Also In this Issue

Beaver Creek Wetlands Association

The Spotted TurtleVolume 26, No. 3 Summer 2012

www.beavercreekwetlands.org

President’s Message .....................2News .........................................3-4Volunteer Summary......................5Ohio Prairies & Spring Hike .....6-7Top Summer Sights ......................8Bike the Wetlands ........................9Bill Hagenbuch Remembered ....10

Calendar of EventsBCWA Butterfly Survey Siebenthaler Fen July 14th, 10 amGreene County Fair in Xenia July 29-August 4BCWA Bug Bingo at Koogler Reserve, August 4th, 10 amFairborn Sweet Corn Festival at Community Park, Aug. 18 & 19Beavercreek Popcorn Festival Dayton-Xenia Rd, Sept. 8 & 9Monarch Tagging at Koogler Reserve Sept. 15th, 2:30 pm

Butterfly SurveySaturday, July 14th 10:00 amSiebenthaler FenJoin BCWA Trustee Mike Zimmerman to tally butterfly species for this annual event. We will meet in the parking lot, and then explore the different habitats along the boardwalk—the wet woods, the creek, and the sedge meadow—to identify and record all the butterfly species observed. Don’t forget your binoculars, camera, and field guide! See “Why Monitor Butterflies?” on page 4 for more information.

Monarch Butterflies tracked 1700 miles to Mexico!Attention monarch taggers! Monarch Watch just updated their database—we have tag recoveries from our monarch tagging programs! • Tag NHZ970 applied to the wing of

a female monarch during our first tagging program on September 18, 2010, was recovered on March 5, 2012, by Elido Moreno in Cerro Pelon, Mexico.

• Tag PHG767 applied to the wing of

New Drier Trails> Page 2 High

Flyers’ Trek

Top Summer Sights> Page 8

Pool Cover DonationsDo you have an old swimming pool cover or tarp that you would like to recycle? BCWA uses these items to solarize/bake/smother monocultures of invasive plants at a couple of restora-tion sites. This technique has proven to be a slow but effective alternative to herbicide use. To donate these materials, please contact admin@beavercreekwetlands.org.

> Continued on page 4

Pho

tos

by D

ebbi

e K

arr.

Rob

Eva

ns a

nd R

icha

rd S

wig

art

2 Spotted Turtle—Summer 2012

President’s Message

Pho

to b

y R

ob E

vans

How cool is that?On a Saturday morning in mid-

May, I was out at Koogler Reserve working on trails with a volunteer group doing a community engagement initiative with Northrop Grumman. This is the second year that this group has volunteered with the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association. Last year we worked on clearing trash from the seasonal stream that flows through the property and into the Beaver Creek.

Our task this year was hard. Moving wheelbarrow after wheelbar-row of crushed stone about a quarter mile to preplanned locations along the trail where it would be laid, raked out and made into a nice walking surface where the trail tends to be a little muddy. Once we dumped our load, we walked a quarter mile back and loaded the wheelbarrows up again. This continued all morning until a much deserved break. After a little rest and some water, we went on a mini tour of the property, beyond a spur trail, toward the back of the reserve.

We first walked by the stream that many of them helped to clear last year. Here we saw a pleasantly trickling stream of water, bouncing over rocks and logs without a piece of trash in sight. We walked out into the swamp where many

wildflowers were blooming and birds were singing. I talked about history of this reserve and answered questions of all kinds. I tried to use all kinds of ad-jectives to describe this area that I love to visit frequently. I also described many of the restoration efforts that are ongoing in this and other reserves in the Beaver Creek Wetlands.

After our tour, it was back to the wheelbarrows to finish up on the last section of trail for the day. As we were walking back to load up with another pile of stone, conversation continued between the volunteers. As I was listening, one of the guys said, “This is a nice place...and to think, we are helping with wetland restoration. How cool is that?” I couldn’t think of anything else after that comment. I was so happy that someone was actu-ally out here enjoying this place and the volunteer work they were doing. “How cool is that?” is all I could hear in my mind.

I am truly amazed at the hard work by all of our volunteers and I sincerely appreciate their dedication to the Beaver Creek Wetlands. And, to answer his question…. “How cool is that?” …. I think it is very cool!

See you in the wetlands!

Rob EvansBCWA President

From the volunteer groupOn Saturday, May 12th, a group of employees from Northrop Grumman–Xetron volunteered their morning to help improve the trail system at the Koogler Reserve within the Beaver Creek Wetlands. Prior to their efforts, the trail system consisted of a dirt trail mowed through the tall plant life in the reserve and a system of boardwalks over the land that is frequently underwater. These trails and boardwalks have served to allow easy passage through the wetlands. However, flooding from the above average rainfall the past two years has caused additional portions of the trail to be wet.

