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Small Treasures in the Big Creek Valley

​A variety of rare and state listed plant and animal species have been documented in the Big Creek Valley.

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  • Small Treasures in the Big Creek Valley

Small Treasures in the Big Creek Valley

  • ​Posted July 21, 2020

Hemlock ravines, hardwood forests of maple, oak and beech trees; a clear creek flowing over layers of shale and around glacial boulders–these are timeless elements of the Lake County landscape. 

We know that humans have lived here and used this valley for centuries and that the natural resources here helped them to survive. From the time of the Native American hunting grounds, through early homesteads and farms, pioneer industry, growing economies and bedroom communities to today's multitasking world, the landscape of the Big Creek Valley has provided shelter for many. 

photo by David Trevarthen

Bobolink

This valley has also sheltered an impressive variety of plants and animals. Walking along park trails, we may try to imagine the life of the generations of people who lived here before us. We are still surrounded by many of the same plant and animal communities documented by early visitors. Passenger pigeons and wolves may be gone from this landscape, but hemlock ravines and upland forests still protect an important variety of wildlife. 

photo by John Pogacnik

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Girdled Road Reservation, an Audubon designated Important Bird Area (IBA), can reveal an impressive variety of birds. As an IBA, the park is recognized across Ohio as an important habitat for migrating and nesting birds. Robins, goldfinches, blue jays, crows and red-tailed hawks can be spotted on a morning stroll. Alongside these year-round residents, some more unusual species make their homes. Birds like the cerulean warbler, who winters in the Andes Mountains of South America, return every spring to the treetop forests of this valley. Here they produce their next generation, as they have since before the first settlers ventured to Ohio.

Dark-eyed junco

Rare and state listed plant and animal species documented in the Big Creek Valley include:

  • American chestnut
  • Hobblebush
  • Woodland jumping mouse
  • Yellow-bellied sapsucker
  • Golden-winged warbler
  • Least flycatcher
  • Hermit thrush
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Cerulean warbler
  • Bobolink
  • Hanslow's sparrow
  • Northern saw-whet owl
  • Brown creeper
  • Winter wren
  • Magnolia warbler
  • Blackburnian warbler
  • Northern waterthrush
  • Mourning warbler
  • Canada warbler
  • Purple finch
  • Four-toed salamander
  • Riffle snaketail
  • Great Lakes crayfish
  • Clay bank tiger beetle

Explore the Big Creek Valley at these parks:

  • Girdled Road Reservation
  • Helen Hazen Wyman Park
  • Big Creek at Liberty Hollow

photo by Moe Whitehouse

Hermit thrush

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