Welcome to CottonWood Hollow
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There are NO trails in this beautiful 77.65 acre nature preserve. It can be very swampy or dry depending on the season so the safest plan is to allow time enjoy the woods and expect to get dirty. Depending on the path you take you may encounter thorns, fallen trees, shallow ravines to cross and mud. Enjoy exploring these protected woods. This cache was placed with the permission of The Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
The Curator of Botany, of The Cleveland Natural History Museum had just about given up on finding the Lake County population of swamp cottonwood trees known from herbarium records dated 1893. The specimens had been collected by William Werner, a prolific field botanist with the frustrating habit of recording locations for all of his finds with the simple designation: "near Painesville, Ohio." The mystery was finally solved when he discovered a stand of 17 swamp cottonwoods trees potentially threatened in Ohio in a ravine adjacent to Big Creek in Concord Township. He had gone out to survey the land on a hot day in June of 1990, at the request of the property owner, anticipating a routine result. As he climbed up through the woods from Big Creek, he found an interesting little wetland where he did not expect one. The air was unusually cool, and he noticed juncos nesting overhead. When he looked up, he was totally astonished to see the elusive swamp cottonwoods. The day after this discovery, the property owner offered to donate the 30 1/2-acre tract anonymously to the Museum. Swamp cottonwoods have never been recorded in Cuyahoga, Geagua, Summit or Portage counties. They are a species of the Carolina coastal plain and lower Mississippi basin found only two places in Michigan and completely unknown in Pennsylvania. Also discovered on the land was another southern plant, mountain water cress. Lake County is the only known occurrence of this plant north of Ohio's glacial boundary. A mammal survey revealed a population of woodland jumping mice, seldom seen in Ohio, which can leap up to five feet. Hooded warblers and winter wren also inhabit the area, which is at the extreme southern edge of their range. Hemlock and hardwood trees cover the slopes and terraces of Cottonwood Hollow. The wetland itself is situated on an ancient oxbow channel cut into the west valley wall more than 12,500 years ago. Sediments carpeting the channel floor have the appearance of pottery clay, indicating that the area once was a lake bottom. These deposits may have occurred during the Pleistocene epoch, when retreating glacial ice in the Lake Erie basin raised water levels to 780 feet above sea level. Whether or not the rare trees at Cottonwood Hollow are the same ones that Werner recorded a century ago, the natural area represents a significant facet in the kaleidoscope of Ohio's natural environment. The preserve contains a spectacular display of native wildflowers, including white trillium, red trillium, false Solomon's seal, true Solomon's seal, marsh violet, halberd-leaf violet, sweet white violet, blue cohosh, jack-in-the-pulpit, wild geranium, spring beauty, squirrel corn, dutchman's breeches and bee balm.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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