To help solve this problem, the NG Xetron group, led by manager Woody Willis, spent their morning with BCWA President Rob Evans hauling many wheelbarrows full of gravel and spreading it over these wet areas to create stable, dry por-tions of trail. Patrons of the Reserve can once again walk these portions of the trail without being up to their ankles in mud!—Woody Willis

Northrop Grumman-Xetron

See this newsletter in full color online at www.beavercreekwetlands.org 3

News

Progress Reported in Land Management WRRSP properties

The land recently acquired with funding from the Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program is being cared for and managed by our volunteers and the grant money set aside for this project. A prairie planted on 21 acres is entering its second summer and is now in bloom. Two large stands of invasive reed canary grass have been treated with mixed results. A sedge meadow was planted in early June on one cleared section, and we may be asking for volunteers to help plant plugs of plants, trees, and shrubs in the other by fall. Honeysuckle, autumn olive and common reed are being taken out where they could do the most harm and a growing infestation of reed canary grass in a high diversity fen is being controlled with carefully selected grass specific herbicides. Volunteers are always welcome to assist in this effort.Hunter’s Pointe

Last year Beavercreek Township mowed the large upland meadow for the first time in several years, allowing us to go in later to control

honeysuckle. Honeysuckle control was mostly successful, but we need to work on it some more this fall. Red-tailed Hawks and Great Horned Owls have been seen several times recently cruising the meadow for prey. Siebenthaler Fen

Early spring warm days provided a window of opportunity to treat reed canary grass that moved in the area flooded by beavers. Since the RCG sprouts before most other grasses, we used a grass-only herbicide and really knocked out a huge part of the invasion. Now it is becoming a nice meadow. The beavers were not all bad—they did kill lots of trees, but now those dead trees are great habi-tat for woodpeckers. The now-open canopy lets in light that is promoting a fantastic growth of many kinds of sedges. Isn’t nature grand?

—Jim Amon

Birdathon results Debbie, Mike, and I counted 82 dif-ferent species of birds in the Beaver Creek Wetlands Corridor this spring. Not bad since the leaves were just about all at full size and those little birds were hiding behind them. Lucky for the team, we all spoke “Bird” and could tell by bird songs which species

Beetles introduced to control purple loosestrife experience population decline in Beaver Creek Wetlands

Many of you know that we have twice introduced Galerucella beetles to control a large infestation of the invasive plant purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria). This year the population came back very weakly in the targeted area and calls to the Lake Erie wildlife station where we collected them mentioned that they too saw a decline. Jim Schott, our contact there, said not to worry, as the beetles at their location also occasionally seem to fall in numbers, but seem to always come back.

Nevertheless the situation is worrisome. We don’t want to spray herbicide to prevent spread of the weed because it could harm the bee-tles if their sole food source is killed off. One way to handle this might be to use a very low concentration of herbicide and spray the seed produc-ing parts of the plants so that seed production is diminished. This has worked to some extent before but is quite labor intensive. We may be looking for a crew to help around the end of June – stay tuned!

—Jim Amon

The restored Little Beaver Creek in a recent photoPhoto by Richard Swigart

were singing! The annual bird census is a way for us to judge the com-ing and going of the wildlife in our conservation area. It is also a way to raise a few extra dollars. So, if you pledged or intend to pledge here is the result – 82 birds. If you pledged 10 cents per bird, the amount owed is $8.20. The easy way to pay is to go to our website and do it through Paypal.

—Jim Amon

4 Spotted Turtle—Summer 2012

Monarch Tagging EventSaturday, Sept. 15th at 2:30 pmKoogler Wetland/Prairie ReserveMark your calendars for this popular family event! Become “citizen scientists” by taking part in this large-scale research project conducted by Monarch Watch, an educational outreach program based at the University of Kansas. We will capture migrating monarch butterflies, record some data, then tag and release them to continue their long journey to their winter home in central Mexico. Important data is collected for monarch conservation, plus it is a fun activity for everyone!

Koogler Wetland/Prairie Reserve is located on Beaver Val-ley Road, just south of New Germany Trebein Road. Come dressed appropriately to explore the prairie, wetland, and wood-land habitats found in this park—long pants and closed-toe shoes are recommended as the monarchs do not stay along the mowed path! Don’t forget your but-terfly net—a limited number of nets will be available on site.

BCWA purchases 100 tags from Monarch Watch for this event, but it is unlikely that all will be used during the public program. If you and your family are unable to make it to the “main event,” but would still like to participate in this activity, you are welcome to join BCWA volunteers who will continue tagging mon-archs at this site until all the tags are used. In the past, this has taken about a week to accomplish. A schedule for this activity will be posted on the website in mid-September.

Bug BingoSaturday, Aug. 4th, 10–11:30 amKoogler/Wetland Prairie ReserveThe Beaver Creek Wetlands Associa-tion cordially invites you to go a bit buggy in the prairie at Koogler Re-serve on Saturday morning, August 4. Inspired by the National Wildlife Federation’s Bug Bingo project, our education chair Chris Simmons and a crew of BCWA volunteers will set up stations for insect identification and “edible entomology.”* The young participants can shake insects and spiders from the wildflowers onto catching sheets, and use but-terfly nets to nab flying insects. The

budding entomologists will be able to study their six-legged captives through special magnifier boxes at the identification station, and fill their bingo cards as they identify various insects (and spiders, too). The suc-cessful bingo players then proceed to the “edible entomology” station, where they create their own insects using tasty treats.

