RIVERSIDE NATURAL AREA, North St., Morenci
The unusual wahoo shrub (Euonymus atropurpurea) at Bean Creek, Riverside
Park
Riverside Park was designated a Natural Area by Morenci City Council Resolution in April 2004. Morenci High School students in the Green Earth Club (GECKOs) initiated the project to reaffirm a committment made in 1973 at the request of the Morenci Garden Club. Students gave presentations to community groups about the Park's native plant species, unique to the floodplains of southern Michigan -- hackberry, honey locust, pawpaw, Ohio buckeye, wahoo shrub, bladdernut, and hoptree. They described the rich benefits to the public and to future generations through the enjoyment and eduation that Natural Areas provide, with places to walk, contemplate, and study nature through the seasons and through time.
On May 2, 2004, the GECKOs and volunteers from the Bean/Tiffin Watershed Coalition began a restoration project with a planting day. They planted sycamore trees and seedlings of bladdernut and hoptree grown from seeds in the Park.
A walking path winds along the Bean next to huge cottonwood trees, and loops through the park past a grove of large Ohio buckeye trees. Many wildflowers grow in the park, including wild ginger, harbinger-of-spring, drooping trillium, Virginia waterleaf, carpets of white violets in May, ragwort, jewelweed, wild geranium.
New bench, built on planting day, May 2, 2004
Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) thorns
Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum) Jewelweed,
or touch-me-not (Impatiens capensis)
2008 -- Earth Day, Earth Week at Riverside Natural Area, Morenci. New signs at the road and in the park, donated by the City of Morenci and by the Green Earth Club of Morenci High School (GECKOs) were dedicated during a sunny afternoon, April 24. Students from the High School Math & Science Club conducted a stream search for macroinvertebrates; GECKOs cleaned up the stream and the park. Volunteers with the Bean/Tiffin Watershed Coalition constructed a bench beside Bean Creek.
Mussel Survey, Bean Creek Watershed, including sites at Riverside Natural Area, 2004-- Aquatic zoologists with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI),
a program of Michigan State University, conducted a survey of native freshwater
mussels in the Bean Creek Watershed in July and August, 2004. 17 species were documented,
including 3 rare mussels of "special concern" in Michigan.
(*marks species of special concern in Michigan)
Fat mucket - Lampsillis siliquoidea
*Slippershell - Alasmidonta viridis
Cylindrical papershell - Anodontoides ferussacianus
Giant floater - Pyganodon grandis
*Round pigtoe - Pleurobema coccineum
Fingernail clams - Sphaeriidae
*Rainbow -Villosa iris
Strange floater - Strophitus undulatus
Wabash pigtoe - Fusconaia flava
Fluted-shell - Lasmigona costata
Three-ridge - Amblema plicata
Pink heelsplitter -Potamilis alatus
Creek heelsplitter - Lasmigona compressa
White heelsplitter - Lasmigona complata
Pocketbook - Lampsilis ventricosa
Fragile papershell - Leptodea fragilis
Spike - Elliptio dilatata
Pink heelsplitter mussel shell and Three-ridge mussel,
Bean Creek at Riverside Natural Area
Other Natural Features at Riverside Park, in the River
Floodplain and Bottomland Hardwood Community of plants, a very rich, diverse
plant community. For a description of this habitat, here is a quote from the
book Michigan Trees by Barnes and Wagner.
“The habitat is characterized by periodic flooding, siltation, nutrient-rich
alluvial soils, and low fire incidence. ...In the southern or half of the state,
the bottomland forest is an extremely rich woody plant community. Some species
with predominantly a southern geographic distribution in the United States occur
in southern Michigan and there only along rivers and streams (redbud, honeylocust,
Kentucky coffeetree, sycamore, butternut, northern hackberry, shingle oak, among
others). These southern species thrive only in the river bottomlands because
of the hotter and more humid summer environment compared to that of the surrounding
terrain and because colder spring conditions act to retard the leafing-out of
trees, enabling them to avoid spring frosts. The slow warming of the river water
and cold air drainage into the river basin combine to bring about the colder
conditions of the floodplain compared to that of adjacent upland sites.”
