The state of wetlands in Cleveland Metroparks: implications for urban wetland conservation and restoration

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Cleveland Metroparks is a 90-year-old park district with over 21,000 acres of land in five counties surrounding greater Cleveland, Ohio. Wetlands were assessed with a probabilistic study design in 2005 and 2006 and used the Landscape Development Index (LDI) and the Ohio Rapid Assessment Method for Wetlands v. 5.0 (ORAM) as assessment tools. The results confirmed conclusions of prior studies in Ohio that ORAM is a useful tool for assessing wetland condition that is unbiased by hydrogeomorphic class or dominant vegetation. Similarly, the LDI was useful at evaluating wetlands at the population level but was a poor predictor of individual wetland condition. Across Cleveland Metroparks land holdings, 15.9% of wetland were in poor condition, 23.0% were in fair condition, 46.7% were in good condition, and 14.4% were in very good condition. Similar proportions of poor, fair, good, and very good wetlands were obtained using the LDI at 2000- and 4000-meter (m) buffer distances. Shape of park (long v. square) and size (big v. small) was a significant factor in explaining proportions of high quality wetlands with big square parks > big long parks > small square > small long, in terms of numbers and acreage of high quality wetlands. Land use trends showed that if land use intensity was high with[in?] 100 m of the wetland, no very good quality and only a few good quality wetlands were observed. But when land use intensity was very high within 4000 m of the wetland, but low closer to the wetland, many good and some very good wetlands were persisting. With 30% of wetlands in poor to fair condition (10% of wetland acreage in park), substantial restoration potential exists within the generally urbanized region of the park system. Data collected here confirms that large blocks of land (>400 ha) have higher proportions of high quality wetlands, but that even within developed landscapes, a significant wetland resource can persist in smaller urban wildlands.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology, ELECTRONIC FILE - Ecology

Suggested ("appropriate") citation: Durkalec, M., C. Weldon, J. J. Mack. and J. Bishop. 2009. The State of Wetlands in Cleveland Metroparks: Implications for Urban Wetland Conservation and Restoration. Cleveland Metroparks Technical Report 2009/NR-07. Division of Natural Resources, Cleveland Metroparks, Fairview Park, Ohio. [27 p. + figures].

SWAP (2/19/2016) citation:
Durkalec M, Weldon C, Mack JJ, Bishop J. 2009. The state of wetlands in Cleveland Metroparks: implications for urban wetland conservation and restoration. Fairview Park (OH). Cleveland Metroparks Technical Report 2009/NR-07.