Basic body parts of insects are introduced as the kids build each section with edibles such as marsh-mallows, strawberry candy ropes, pretzels and potato chips. The reward for the learning experience is, of course, to chow down on their edible “bug” creations.

Nets, collection boxes, identi-fication guides, and treats will be provided. Dress appropriately—long pants and closed-toe shoes are recommended for walking the prairie paths.*Entomology is the study of insects

Why Monitor Butterflies?Long-term butterfly monitoring shows population trends and fluctua-tions in range over time. Butterflies

are extremely valuable indica-tors of the state of the environment. They are affected by temperature changes and evi-dence is emerging that shows but-terfly populations are beginning to appear outside of their normal range

due to changes in the global climate.

a male monarch on September 24, 2011, was recovered on February 28, 2012, by Juuana Estela Garcia Dominguez in El Rosario, Mexi-co.*

Both of these butterflies traveled nearly 1700 miles from Koogler Reserve to the recovery locations in Mexico!

* Participants in the 2011 program were given a card with the tag number of “their” monarch. Butterfly PHG767 was captured

and tagged by Chuck Darnell of Fairborn. He attended the public tagging event and enjoyed it so much that he came out to Koogler every day the follow-ing week to as-sist, and ended up tagging 21 of the 100 but-terflies during

the 2011 program. Congratulations, Chuck!

—Debbie Karr

> High Flyer’s TrekContinued from page 1

Continued on page 11 >

Pho

to b

y R

icha

rd S

wig

art

Pho

to b

y R

icha

rd S

wig

art

Pho

to b

y D

ebbi

e K

arr

See this newsletter in full color online at www.beavercreekwetlands.org 5

Little Beaver Creek Crew Every Saturday morning from mid-March to mid-November, a group of dedicated BCWA volunteers meets at 9:00 a.m., usually at Beavercreek Station, and works at various land management activities at multiple sites along the Little Beaver Creek until noon (and then heads up the hill to a favorite restaurant for lunch). At Creekside Reserve, protective wraps were removed from tree saplings planted in 2010, more Callery pears were cut out of the hillside prairie along US35, and the linear wet meadow under the power lines south of the bikeway was inspected for regrowth of reed canary grass. Numerous patches of this invasive wetland grass have been cut and treated in this area for the past few years, and the treatment was effec-tive—none was located! The regrowth of non-native sweetflag at Hershner Reserve was cut down and the tarps and pool covers used to smother it were repositioned. The adjacent area treated in this manner was seeded last fall with sedges and wetland flower-ing plants, and was covered with fresh green sprouts. Invasive control efforts began at Hagenbuch Reserve, with large stands of honeysuckle and the large euonymus vines climbing the trees falling victim to loppers and chainsaws. Gray dogwood, elderberry, and meadowsweet have already been planted to replace the honeysuckle on the north side of the creek, with more planting planned for the south side of the creek in the near future. Little Beaver Creek Prairie benefited immensely from the aggressive hon-eysuckle removal last fall—a grove of nannyberry viburnum and a patch of a native burning bush (Euonymus atro-purpureus) were “liberated,” as were Jack-in-the-pulpit and green dragon on the wooded hillside next to the fen. Invasive control continued—garlic mustard, dame’s rocket, and poison hemlock were manually removed, and plant diversity was increased by plant-ing buttonbush, shrubby cinquefoil, swamp rose, blue flag, and sedge Carex lurida. Under the direction of Don

Geiger, the Saturday morning volun-teers included Deb Adams, Jim Amon, Skip Beehler, Ann Byrd, Bill Byrd, Jim Byrd, Aaron Deckard, Rob Evans, Lois Gschwender, Debbie Karr, Al Munoz, Cecil Ogg, Jim Schneider, and Richard Swigart.

Koogler Wetland/Prairie Re-serve The emphasis at this site has been trail building and preparations for extending the boardwalk. Beavercreek Township supplied geotextile fabric and crushed stone, which BCWA vol-unteers placed to improve sections of the trail that will not have boardwalk. This was hard work! The piles of stone were left in two different places as close to work areas as possible, but still needed to be hauled quite a distance in wheelbarrows. Watch for notices about boardwalk construction—it should begin soon—volunteers needed! In ad-dition to trail construction, volunteers

have worked on invasive control, plant-ed buttonbush, shrubby cinquefoil, and swamp rose, and even collected seed of early maturing sedges. Under the direction of Jim Amon, volunteers included Skip Beehler, Bill Byrd, Jim Byrd, Bill Gruner, Lois Gschwender, Al Munoz, Greg Notestine, Cecil Ogg, Jim Schneider, Judith Streiff, Ven Swaminathan, Richard Swigart, Hitesh Trivedi, Rudra Trivedi, Dhira Venka-tramani, Sadhvi Venkatramani, and Kathy Westfall. Under the direction of Rob Evans, a community service group from Northrop Grumman hauled and spread crushed stone on the section of trail the farthest distance from the piles. Thanks to Elisabeth Baca, Sam Banzhaf, Aaron Bauer, Paul Brown, Josh Fuenst, Jim Samuels, Mike Trueblood, Justin Williams, and Woody Willis for their assistance.

