Virgin White Pines in North Chagrin--A Treasure for Northeast Ohio

The North Chagrin Reservation, part of the Cleveland MetroPark system, is one of the treasures of Northeast Ohio. The reservation lies along the border of Willoughby Hills, in Lake County, and Gates Mills, in Cuyahoga County. This is the most densely populated area of Ohio. And yet, there are beautiful remnants here of our forested past.

If one were to park at the Strawberry Lane area, it's but a short hike through the magnificent old growth forest to an astonishing small grove of ancient white pine trees. These trees stand on the edge of a deep ravine, carved by feeder creeks of the Chagrin River, and are about 150 feet tall. These trees are around 300 years old. They have stood here when this was Indian territory, before the land was claimed by the United States of America. It's possible that no white man had trod this land when the trees were seedlings. And if any did, they were probably French-Canadian explorers and trappers.

When these trees were sprouts, and along into their maturity, panthers, grey wolves, and black bear walked among their roots. The woods were full of giants: red oak, tulip tree, sugar maple, American beech, and American chestnut (the chestnut did not succumb to blight until these white pine were about 200 years old or so). So many other trees, shrubs, wildflowers, fungi, and ferns shared this diverse northern version of a mixed mesophytic forest. Great Canadian hemlock on the edges and slopes of the cool ravines. All sorts of wildflowers: blood root, trillium, trout lilly. Flowering trees like dogwood, spice bush, tulip tree, magnolia. Amazingly, most of these trees, flowers, and shrubs are still here. The panther is gone, as is the grey wolf. But bear have wandered into this park in recent years, making their way from Pennsylvania. Deer are more abundant than ever, and coyotes have taken over the ecological niche abandoned by the grey wolf.

This is a wondrous place, and I am grateful to our ancestors who had the foresight to establish this park system. And grateful for the ancient, tall, beautiful white pines of North Chagrin.