ohio

Last month I had an opportunity to briefly stop at Cedar Bog, near Springfield Ohio. I'd met people before who had done research there, seen pretty pictures at scientific conferences, but had not actually visited the site until this time.

First, a characterization; it's not really a bog. It's a fen. That means it's fed by calcareous, not acidic, groundwater.

The photo is of a graminoid fen opening on a marl flat, surrounded by white cedar. There's a real mix of species here; boreal, coastal plain, and a few prairie species from further west all growing near each other. Other parts of the site are forested fen, or red maple swamp forest, or floodplain forest. I've seen only a small part of the 427 acres, the part visible from the mile or so of boardwalk and trail.

There are a number of "prairie fens" in this part of Ohio, openings in what was once mostly forest. The dragonfly type locality 30 miles to the north that I wrote about recently was probably once one of them. Cedar Bog is one of the better ones, and one of the larger ones. It's a shadow of it's former self though. The shallow lake basin it occupies is reportedly 7,000 acres, and most of that was once wetland of one kind or another. It was slowly drained and converted to agriculture, until only the preserve remains.

I know relatively little about Cedar Bog. I've spent only about an hour there, have spoken with a few people in the past who know the site well, but on the day I visited the relatively new interpretive center was closed. I've read a few articles, and heard a few papers presented at symposia.

I know that some good people put in considerable effort to save this place, at a time before that was fashionable. That required vision and courage on their part, and without them there would be nothing left for us to see today. I know that there have been at least three scientific symposia about Cedar Bog, and that printed proceedings exist of the articles from those events. I know that at least some restoration work has been done within the preserve, including enlarging some openings by clearing encroaching woody vegetation.

Without having any of the local context, I also have questions. Looking at an air photo, I see surrounding farmland. I can't help but wonder how much of that farmland could be restored. Sure, it would take decades to re-establish even the beginnings of swamp forests and complex fens. In the shorter term, I'm more interested in restoring hydrology. Because the small stream that passes through the preserve has been channelized, which has probably lowered the water table in at least parts of the preserve. Because at least some of those surrounding farms have tiles or other hydrologic modifications. Because restoring hydrology even within the preserve requires enough land to do so without flooding nearby private land. Because there is a well documented correlation between preserve size and species richness and diversity.

This is all true for almost any preserve, no matter how small or large. There's always a limit of course, but for many preserves those limits are physical. They can't readily be enlarged, because they border an Interstate highway, or a heavily urbanized area, or there's a quarry next door. If there are constraints at Cedar Bog, they're political or financial, the land is there, and it appears to be feasible, in a technical sense, to restore some of it.

Only those with knowledge of the place and of local society can make the value judgments and the hard decisions. But it always starts by wondering what else might be possible.