Trees –
Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra) This is a small tree with large, divided,
lobed leaves, (palmate compound leaves) and shiny brown, smooth seeds in the
fall. It has large clusters of yellowish flowers in May. The flowers are beneficial
to birds, especially the ruby-throated hummingbird, and butterflies. The seeds
are eaten by squirrels. This is a dominant tree at Riverside Park where many
large trees grow. Rare in Michigan except in the southern-most counties.
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a small tree with dark maroon flowers in
the spring and edible fruits in the fall. Fruits are sweet, with shiny, black
seeds. It has tapering dark green leaves that emit an odor when crushed (smells
like motor oil). Leaves turn a bright yellow in the fall. It is the preferred
host plant for the zebra swallowtail.
Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), is a tree with distinctive bark consisting
of narrow ridges. Often seen with “witches brooms”, clusters of
short branches scattered in the crown of the tree. Known for its ability to
grow in many conditions from floodplains to prairie. Hackberry is the only host
plant (plant on which the female lays its eggs), for the tawny emperor butterfly,
the hackberry butterfly and the snout butterfly.
Redbud (Cercis canadensis), a small, slow growing tree with striking
pink flowers in April-May and heart shaped leaves. It has fruit pods in the
fall, (also known as “beans”- it is in the legume family). This
tree is rare (in the wild) in Michigan except in the southern counties, and
lives in the mild and protected river valleys of Southern Michigan. The silver
spotted skipper and zebra swallowtail butterflies use this tree for nectar and
as a host plant.
Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos), is known for the long, brown,
flat, twisted seed pods that appear in the fall. The interesting pods have 12-14
seeds in a sweet pulp. It has dark, grey-black bark covered with thorns. This
tree is rare in Michigan. Found in the southern counties in Lower Michigan.
Grows near streams and river floodplains.The Silver spotted skipper butterfly
lays its eggs on the honeylocust (skippers are small to medium-sized, usually
dull-colored butterflies that have a fast, darting pattern).
Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), is a large tree with shallow, wide,
spreading roots. Best known for its distinctive bark that flakes off and exposes
cream and greenish inner layers of bark. Beautiful in the winter. Found in river
floodplains and in bottomland forests. Will grow in soils that flood. These
are important trees along riverbanks, as their roots help provide stable stream
banks. Because of their height, they provide nesting sites for great blue herons,
wood ducks, and many woodpeckers. The huge leaves provide shade in the summer
that cools the water for fish and are important in the food chain for aquatic
life. They are fast growing and long-lived and grow well in areas with seasonal
flooding.
Native shrubs found at Riverside Park –
Wahoo (Euonymus atropurpurea), our native “Burning Bush”
(not the plant found in gardens), is a large shrub (about 13 feet ) with pointed,
oval leaves that turn red-yellow in the fall and produce a colorful fruit capsule.
The dangling four angled fruit capsule is bright pink. When ripe, it splits
open exposing scarlet seeds. Very pretty. Loved by deer.
Hoptree, also known as Wafer Ash (Ptelea trifoliata), is a tall native
shrub found along stream banks and floodplains in Lower Michigan. It has clusters
of coppery brown seeds in the fall and winter. Found in open areas, dunes, river
floodplains in Lower Michigan. Not common. Hoptree is a host plant for the Giant
Swallowtail, (the largest butterfly found in Michigan). The caterpillar that
feeds on the leaves of hop tree is known as the “orange dog”. This
caterpillar, when young looks like bird droppings for protection. It had medicinal
uses in the past.
American Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia), is loved for its seed pods
which are inflated bladderlike capsules about 2” long, that hang from
this large shrub in fall and winter. Starting out green in September they turn
a coppery brown in the fall and persist all winter. The seeds rattle inside
the papery fruit capsules when shaken by winter wind. Found along streambanks
and bottomlands in the Lower Peninsula and is an understory plant, growing in
the shade of larger trees. A nectar plant for butterflies and bees.
Two (of the many) interesting wildflowers found at Riverside:
Harbinger-of-spring (Erigenia bulbosa), is a small wildflower, one
of the first to bloom in April. It has white petals and dark anthers, and is
often called by another common name “pepper-and-salt." Usually found
on riverbanks and floodplains in undeveloped areas of southern Michigan.
Drooping Trillium (Trillium flexipes), a very pretty nodding trillium
with maroon petals, (they may also be white). Found in mixed swampy floodplain
forests of Lower Michigan. Not common.