Other Sites A core group of volunteers worked on land manage-ment issues at several other sites in the

wetland corridor. At Fairborn Marsh, woody invasives were removed from the ditch that runs through the southern part of the prairie. Work continued at the conservation easement in Beavercreek Township, with invasive reed canary grass under attack by both a contractor paid by WRRSP grant funding and by the volunteers. It is encouraging to see skunk cabbage and turtlehead growing in a 5-acre field that was shoulder-high in reed canary grass just last year. Honeysuckle, autumn olive, and Callery pear have been cut and treated, and donated pool covers have been spread over a patch of Phragmites to smother/solarize it. Hopefully this control method will be as effective here as it was on sweetflag at another site. At Siebenthaler Fen, large patches of reed canary grass have successfully been treated, and honey-suckle and autumn olive were removed from the levy along the Beaver Creek. Nannyberry viburnum and wafer ash saplings have sprouted in this area as the competition from honeysuckle has been reduced. The loop boardwalk has been cleared of overhanging vegetation, which is a maintenance chore that must be repeated several times during the growing season. Under the direction of Jim Amon, volunteers for these tasks were Skip Beehler, Matt Cary, Denise Fong, Lois Gschwender, Jennifer How-ard, Debbie Karr, Richard Swigart, and Cindy Witker.

In addition to these land manage-ment activities, volunteers also assist with mailings and staff the booth at spe-cial events. Assistance with the spring membership mailing was provided by Dorothy Bordewisch, Rob Evans, Pat Hefner, Denny Jarvi, Meri Matilla, Judy Renz, Sue Rytel, Judith Streiff, Dave Townsley, Mary Townsley, and Brian Woodruff. At the Knollwood Garden Party, refreshments were served by Carol Amon, Art Bauer, Ann Byrd, Rob Evans, Lois Gschwender, Jean Kash, Judy Renz, Sue Rytel, Dave Scott, Susie Scott, Bill Skelly, David Shumway, Chris Simmons, Chad Wilding, Eleanor Young, and Mike Zimmerman.

Thanks to all these volunteers for their hard work and dedication!

—Debbie Karr

Volunteer Activity Summary

6 Spotted Turtle—Summer 2012

Sometimes, when encountering visitors in the various reserves in the Beaver Creek wetlands corridor, we are asked why we are working to create prairies. When people think of prairies, their thoughts automatically go west of the Mississippi River and to the Great Plains. I grew up watching cowboy movies and television shows wishing that I could live “where the buffalo roamed.” It wasn’t until I was in my mid-twenties and in an archae-ology course that I discovered that bison did roam Ohio along with elk and prairie chickens.

When the Ohio territory was first surveyed, over three hundred prairie sites were recorded. These sites, some recorded in acres and others in square miles, totaled from 300,000 acres to more than 900,000 acres. The wide range on the estimates is due to different viewpoints of what defined a prairie. These estimates come from official surveyor’s reports but also from personal journals of early explor-ers and settlers. The vast majority of Ohio was covered with forest and to many observers at that time, any area that wasn’t covered by trees was called a prairie, although sometimes they were called meadows and even barrens along with other descriptive names.

It was generally believed that prairies in Ohio were only found in glaciated areas. The evidence ap-peared to support the theory that prairies moved into Ohio as the glaciers retreated. Prairies were mainly recorded in northern, central and west central Ohio, places where the glaciers had changed the terrain. Prairie remnants have since been found in southern and southeastern Ohio where glaciers never ventured. The evidence now suggests that a hot and dry period followed the glaciers for several thousand years, which was detrimental to the forest but allowed prairies to move into Ohio and estab-lish themselves. Once established, some of these prairies were able to resist the re-encroachment of forests.

Imagine the surprise the early explorers and settlers felt after travel-ing for days through seemingly endless forest and suddenly coming upon large, treeless expanses as they reached central, north central and western Ohio. The first openings that these early travelers encountered were probably savannahs, grasslands with scattered trees or small groves of trees. In other places, these might have been sedge meadows which were wet during part of the year and dry at other times.

Christopher Gist, exploring southwest Ohio in 1751, wrote in his journal about following the Little Miami River and traveling through a vast meadow up to a mile wide and about ten miles long in what is now northern Clinton County and southern Greene County. It was also recorded that when Alpha was first settled in 1796 (the first settlement in what is now Beavercreek Township), the entire “Big Beaver Valley” was prairie for five miles north of Alpha. It is unknown whether these were wet or dry prairies but, generalizing from early stories about “upper” and “lower” prairies, it can be assumed to probably have contained both, transi-tioning from dry to wet prairie to fen.

These early observers were impressed with the diversity of flowering plants found in midsummer such as black-eyed Susan, partridge

pea, purple coneflowers and many more. They were equally impressed by the grasses of late summer that were described as “taller than a man on horseback.”

