The continued restoration at the Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve will receive funding from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, which has received a $750,000 Lake Erie Community Grant from the Ohio Lake Erie Commission to support the project.<\/p>\n
According to a news release, the project will help restore hydrology and native plant communities within the Marsh while enhancing hundreds of acres of critical coastal habitat.<\/p>\n
\u201cMentor Marsh is one of Northeast Ohio\u2019s great ecological treasures, and this investment by the Ohio Lake Erie Commission will help us continue the long-term work of restoring and sustaining this extraordinary landscape to benefit both biodiversity and the surrounding community,\u201d said museum President and CEO Sonia Winner,<\/p>\n
The museum\u2019s three-year Mentor Marsh Restoration project, which was selected from among 11 applications, will build on more than a decade of conservation work at the State Nature Preserve, the release stated.<\/p>\n
Since 2015, the museum and its partners have removed more than 1 billion stalks of invasive Phragmites australis and planted 324,000 native plants.<\/p>\n
Following these major restoration efforts, Mentor Marsh is now home to 180 native plant species, 259 bird species and 26 state-listed rare plant and animal species.<\/p>\n
\u201cOhio is home to abundant, beautiful natural resources, including Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve,\u201d Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said. \u201cWe have invested significantly into restoring wetlands across Ohio because we know the important role they play in improving water quality and conserving native habitat. I am grateful to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for prioritizing this impactful water quality project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mentor Marsh is Ohio\u2019s largest remaining \u201cundiked\u201d coastal marsh \u2014 a wetland that is open to natural water flows, rather than being managed or restricted by man-made barriers.<\/p>\n
The newly funded project is designed to strengthen the marsh\u2019s long-term ecological health through several coordinated strategies, including intensive removal of invasive hybrid cattail, ongoing invasive species management across the marsh basin, restoration of the Blackbrook Creek delta and installation of beaver dam analogs to help raise and maintain water levels, according to the release.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city of Mentor commends the extraordinary efforts that Cleveland Museum of Natural History has committed to the restoration of the Mentor Marsh,\u201d Mentor Communications Officer Ante Logarusic said. \u201cThe monumental task of eradicating the phragmites and reintroducing native plant species has helped this ecosystem rebound and attract a variety of insects, birds, fish and mammals as well over the past decade.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir important work has shown that damage is not necessarily irreversible,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The project proposes invasive species control across the 801-acre marsh basin, repeated treatment of 138 acres containing the largest remaining stands of hybrid cattail, restoration of 2.5 acres of wetland habitat at the mouth of Blackbrook Creek and installation of beaver dam analogs along 5,700 linear feet of channelized canal to support wetland function.<\/p>\n
Beaver dam analogs imitate beaver dams, utilizing natural materials to divert water flow and retain stormwater to ensure water levels are sufficient to support native wetland plant communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project\u00a0demonstrates\u00a0the power of partnership in restoring Ohio\u2019s largest natural flowing marsh while creating meaningful opportunities for community engagement and environmental education. Together,\u00a0these efforts will deliver lasting ecological benefits and strengthen the connection between the Marsh and community,\u201d said Joy\u00a0Mulinex, Executive Director of the Ohio Lake Erie Commission.<\/p>\n
In addition to habitat restoration, the grant will support education, workforce development, and community engagement.<\/p>\n
The museum plans to host 150 kindergarten through 12th-grade students for Great Lakes-focused environmental education programs at Mentor Marsh and recruit 12 seasonal staff positions with an emphasis on hiring local college students, according to the release.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work that the city has done in the adjoining Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve including the construction of the new observation tower helps provide access to this important ecological attraction,\u201d Logarusic said. \u201cThe city is proud of our spirit of cooperation that\u2019s in place with partner agencies to protect and preserve the marsh for the enjoyment of the public for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The continued restoration at the Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve will receive funding from the Cleveland Museum of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[69375,69376,69380,69377,136,138,137,69383,69374,69379,69378,69381,69382],"class_list":["post-152651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-69375","tag-000-for-mentor-marsh-restoration","tag-bird-species","tag-cleveland-museum-of-natural-history","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-invasive-phragmites-australis","tag-lake-erie-community-grant","tag-native-plant-species","tag-ohio-lake-erie-commission","tag-rare-plant-and-animal-species","tag-wetlands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}