Wet prairie. Exploring Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve.

Recently we took a walk at Irwin Prairie State Nature Preserve. It's a 233 acre preserve in the Oak Openings region of Northwest Ohio and it's quite a unique place to visit.

The Oak Openings region is about 25 miles long and about 5 miles wide and extends South West from Toledo Ohio. The name comes from the Oak Savannah that dominates the area. This is caused by extremely efficient drainage due to a large about of sand. There are even some very small sand dunes that can be found in the area. Black Oak thrives in this environment while a lot of other plants struggle.

A notable exception to this occurs at Irwin Prairie. Here there is clay under the sand and the water is not able to drain. This produces a "wet prairie".

Extensive farming and drainage of the area has occurred since the first white settlers came to the area. More trees grow here and this small park is really all that's left of the original prairie. There are ongoing efforts to restore the preserve to a condition closer to what it once was. Many species of plants and animals rare to the area live here as well as many endangered plants and animals.

I took a number of pictures as I walked through the park. Unfortunately, I do not know the names of these plants but perhaps someone can comment with the names.

Being a wet prairie the only way to walk through and enjoy it is in this single boardwalk. This picture is near the start of the trail where there are more trees. You could hear a number of Spring Peepers, Leopard Frogs, and Bullfrogs throughout the park.

I believe this is a Trillium. There were a number of them in pink and white in bloom along the trail.

I would like to know more about this flower. It looks like some kind of pitcher plant but maybe it's just a unique flower I haven't seen before.

These colorful flowers flourished along the drier parts of the trail.

These are really neat. I would like to find some of these to plant in my garden. They look like little bells to me.

As the trail continues on across the road you get into the meadow area that is probably the closest to what the whole area looked like when the white settlers first arrived. This is the environment that Native Americans would have canoed through while hunting duck.

There were a few snakes dining themselves on the boardwalk. This is the best picture I could get before this Garter Snake slipped away.

for more info visit ohiodnr.com/dnap

I also took a picture from the pamphlet that describes the various parts of the prairie in more detail.