These grasses, such as big blue-stem and Indian grass, have root sys-tems reaching deeper into the soil than the plants are tall and so dense that the settler’s steel plated, wooden plow-shares could not turn over the soil. This, along with the belief by some settlers that if the soil wasn’t good enough to support trees, it wasn’t good enough to support agriculture, protect-ed some of the prairies until the 1820’s when a blacksmith in Illinois by the name of John Deere invented the steel breaker plow. This was the beginning of the end of the dry prairies, both the high grass prairies of the east and the short grass prairies of the west.

Wet prairies were fairly safe until the 1850’s when the first of Ohio’s so-called “ditch laws” were passed to open more of Ohio’s land to ag-riculture by draining as much of the seasonal wet areas as possible.

We will probably never regain our herds of bison and elk or our flocks of prairie chickens, but we can visit restored pieces of our past. Cemex Reserve, owned by Greene County

Ohio Prairiesby Richard Swigart

Pho

to b

y R

icha

rd S

wig

art

See this newsletter in full color online at www.beavercreekwetlands.org 7

Parks and Trails, has examples of both wet and dry prairies. Examples of dry prairies can be found and visited at Oakes Quarry Park owned by Fairborn City Parks, Fairborn Marsh owned by the Beaver Creek Wetlands As-sociation, the Koogler Wetland/Prairie Reserve owned by Beavercreek Town-ship and the Beaver Creek Wildlife Area owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife. Sedge meadows can also be visited at Fairborn Marsh, Koogler Wetlands/Prairie Reserve and Sieben-

Spring Hikes in the Wetlands

There were two guided hikes at Koogler Wetlands/Prairie Reserve this spring. Debbie Karr and Richard Swigart had the privilege of leading these tours. The first tour, on April 17, involved 20 home-schooled children, ranging in age from preschool to the eighth grade, and their parents.

Our challenge was keeping track of twenty children while trying to find subjects that would hold the interest of such a wide range of ages. Each child was given a magnifying glass to use and to keep as their own. This really seemed to pique their interest as we explored the prairie, the wetlands, the woods and the creek.

The boardwalk in the wet woods became a high point of the hike as this allowed the students to lie down

and get “face to face” with the in-habitants of the water flowing under the boardwalk. Combining this with collecting samples from vernal pools that were created where trees were knocked down by the remnants of Hurricane Ike, gave us close up views of tadpoles, dragonfly nymphs and even a green frog (all of which were later released back into the water from which they were obtained).

This first hike appeared to be a success for all concerned and served as a learning experience for the second hike that took place on May 31. The participants of this hike were of a slightly different demographic. The hikers in this case were members of the Yellow Springs Senior Citizens Center.

This tour of the wetlands was re-quested by a long-time member of the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association who agrees with everything BCWA

stands for but had never personally experienced the wetlands. We were happy to fulfill her request and to explore the same prairie, woods and wetlands that the previous hike had explored.

At this time, we are not sure who benefitted the most from this excur-sion, the guest of honor, her friends or the guides that had the privilege of leading this special hike. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the volunteers who gave their time and a lot of hard work to make the trail accessible to a wheelchair (with a lot of assistance) so this gem of a reserve could be viewed by all.

—Richard Swigart

Do you have a group that would like a guided tour of one of the wetland sites? Please contact Administrative Coordinator Bob Limbert to make arrangements.

thaler Fen also owned by the Division of Wildlife.

The Beaver Creek Wetlands As-sociation also manages two other Prai-ries that are presently not open to the public. One is the Zimmerman Prairie Preserve, a remnant of an original prairie, which can be viewed from the bikeway west of North Fairfield Road, owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. The other prairie is the Little Beaver Creek Prairie, owned by the Ohio Department of

Transportation, which can be viewed from the bikeway spur that runs from the main bikeway to Research Boule-vard.

There are several activities sched-uled to take place in the prairie at the Koogler Wetland/Prairie Reserve later this summer. One is the “Bug Bingo” children’s activity scheduled for August 4. The other is the tagging of migrating Monarch butterflies sched-uled for September 15, at which time the prairie grasses should be “taller than a man on horseback.”

Pho

to b

y R

icha

rd S

wig

art

8 Spotted Turtle—Summer 2012

Pho

tos

by D

ebbi

e K

arr a

nd R

icha

rd S

wig

art

• The pink cotton candy blossoms of Queen of the Prairie

• Buckeye butterflies• Dragonflies & damselflies• Building more boardwalk

at Koogler!• Basket-shaped Oriole nests

high in cottonwoods• Freshness after a summer

storm• Early morning dew drops

glistening on spider webs• Wind blowing through a

sedge meadow• Flickers nesting in old

dead trees• Sitting on a bench and let-

ting Mother Nature speak to you

• Volunteers doing stuff that would cost a zillion dol-lars—for free!

• Sparkling waters of Little Beaver Creek at Creekside Reserve

• Masses of Prairie Dock blooming at Zimmerman Prairie and Little Beaver Creek Prairie along the bikeway

• Swamp rose perfume in the early morning

• Obedient plant next to Siebenthaler Fen boardwalk

• Yellow-breasted Chat chat-ting away

• Turtles on a log in the creek• A Prothonotary Warbler• The rattling call of a Belted

Kingfisher as it flies along the creek

• Swamp milkweed and its resident Monarch caterpil-lars

• Phantom crane flies drifting

in and out of sunbeams in the wet woods—now you see them, now you don’t!

