Virgin White Pines in North Chagrin Reservation--Willoughby Hills, Ohio

There is a small remnant virgin forest area in North Chagrin Reservation of the Cleveland MetroParks. North Chagrin straddles Willoughby Hills, Mayfield, and Gates Mills, and is one of Cleveland's treasures.

The remnant forest contains 15 ancient white pines (averaging 145 feet in height; dating from around 1730). These pine trees are spectacularly beautiful, and grow beside a deep ravine, along with ancient and gigantic red oaks and white oaks (as well as the other members of the Lake County forest community, which is quite diverse and full of sugar maple, beech, tulip tree, etc).

Imagine these trees being here when Native Americans roamed this land, when the only white people to pass through were the occasional French fur trappers and French Jesuit missionaries and explorers. That these trees have survived over 280 years of merciless exploitation of natural resources is astonishing. Here are a few pics of the trees and the area:

280 year-old white pine

Virgin Forest in Greater Cleveland?

There is a remnant of the great virgin forest of 280 years ago in Greater Cleveland. The remnant is in the North Chagrin Reservation of the Cleveland MetroParks. It's near Strawberry Lane--maybe  a half mile hike through the woods. There are only 15 giant white pine trees left. They are in a deep forest of beech, Canadian Hemlock, red oak, sugar maple, and the other trees, shrubs, wildflowers and fungi of the Northeast Ohio climax sugar-maple beech forest.

The white pines average 148 feet tall. They are mostly on the edge of a deep ravine. The trees were seedlings in the early 1730's, almost 50 years before the founding of the United States of America. In 1730 there were very few Indians in this area. It was a kind of no-man's land after the annihilation of the Erie Indians, the Cat Nation, around 1655. And there were probably no white settlers in the area yet. If any non-Indians came through, it was probably French-Canadian fur trappers or French-Canadian Jesuits. Below are some photos from the area

From a sign near the ancient white pines.

280 year-old white pine; 150 feet tall.

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.