Botanical Surveys on the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area with Special Emphasis on State-listed Rare Species

Andreas, Barbara

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Nationaal Park service provided funds for a floristic survey of the portion of the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area (CVNRA) owned by the U.S. government. Occurring in the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau Physiographic Region of Ohio, in northern Summit and southern Cuyahoga counties, the study area encompassed 14,000 (5600 hectares) located primarily along steep-sided, narrow tributary ravines and the floodplain of the Cuyahoga River. Eight hundred and twenty-seven species of vascular plants, of which 18% are non-indigenous, have been documented as occurring in the CVNRA. Compilation of the vascular flora is based on field surveys, a survey of several Ohio herbaria, and a survey of pertinent floristic literature. The catalogue of the vascular flora includes information on flowering time, habitat, frequency, successional stage and management recommendations. The flora is listed alphabetically by genus and common name. Fifty-one state-listed rare taxa, whose status is based on the 1986-1987 Ohio rare plant list, have been documented from the CVNRA. Flowering period, location, source of record, population size, potential impacts and management recommendations for these rare taxa are provided. U.S.G.S. topographic quadrangles indicating the locations of rare taxa are indicated. Community types identified within the CVNRA include swamp forests, bottomland floodplain woods, beech-maple woodlands, mixed mesophytic woodlands, hemlock ravines, oak-hickory woodlands, eroding bluffs, wetlands (ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, marshes) and two types of communities of disturbance, waste places and old fields. In addition to general descriptions of the above community types, four unique natural areas, Furnace Run, the Narrows Slopes, Stumpy Basin and Virginiaa Kendall Ledges are discussed. Manaagement recommendations for the maintenance of these communities are provided for consideration. Those taxa non-native to Ohio are indicated in the catalogue as well as in the alphabetical list by genus. Management recommendations for seven agressive non-native taxa, Euonymus fortunei, Lonicera japonica, Lythrum salicaria, Phalaris arundinacea, Phragmites australis, Polygonum cuspidatum, and Rhamnus frangula are presented.

Botanical Surveys on the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area with Special Emphasis on State-listed Rare Species

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