• The sunny yellow blos-soms of summer

• Brilliant Cardinal flower in the spotlight of a sunbeam

• The soft mauve of Joe-pye weed and deep magenta of ironweed and all the pollinators they attract

• Viceroy butterflies• Metallic blue berries of

silky dogwood and white berries on red stems of gray dogwood

• Bottlebrush flowers of Canadian burnet

• Popping Touch-me-not seed capsules!

• The towering big blue stem and Indian grasses of late summer in the prairies

Things not to miss in the wetlands this summer

BCWA’s 25th Anniversary Photo ContestShare your photos to help celebrate our 25th anniver-sary in 2013! BCWA an-nounces a photo contest to highlight the beauty of the wetlands corridor and help celebrate a quarter century of work to protect and restore this unique space.

The contest is open to members and non-members. We seek photos of all sea-sons showing anything found in the wetlands: wildlife, flowers, landscapes, insects, birds, people or anything else you find interesting. Entry deadline is March 31, 2013, with judging in April. Win-ners will be announced on the website and newsletter.

All submissions must be 8” x 10” horizontal prints labeled with name, address, phone number, and e-mail address, plus the date of the photo and location in the Beaver Creek Wetlands where it was taken. The entry form will have space for ad-ditional comments if desired. Photos should be in the highest resolution possible, and a digital version will be required from the winners. Mail prints to BCWA Photo Contest, P.O. Box 42, Alpha, OH 45301. Prints will be returned only if a self-ad-dressed, stamped envelope is provided. Complete contest rules will be posted on the website.

An exhibit of the win-ning entries is planned for May 2013. Winners will also be published in a 2014 BCWA calendar to be avail-able in summer of 2013.

So get out into the wet-lands now and don’t forget your camera!

See this newsletter in full color online at www.beavercreekwetlands.org 9

Bike the Wetlands?Maybe not through them, but you can bike to and alongside many of our wetland sites, and even visit several in a single outing. To assist in your journey, visit BCWA’s website and download maps for each location you will be visiting. These maps will provide you with valuable informa-tion like locations, hiking trails and what to see. Once you arrive, get off your bikes and walk through the sites.

Note: I haven’t tried the full bike/hike mixes described below. It may take some trial and error to find how best to park and lock bikes at different points. Depending on how intrepid you feel you may want to bring along a map or GPS device. Or go primitive and read the sun’s position to get oriented!

Bikeways provide amazing gateways to wet-lands and more. They can be hard to describe in words but check Google Maps or any of the links listed below. Many access points connect numerous com-munities to bike trails and wetlands that are part of the system we call the Beaver Creek Wetlands. Here are several possible trips you can take this season:

Residents of Ketter-ing and nearby areas can get on the Iron Horse Trail bikeway and see Wood-man Fen. This Five Rivers MetroParks site is at the headwaters of a stream that winds its way to join the Little Beaver Creek. The Iron Horse Trail connects

part of Kettering around The Greene to Belmont near the Fen and curves north to Linden Avenue near Eastown Shopping Center. There the Iron Horse Trail meets Creekside Trail.

Residents of Beaver-creek can take Creekside Trail west into Dayton to reach the Iron Horse Trail and Woodman Fen, or bike east toward Xenia, passing many wetlands along the way. You can park where the trail meets Dayton-Xenia, Grange Hall, North Fairfield or Factory Roads.

From the Greene/Mont-gomery County line head east on Creekside Trail. Just east of Grange Hall you’ll pass Zimmerman Prairie south of the bikeway. Further east, take the Creekside spur south to the US 35 off-ramp & Re-search Park Blvd. You’ll see Little Beaver Creek Prairie and pass a wetland mitiga-tion site along an abandoned on-ramp to US 35. Back on Creekside Trail, you’ll next pass Hagenbuch Reserve, just west of North Fairfield at Beavercreek Station. Now under care of BCWA, the Reserve affords a good glimpse of Little Beaver Creek. Another spur along North Fairfield Road con-nects residents south of US 35 to Creekside Trail. Con-tinuing east of North Fair-field, the Creekside Reserve has numerous foot trails with views of LBC, a nice woods, some relict prairies, and wet-lands that were part of the old railroad right-of-way where the bike trail runs now.

Continuing east, don’t miss the Rotary Park spur veering northeast from Com-munity Park at the Factory Road parking area. At Rotary Park you can park your bike near the picnic shelter and

use the nearby trail to the Phillips Park wetland com-plex. From Phillips Park you can walk a mile or more into the wetlands, check out the observation tower and do some fine birding. Back at Rotary Park, the spur takes you on to the Hunters Ridge and Hunter’s Pointe Communities. Other bike trails along Dayton-Xenia and North Fairfield Roads allow the majority of Beavercreek residents to reach Creekside Trail and the wetlands.

