Protecting Native Plants in Ohio

Native Plants are Resilient to Climate Change

Native plants are also more resilient to climate change and other environmental stressors than newly introduced, non-native species. Because they have evolved over time to adapt to the local climate and soil conditions, they are often better able to withstand fluctuations in temperature, precipitation and other environmental factors. This resilience is critical for maintaining the health and stability of Ohio's ecosystems in the face of climate change. Native plants also help prevent soil erosion and absorb pollutants and excess nutrients from soil and water, which improves the quality of Ohio’s rivers, lakes and streams.

Native Plants as Keystone Species

Shaded by dense canopy coverage, the understory of eastern hemlock-dominated forests offers distinct habitat for species that thrive in the cooler microclimate created by the trees. Losing the hemlocks would cause intense degradation of water quality due to the warming effect that would result from loss of canopy cover. This warming would cause a chain reaction effect on the ecological communities that hemlocks support. As water warms, it loses the ability to carry dissolved oxygen, making it difficult for some aquatic insects and fish to thrive. If insect and fish populations decline, so too would the predators that depend on them for food.

Morgan Swamp Preserve is home to one of the few remaining hemlock-yellow birch swamp forests in Ohio, all of which reside in the Grand River Lowlands, a vast wetland system that occurs throughout northern Trumbull and southern Ashtabula Counties. Eastern hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) are a keystone species in these systems, meaning the fate of the entire ecosystem relies on their presence. Hemlocks create climate-controlled environments suited for a variety of plants and wildlife.

Promoting Forest Health at Edge of Appalachia

Healthy forests are better able to capture and store carbon. They are also better adapted to support an array of native wildlife species. TNC is working at the Richard and Lucile Durrell Edge of Appalachia Preserve to better manage 14,000 acres of forests by promoting the growth of oak trees while removing and suppressing the growth of non-native and invasive species within the ecosystems. And through the Family Forest Carbon Program, we’re also helping private landowners—who own 87% of Ohio’s remaining forests—better manage their land to support carbon sequestration and wildlife habitat.

Supporting Endangered Pollinators at Kitty Todd

Since 1998, TNC has been working to conserve populations of wild blue lupine at the Kitty Todd Preserve in the Oak Openings region of Northwest Ohio. The native plant is the host plant for the federally endangered insect specialist, the Karner blue butterfly. Preserve staff maintain the habitat of the Karner blue through routine mowing that inhibits woody plant succession and helps blue lupine thrive. In 1998, Kitty Todd Nature Preserve became the first location for the reintroduction of the endangered butterfly and today volunteers conduct routine butterfly monitoring to gauge species populations from year to year.

In addition to helping the Karner blue butterfly, TNC is restoring populations of dense and rough blazing star in the Oak Openings region of southeast Michigan with the hope of helping the blazing star borer moth thrive. Thanks to grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, TNC staff have planted thousands of blazing stars on six sites since 2021. And early restoration efforts have proven successful, with staff observing 49 individual blazing star moth borers in fall 2020. Blazing stars support a variety of other wildlife species including bees and butterflies, making this project widely beneficial for a biodiversity in the region.

Protecting Native Wildflowers at Morgan Swamp

Of the eight species of trillium that naturally occur in Ohio, painted trillium (Trillium undulatum) is the rarest and perhaps most beautiful. So named for the splash of pink at the flower’s center, painted trillium is state-endangered. But the acidic soils of the hemlock forests at TNC’s Morgan Swamp Preserve in Ashtabula County provide ideal habitat for the spring-blooming flower. The preserve boasts the largest number of the rare flower in the state and TNC staff are working to ensure that the plant continues to thrive by protecting populations from deer browse through the construction of a deer exclusion fence.

Staff are also working to protect the lesser twayblade orchid (Neottia cordata) at the preserve. For 80 years, the orchid was locally extinct in Ohio until its rediscovery in the hemlock forests at the preserve in 2013. Today, the preserve is the only known area where this rare plant can be found in the state. Like painted trillium, lesser twayblade orchid is reliant on the eastern hemlock to maintain the habitat needed for its survival. Each spring, conservation staff conduct population studies to assess the health of these native plant communities. In 2022, staff counted 1,600 individual plants with over 600 in flower. Staff will continue monitoring and protecting the endangered wildflower from encroachment of invasive species and deer browse.