Forrest
J. Smith, Professor of Biology and designer of the Nature Trail
and Arboretum welcomes you. For more information or to set
up a tour of the Wayne College Nature Trail and Arboretum call
330 972-8740 or e-mail at fsmith@uakron.edu.
The
sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) has interest during at
least three seasons. In the spring, its new foliage is a pretty
bronze color, during the late summer, drifts of lily-of-the-valley
appearing flowers decorate its branches. During the fall, as
pictured in this image, the leaves often turn a beautiful red.
Although this plant may grow twenty feet tall, it does so slowly
and is well-suited for planting near foundations and buildings.
This specimen has been in the Wayne College Arboretum since
its inception in the 1970's.
This
plant with bright red leaves in the fall is burning bush (Euonymous
alata compacta). It is a common landscape plant used in
hedges or as specimen plants for its fiery red fall coloration.
This specimen was donated by a neighbor of Wayne College in
the late 1970's. The fact that it was dug during the summer
and fell off the truck several times during transport is a
testament to its hardiness. Besides its signature fall coloration,
the burning bush also is known for four bark ridges along its
branches which give it one of its alternative name, the cork-winged
euonymous. Note the brass identification sign which includes
common and scientific names and a student-made line drawing
of important floral and/or vegetative features.
Several
different sorts of signs are found along the Nature Trail.
This sign falls into the category of "educational signs" and
includes an image and a text concerning a major topic of the
environment. This sign covers the "Lawn Ecosystem" and chronicles
the history of turf grass plantings in North America. For the
entire text, click here.
Wayne
College maintenance employees and student assistants fabricated
these cedar signs from recycled bulletin boards which had been
removed from the walls of the college.
Wayne
College Software Support Specialist and former student, Tom
Hammond, stands at the entrance to the woodland walk. Snaking
for several hundred feet, the Nature Trail at this point travels
through a young woodland composed of black cherry (Prunus
serotina), black locust (Robinia pseudo-acacia),
and a number of young maples, ashes, redbud (Cercis canadensis),
and even a few flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida).
Because this is really a fairly young woods, it is likely that
many changes will take place over the next decade or so as
older cherries and locusts fall or die, and the ashes, maples
and other later successional trees grow and dominate.
This
educational sign describes the "Successional Ecosystem", a
process which can be observed along the Nature Trail. Any disturbed
living system, if left alone, will grow through a fairly regular
set of stages to create a stable mature ecosystem. Click
here to get some more details on succession.
Along
the Nature Trail is the Barnett-Hoover Farmhouse, a log structure
built originally in 1818. At this time, it is not in a usable
state, but in the future might house meeting rooms, a small
museum, and a land lab for outdoor education. It stands near
the foundation of an old spring house. Both the farmhouse and
the log house are on the National Register of historic places.
Archaeological digs in the vicinity of the farmhouse in the
past few years have yielded archaic age flint points, Civil
War era coins, and numerous artifacts of many decades. (My
personal favorite is a souvenir medallion showing the Golden
Gate Bridge and no doubt commemorating a long ago visit to
San Francisco.
This
is another directional sign at about the midpoint of the approximately
half-mile-long trail.
The "Student
Senate Amphitheater" was donated by the Wayne College Student
Senate in 1994/95. A portion of the lumber was donated by a
local lumberyard, and the deck was built by artisans from The
University of Akron Carpentry Shop. The tiered seating can
accommodate seventy-five students. The small deck is good for
both lectures and other sorts of events. The amphitheater was
a dream of the late Scott D. Hagen, and lies near the south
shore of one of the three ponds in the "Scott D. Hagen Aquatic
Area".
This
educational sign memorializes the life and contributions of
Scott D. Hagen, Associate Professor of Biology. Scott was present
at the inception of the College and passes away suddenly in
the prime of his career. If you wish to find out more about
this important figure in Wayne College history, click
here.
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This
image was taken looking northeast over the second or middle
farm pond in the Aquatic Area. Loaded with blue gills, bullfrogs,
and a few lunker bass, this is the best "fishing pond" of the
three. This particular view also lies across a twenty-year
old bald cypress tree (Taxodium distichum). This tree
is an unusual deciduous conifer native to the southern parts
of the United States. More properly found in bayous and the
everglades, this plant is nonetheless hardy in northern Ohio,
the nearest native stand being found in southern Illinois.
Wetlands
are an integral part of the ecosystem of Northeast Ohio. A
large section of the southeast part of the Wayne College campus
is a wetland generated by springs flowing near the log farmhouse.
This sign both describes the characteristics of a wetland and
the three federal criteria which are used to delineate jurisdictional
areas. This educational sign is near a deck which juts out
into a "manufactured wetland" which resides in the basin of
what was once the third of three farm ponds on the college
property. In the early 1980's, the dam for this pond was broken
to encourage shallower water. After a few years, a number of
native wetland plants colonized and it is possible, by means
of the deck, to "enter" the wetland and be surrounded by the
wetland ecosystem. Click here for
the complete sign text.
This
view of the Wetland Observation Deck looks to the northeast.
The treated wooden deck easily holds an entire class and includes
a wide bench and banister upon which students can sit and take
notes.
Continuing
the northeast view of Image #14, the basin of the wetland area
is apparent. In the foreground is a large area of narrow leaf
cattail (Typha angustifolia). Numerous wetland species
live in and around this basin. The dam of the old pond is lined
with small to medium-sized trees including species such as
black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and black cherry
(Prunus serotina).
Looking
back across the wetland area to the southeast, one can see
the stand of cattails and the shallow water standing in the
bottom of the old pond basin. In the foreground is a wood duck
nest box. This box was made as a project for an ecology class.
It mimics the holes in old trees which have become rarer as
old forests are cut down. The shiny disk on the support pole
helps to defeat raccoon and other predators from getting to
the eggs and ducklings.
Along
the banks of the pond and along the Nature Trail and in the
Arboretum are screen-printed brass signs such as this. The
artwork was done by students. This sign depicts the black locust
(Robinia pseudoacacia) a common tree species along the
trail.
East
of the wetland area and along a slough which bisects the college
property lies a small drainage stream. This small deck accesses
that stream and its environs. This may also be a "jumping-off" place
for future trail expansion.
This
is a more complete view of the wetland area, in this image,
looking almost south. The deck, cattails, and surrounding trees
are visible. Growing behind and near the deck is a common wetland
indicator tree, the red maple (Acer rubrum). You can
notice the leaves in this autumn image are starting to color
up a bit. The red maple has some of the prettiest red leaves
of any northeast Ohio trees.
On
the northeast corner of the second farm pond is a small clump
of another species of cattail, the broadleaf (Typha latifolia).
These plants came in here after dredging created a shallow
shelf-like wetland near the edge of the pond. The lateness
of the season is obvious by virtue of the ripe seed heads which
are in the process of dispersing their seeds on fluffy parachutes.
In
this image, looking southward, one can see another aspect of
the log farmhouse. The algae-filled, leaf covered first pond
is also visible. Lines through the pond were probably made
by animals such as muskrats or waterfowl. This pond is directly
spring fed and there is both the remnants of a springhouse
a the extreme right of the photo and several other springs
which feed this small body of water. It stays open during all
but the coldest of winters and is conversely very cool during
the hottest of the summers. We have often placed soft drinks
in the flow of the springhouse to keep them cold in the summer.
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