Fairborn Residents can find bike trails to the wetlands too. Fairborn Community Park next to Fairborn High School ties bike paths along Dayton-Yellow Springs Road to more paths that lead through the park. If you continue all the way to the last parking area near the ball fields, you can then walk your bike back into the wetland woods and eventually reach a well-built wooden bridge that connects to housing to the north. The trail will lead you out on Meadow-lands Drive. Turn left and continue north. At the end of the block you’ll cross Garland and find yourself now on Sanctuary Drive, which leads right into Cemex Reserve. In addition, Fairborn’s Wright Brothers

Huffman Prairie Bikeway links downtown Fairborn with Huffman Reserve along Kaufmann Avenue. Along the way visit Huffman Prairie (much of which was and still is a wet prairie/wetland), Wright Brothers Flying Field, and zip into the campus of WSU to enjoy their Biology Reserve with 200 acres of very fine woodlands.

Future When finan-cial conditions improve, let’s hope that cities, town-ships and the county can find ways to make other parts of the Beaver Creek Wetlands safely accessible by bikeways. Places like Oakes Quarry, Fairborn Marsh, Koogler Reserve, and the Siebenthaler Fen would be great places for cyclists to visit if bikeways connected to them. For now we suggest you reach these sites by four wheels, not two.

—Mark Martel

Helpful links:beavercreekwetlands.org/maplocations.htmlmetroparks.org/Documents/Recreation/MV_Rec_Trails.pdfmetroparks.org/GetOutside/RegionalTrails.aspxmetroparks.org/GetOutside/IronHorseBikeway.aspx

miamivalleytrails.org/creekside-trailmetroparks.org/AboutUs/News_FenNominal.aspxci.beavercreek.oh.us/old/services/parks-rec/park.htm#Rotco.greene.oh.us/parks/pdf/maps/bike-paths/Huffman_Prarie.pdfwright.edu/university-maps/campus-maps

10 Spotted Turtle—Summer 2012

preservation group ahead.As years seemingly flew by,

the Wetlands Association became a household entity in the Beavercreek/Fairborn community. Bill became the father figure, the legitimizer, advisor, contributor, and patron. His business contacts paved the way for acquisi-tion of the “Banana,” a banana-shaped portion of real estate adjacent to Little

Beaver Creek that had been sought after by developers as an auto dealership site.

The Hagenbuch family donated Zim-merman Prairie to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Ar-eas and Preserves and Hagenbuch Reserve to the BCWA, both vital pieces of quality wet-lands. In addition, they contributed financial gifts and placed a con-servation easement on their private property along the Little Beaver Creek.

Bill’s patient, generous approach to

problem solving benefitted many other groups in addition to BCWA. I find it difficult to stop writing of his accom-plishments and how much he will be missed. May you have a wonderful journey, good friend!

—Dane Mutter, former Executive Director, BCWA

Spotted Turtle Name and Logo: Noted area wildlife artist Charley Harper generously donated the art for our logo in 1988. His work has been adopted by the National Park Service and is appre-ciated worldwide. Our newsletter recog-nizes the Spotted Turtle as an icon for the many rare animals and plants protected in the Beaver Creek Wetlands.

BILL HAGENBUCH 1918 - 2012Behind every successful organization there are people who get the job done. It is often stated, “10% of the member-ship or congregation or group does all the work.” In general that is true and when you size up that 10%, frequently an individual stands out—a selfless, dedicated, highly motivated person whose time, effort and many contributions make that success possible.

Bill Hagenbuch was that person for our Beaver Creek Wetlands Association. Back in 1988, even before we were chartered as a non-profit organization, Bill provided us with an office in the basement of his home on Fairfield Road in Beavercreek. An of-fice, a phone number and his Macintosh computer, accompa-nied by his marvelous computer literacy, gave the wetlands organization a remarkable beginning. All of this, plus his warm human approach to life and a cup of fresh coffee for visitors and volunteers when they dropped in to the “office,” got the BCWA started on the right track.

Imagine, if you will, an office in the basement of your house. People

coming and going at all hours of the day and sometimes night, people you have never met or heard of, phones ringing, excited, sometimes loud con-versation—Bill’s patient wife, “Gra-cie” put up with all of this and often had goodies on the kitchen counter for the taking.

Bill became our first president shortly after the Internal Revenue

Service approved the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association’s charter as a non-profit organization. Under his leadership, working committees were established to produce the necessary governance documents, fundraising, newsletter, land acquisition and man-agement—all of the necessary ground-work to move the goals of a wetland

Submissions, Questions, or Comments: We rely on members likeyou to make this newsletter the product of several diverse voices. If you have an idea for an article or a picture to include, please send them to admin@beavercree-kwetlands.org. Also, we welcome any comments or questions. For submissions, questions, or comments, please include “newsletter” in the subject line of your e-mail. We reserve the right to edit for content or clarity.

Donations of Land/Easements: If you are interested in donating land, placing an easement on property, or re-membering the BCWA in your will, please don’t hesitate to call the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association at (937) 320-9042.

