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Geauga hemlock forests, rare birds face threat
(by Joan Demirjian - April 29, 2010)
Geauga hemlock forests, rare birds face threat
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
Hemlock trees in the Geauga Park District provide a habitat for some rare birds nesting in them. However, the trees themselves are facing a devastating enemy that is moving toward Ohio, threatening not only the hemlocks, but the birds that call the trees home.
The rare and disappearing birds and the native evergreen forests of hemlock in the park district are the focus of a study by Judy Semroc, conservation specialist for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and naturalist and bird expert Larry Rosche. They are conducting a survey of the songbirds using the hemlock trees of Geauga County.
It is one of several studies taking place in Geauga Park District parks this year. The park district provides small research grants to local universities and research groups, which conduct a variety of studies each year.
Ms. Semroc and Mr. Rosche are conducting their survey through this spring and summer. It will help the park district know what it has in the parks, to better manage and address what the birds need, and to take steps to keep them there, she said.
Some of the birds they are finding in the hemlock forests include the dark-eyed junco, magnolia warbler, black-throated green warbler, Canadian warbler and the black burnian warbler.
The birds need the bigger stands of forests, Ms. Semroc said of warblers using the hemlocks, which are being lost to development and an aphid moving toward Ohio.
"It's very devastating," she said of the aphid, and has been seen in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the Smokey Mountains.
The study will help the park plan for the area and better manage it, Ms. Semroc said.
As an example, she said, "You don't want to put trails through there." Some of the birds are very secretive and need privacy.
In conducting their survey, Ms. Semroc and Mr. Rosche walk through the forests, listening to bird calls.
"We've been checking areas this spring, and we go to points and record everything we see and hear," she said.
They go out in all kinds of weather, and it will be in the coming weeks that they will see if they are nesting, Ms. Semroc said.
The areas include Whitlam Woods, Big Creek, Sunnybrook Preserve, as well as Thompson Ledges, which is in Thompson Township, but not a part of the park district lands.
The rare birds prefer the cover of hemlocks, which often grow in cool ravines and in stream-side ravines.
Mr. Rosche said many of the birds are endangered, including the yellow-bellied sapsucker, which was found in Whitlam Woods.
"We're trying to set up points where people can follow our study and check on the birds," he said.
"Park district staff will go out to areas where we went and see if the birds come back," Mr. Rosche said.
Geauga Park District is one of the top districts in the state, Mr. Rosche said. "They care," he said. "We are blessed to have this district here."
Mr. Rosche said they expect to complete the study by July.
Paul Pira, Geauga Park District biologist, said a committee from the district's department of natural resources management determines which studies to fund and which will be most beneficial to the district.
The study of the hemlock forests and nesting birds will provide information for the future. "They are doing this so 10 years from now, we can go back and see if the birds are still there and if the habitat has changed. We can track it on a long-term basis," Mr. Pira said.
"We're fortunate to have these eastern hemlock forest areas," he said. "The trees provide a micro-climate of stable, cool temperatures, lining the streams, and wooded ravine hillsides," Mr. Pira said.
The birds that nest in them typically nest up North and are uncommon species to Ohio, he said.
However, the woolly adelgid aphid, native to Japan and Asia, is working its way toward Ohio and poses a threat to the trees. "The rare birds relying on the hemlock habitat will be in trouble," Mr. Pira said.
The park district will be on the alert and will plan for managing and protecting the hemlocks within the parks from the parasite, he said.
"We are concerned about planning for bio-diversity for all the plants and animals, making sure they have all the habitat they need to sustain themselves," Mr. Pira said.
"We have a lot of people, well known in the bird-watching clubs, who come out to see the birds in the parks," he said. Big Creek Park in Chardon Township is designated as a regionally important bird area.
"We want to make sure the birds and hemlocks are there 100 years from now for people to enjoy," Mr. Pira said.
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