When Disaster Strikes

When Disaster Strikes. . , In 1967, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's phones began ringing with calls from frantic locals stating the marsh was dying. The cause was a privately owned 54-acre parcel of the marsh that had been used as a disposal site for approximately 255,150 tons of salt-mining byproduct in 1966., The Mentor Marsh was a lush swamp forest in 1960. Large stands of dead trees surrounded by hybrid cattail and Phragmites in Mentor Marsh in 1967. Photo: CMNH Archives Salt tailings from the property leached into the marsh through Blackbrook Creek, raising the salinity of the marsh and killing off native trees and plants. Ohio's first nature preserve was rendered a near barren wasteland., Due to its tolerance to high salinity and brackish waters, the invasive Phragmites australis (common reed grass) quickly created a dense monoculture, which choked out remaining native species. Eventually, Mentor Marsh became the largest phragmites invaded wetland in the state of Ohio., Following the salt-fill tragedy, the Mentor Marsh suffered twelve major fires between 1979 and 2013. With flammable dense stands of phragmites, the fires expanded quickly and caused great risk to wildlife, humans, and residential structures. Unfortunately, fire did not eradicate this species, as the roots of this plant remained intact and new growth recolonized burned areas., The largest fire occurred in 2003, covered 400 acres and destroyed the Wake Robin Boardwalk. During the reconstruction of the boardwalk, a phragmites-free buffer zone was created to help protect the structure in the event of a future fire. A glimmer of hope returned when native plants began emerging from the seedbank.,