Parks & Recreation

June 4, 2015 by Staff Report

GEAUGA PARK DISTRICT

For more information on these programs, contact the park district at 440-286-9516 or visit www.geaugaparkdistrict.org.

Koelliker Fen Backcountry Hike

June 10, 9 -11 a.m.

Munson Township

Join Jim Bissell, curator of botany at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, on an off-trail hike to the museum’s Koelliker Fen, a unique habitat with rare ecological communities.

Geauga County is home to fens and bogs, which are fragile wetland relics of the last Ice Age and living museums of rare plants and animals. Distinct plant communities include rare orchids, star-flowered Solomon’s seal and poison sumac, as well as rare animals like the cloudy arches moth.

Koelliker Fen in Munson Township is part of the museum’s extensive Natural Areas Program. Joe and Betty Koelliker found the property and the fen in 1960 and sold the fen portion of the land to the museum in 1989.

Registration is required, with directions provided after signup. Expect steep grades, muddy, slippery footing and off-trail obstacles like poison sumac and downed trees; wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and waterproof knee-high boots that will provide traction off trail.

Save The Firefly

June 13, 8-9:30 p.m.

Observatory Park, Cygnus Shelter

Any time during program hours, drop in to participate in citizen science: a project to find the reason for the decline in the firefly population. Also, learn all about this amazing bioluminescent insect.

Firefly Watch Before It’s Too Late! is a Nature’s Not to Be Missed program, and June is “Connect with Activity” month.