BCWA Annual Report: Copies are available by request. E-mail the office at admin@beavercreekwetlands.org or call (937) 320-9042.

See this newsletter in full color online at www.beavercreekwetlands.org 11

Join the BCWA Today!

Choose your member level: $5 Student $10 Senior (60+) $15 Individual $25 Family

Please make your check payable to BCWA andmail to: BCWA, P.O. Box 42, Alpha, OH 45301

Name

Address

Phone

Email

Help reclaim our local wetlands corridor and restore it’s natural beauty and function. Your member dues fund land acquisition, education programs, habitat restoration and management of our preserve.

$35 Contributing $50 Supporting $100 Patron $1,000 Life

A 501(c)(3) land trust organization. Your donation is tax deductible.

Our Endowment Fund has grown to over $135,000 in a little over three years. A recent bequest was left in the form of a life annuity. Such planned giving can result in tax savings and/or income to you, while leaving a legacy of conservation. The BCWA Endowment Fund is a permanent savings plan to help en-sure that BCWA continues to protect wetlands for future generations. The BCWA Endowment Fund may accept many types of planned, deferred, and outright gifts that can actually increase the value of your estate, enabling you to do more with what you leave for others. Spotted Turtle Society members in-clude anyone who has made a gift to the Beaver Creek Wetlands Associa-tion Endowment Fund.

I would like to learn more about gift options to help grow the Beaver Creek Wetlands Endowment Fund. Please contact me about planned giving.

I have already included BCWA in my estate planning. I would like to become a member of the Spotted Turtle Society.

I wish to make an outright gift payable to ‘”BCWA Endowment Fund”.

Please return to:Beaver Creek Wetlands AssociationAttn: Endowment CommitteeP.O.Box 42, Alpha, Ohio 45301

Endowment at $135K and growing

For information on a variety of planned giving options, call or write to us, or contact The Dayton Foundation directly.

Name

Address

Phone

Email

Your donations to BCWA and the Spotted Turtle Society can be used in your tax deductions. We are a 501(c)3 charitable organization and land trust under IRS.

Compared to other species of insects, butterflies are relatively easy to observe and identify. The adults are obvious in nature and can almost always be found where there are nectar and food plant sources. Butterflies have specific habitat requirements. Habitat loss due to human activities and replacement of native plants with ornamental and non-native plants have had a devastating impact on butterfly populations.

One of the citizen science moni-toring activities that occurs across the country is the annual “4th of July Count” sponsored by the North Ameri-can Butterfly Association. BCWA started participating in this survey sev-eral years ago. This year the date is Sat-urday, July 14th, 10:00 am at Sieben-thaler Fen. We would love for you to come out and help identify and count butterflies. Some of the cool butterflies we’ll see include the larger monarchs, tiger swallowtails, and red admirals, down to tiny least skippers. It is a lot of fun and provides an opportunity for you to explore the wetlands. Last year it was a little warm, of course expected for the middle of July. But don’t worry, the count only takes about two hours and we count butterflies mostly from the safe confines of the boardwalk. For those of you with the inclination, and if time and conditions permit, we may continue the survey at another site. Dress appropriately—long pants and closed-toe shoes are recommended—and bring water. You don’t need to be experienced at identifying butterflies – just bring a desire to discover and learn. We’ll have extra butterfly nets and field guides for everyone to share.

—Mike Zimmerman

“Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your atten-tion to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” —Thoreau

> Why Monitor ButterfliesContinued from page 4

Label (1” x 2-5/8” ) here.Place carefully to

cover bottom line completelybut do not touch top line.

Moving? New e-mail address?Don’t miss an issue! Call 937-320-9042

or email: admin@beavercreekwetlands.org

NONPROFITORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGE PAIDXENIA, OHIO 45385

PERMIT NUMBER 76

The Spotted Turtle | Volume 26, No. 3 | Summer 2012

P.O. BOX 42ALPHA, OH 45301Address Service Requested

Spotted Turtle EditorsJim and Carol AmonMark MartelDeborah Karr

WebmasterRob Evans

Visit us Onlinewww.beavercreekwetlands.org

Contact UsAdministrative Coordinatoradmin@beavercreekwetlands.orgPresidentpresident@beavercreekwetlands.orgTechnical Advisortechnical@beavercreekwetlands.orgWebmasterwebmaster@beavercreekwetlands.orgMediamedia@beavercreekwetlands.orgNewsletternewsletter@beavercreekwetlands.org

OfficersRob Evans, PresidentAnn Byrd, Vice PresidentDeborah Karr, SecretaryDoug Hull, TreasurerJim Amon, Technical

Trustees Deborrah Adams Ann Byrd Jim SchneiderMike ZimmermanRob Evans Donald GeigerDenny JarviMark MartelSue RytelChristina SimmonsDeborah Karr Nancy BainLois GschwenderJames Runkle

PublisherOregon Printingwww.oregonprinting.com

Founded in 1988, the Mission of the Beaver Creek Wetlands Association is to protect the wetland ecosystem in the Beaver Creek watershed through partnerships, community networks, and public education.

Pho

to b

y R

icha

rd S

wig

art