamander breed in the black-water ponds at the terraces: a very common spotted salamander as well as silvery and Jefferson's salamanders. Mole salamanders are seldom seen; after the breeding season, they spend most of their lives underground. There is plenty of evidence that another animal, the beaver, lives in burrows dug into the river banks. Among the nearly 100 bird species seen at the terraces are golden-winged and hooded warblers and yellow-bellied sapsuckers.
The Kolff Riffle of the Grand River Terraces supports eleven species of mollusks. Two of which, black sandshell (Ligumia recta) and round pigtoe (Pleurobema sintoxia), are rare in Ohio. The riffle is also a spawning site for native walleye.
Hemlock Hardwood Swamps are rare natural communities within Ohio. The best known are confined to Ashtabula County. Several of these, including the Museum preserves at the North Kingsville Sand Barrens, Cathedral Woods and Grand River Terraces, harbor rare plants and animals. Rare species within the Museum's Hemlock Hardwood Swamps include yellow clintonia, striped maple, false hop sedge, dalibarda, rosey-twisted stalk, hermit thrush, winter wren and yellow-bellied sapsucker.