BRUNSWICK HILLS TWP.:
Two small hilltop wetlands have been added to Princess Ledges Nature Preserve in an effort to save a rare but threatened cold-water habitat.
The Medina County Park District added the two ponds that together cover about two acres off Elm Street to curtail runoff and to keep it away from the sandstone ledges that are the biggest attraction in the 45-acre preserve.
Though relatively small in scale, the project will have “a large positive impact on the long-term health and beauty of Princess Ledges,” the park district said in a statement.
The moss-covered ledges — up to 20 feet in height — stretch about 1,100 feet. They are similar to the cliffs at Virginia Kendall in Boston Township or Whipp’s Ledges in Hinckley Township, but are smaller. They once formed a part of the Lake Erie shoreline.
The goal of the $55,000 project was to collect runoff from nearby streets and houses and to keep it from draining into the bottom-of-the-hill ledges after heavy rains and snow melts, said Jim Spetz, the park district’s natural resources manager.
That runoff carries pollution and eroded soil into the preserve, had carved a deep gully and was altering the park’s unique cold-water habitat, he said.
Princess Ledges is home to a diverse population of invertebrates that rely on the flow of cold water that percolates slowly through tiny fissures in the sandstone.
However, sediment in the stormwater was clogging the tiny spaces between cobbles and boulders, suffocating the animals living there and destroying the rare habitat, Spetz said.
The man-made ponds are designed to trap the pollution and sediments. The stormwater can then soak into the ground. It will drain through soil and bedrock. It will continue to drip clean and cold through the ledges, he said.
Spetz obtained a $55,000 grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to fund the project.
Park volunteers helped plant trees to stabilize the soil and help restore the natural landscape.
The preserve is at 4361 Spruce Ave. off of Pearl Road (U.S. 42), north of Brunswick.
The area has been known as the Strongsville Heights Allotment since the 1920s. It was subdivided into cottage-sized lots that were largely unbuildable because there was not enough soil atop the rocks. The lots were generally 25 feet by 125 feet. When prices dropped, deeds to the lots were given away as prizes at movie theaters in the late 1920s and 1930s.
Starting in the mid-1970s, the park district began working to acquire the hundreds and hundreds of tiny parcels needed to create the park. The preserve opened in 2005.
There are two forested trails in the rustic preserve: the 1-mile Nature Trail and the 0.54-mile Ledge Trail. The preserve is known for its winter icicles.
For more information, call 330-722-9364 or go to www.medinacountyparks.com.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.