| Marion County Prairies | |||||
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Click on an image to see a larger view.
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HOW OHIO PRAIRIES WERE FORMED When the first white explorers arrived in inland America they noted “prairie islands” on the earliest Ohio maps. Some of these in north central Ohio became known as the “Sandusky Plains.” Of the Sandusky Plains’ original 200,000 acres, about 75 remain. This region was completely covered by the Wisconsin glacier, which advanced several times, leaving numerous moraines. The glacier finally receded about 10,000 years ago. Lakes formed between these moraines. As the lakes evaporated, they left behind flat, poorly drained areas. Woody vegetation followed. It was replaced by prairie plants during the semi-arid period (Xerothermic) some 3,500 years ago. As the climate again became more humid, the forest advanced once more, but prairie plants persisted in stressed areas. Since most prairie plants are perennials with deep root systems, they can resist the periodic fires, seasonal flooding, and high evaporation rates that prevent the growth of trees. OHIO PRAIRIES IN HISTORIC TIMES In the 1600s, French explorers in North America came upon vast areas of grassland. They named them using the French word for meadows, “prairies.” Another word used to describe these grasslands was “plains.” By the time of the explorers, North America's continuous prairie had retreated to the present Indiana-Illinois border, leaving isolated pockets in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Beginning in the 1700s, the Wyandot Indians lived on the “Sandusky Plains,” as the prairie area in what became Ohio’s Marion, Crawford, and Wyandot counties was called. Their captive, Colonel James Smith, wrote of roaming the prairie with them in search of game. He participated in ring hunts, where large circles in the prairie were burned, driving wild animals to the center of the ring where they were easily shot. Caleb Atwater was the first naturalist to suggest that the origin of the prairies was due to limited rainfall rather than periodic fires in the grassland and forest. In his 1818 account of the Sandusky Plains, he mentions the tallness of the grasses, the vastness of the view, and the level, low-lying ground too wet to grow trees, surrounded by slight rises that supported open groves of woody plants. Not until 1926 was botanical interest aroused, after P. B. Sears published a map and account of the original vegetation of Ohio, including the Sandusky Plains. Prairie land was first drained with back-breaking physical labor. Ditch bonds were good investments in the early 1900s and mechanical drainage machinery spelled the doom of most of Marion County’s prairie lands. Waving fields of wheat, corn, and soybeans are now the harvest of those glacial till lands. THE CLARIDON PRAIRIE In
the 1930s the Ray Hemmerly family discovered a strip of nearly 80 species
of grasses and flowering plants along the railroad tracks five miles east of Marion, Ohio just north of State Route
309. This prairie remnant, now known as the the Claridon Prairie
extends east f From late spring until late fall, this 50 feet wide mile-long strip of land, is undulating with grasses blowing in the wind and bright with prairie blossoms. This naturally seeded area, was never reconstructed by man although it is now being managed for invasive species. It was undoubtedly damaged by the original railroad and road construction and was grazed prior to that, but prairie plants persisted and increased here. The diversity of plants is the result of a variety of soil conditions with high and low concentrations of humus. Also contributing is a combination of gentle knolls and level areas, wet in spring and baked dry by midsummer. To visit the Claridon Prairie use the map below.
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Click here for a listing of native prairie grasses and forbs found at the Claridon and Green Camp Prairies |
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