Welcome to the March 2010 update
If you have content for this update, please let me know at jeanette.evans@sbcglobal.net. Some of the items covered in this update include:
* More about our meetings
* 2010 FOEC photography contest announced
* Ask a naturalist - about ferns and ground covers
* More on Adopt-a-BeachTM
More about our March and other meetings 
Our March meeting featured James Kastelic, former Deputy Director of Community Planning for the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission. He is now a planner for Cleveland Metroparks. His talk covered the Environmental Education Collaborative and plans for the opening of the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve at Dike 14.
The April meeting features the Nicotine Bees documentary from the Sierra Club and is to be at the South Euclid Community Room.
2010 FOEC photography contest features five categories
Please stay tuned for additional details and contact jeanette.evans@sbcglobal.net for more information. Here are the categories:
* Color - watershed plants and animals
* Color - watershed recreation and family activities
* Color - watershed cultural sites and historic buildings
* Black and white - any of the above subjects
* Seventeen and under - any of the categories above
$100 best of show cash prize
$25 best of categories prize
Entry limit is three photos per category.
Deadline for submissions is October 5, 2010.
All photos submitted will become part of a permanent collection and will not be returned. Photographers may be asked for permission to use their photos to promote the mission of FOEC.
Entries must be emailed.
Entries must be taken within the Euclid Creek watershed.
Mailed entries not accepted.
All emailed entires must include:
* category and title
* name and address of contestant (city, state, zip)
* day phone, evening phone
* where photo was taken
* when photo was taken
Upcoming meetings and events 
New England aster is a good choice for rain gardens in a sunny location. The image comes from http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/
Save Friday, April 16 for the Beachwood Green Dream Event with a Euclid Creek Watershed Program and FOEC booth - Beachwood Community Center from 1-7pm.
Save Wed. May 12 for the Rain Barrel Workshop at Greenwood Farms 6:30-8pm in Richmond Heights. Contact Claire Posius for Euclid Creek watershed winter/spring 2010 meetings that including rain barrel workshops. Contact Claire at 216-524-6580 x16 or cposius@cuyahogaswcd.org.
Use a rain barrel to recycle rain water for backyard or garden watering while saving energy by not running a spigot.
Please visit regularly Claire Posius' Soil and Water Conservation enewsletter at http://www.cuyahogaswcd.org/EuclidCreekFiles/enewsletter.htm
Thank you Claire! Please send comments and contibutions to Claire at
http://mrd.mail.yahoo.com/compose?To=cposius%40cuyahogaswcd.org
Adopt-a-BeachTM Update
Thank you to Mary K. Evans for providing this information.
Upcoming Ohio Alliance for the Great Lakes Happenings- Adopt-a-BeachTM
Adopt-A-Beach™ Training and Get Together!
Keeping our beaches clean and healthy takes caring people in our communities working together. To thank current adopters and to welcome new adopters, we invite you to attend our annual training. The training will include a review of the Adopt-a-Beach™ data collection forms and protocol, including a discussion of some recent changes. This is your opportunity to ensure that you are collecting data in a standardized method. Come to one of our training sessions listed and meet others that share your zeal for the Great Lakes.
New and returning Adopt-a-Beach™ teams can choose a training date that’s convenient for your schedule and location. Refreshments and a light snack will be served.
To R.S.V.P. contact April Mather at 216-630-8140, or amather@greatlakes.org.
- Thursday March 18th from 6-8 pm, Lake Erie Nature and Science Center, 28728 Wolf Rd., Bay Village, OH 44140
- Wednesday April 7th from 6-8 pm at the Arts Collinwood Community Center 15605 Waterloo Road, Cleveland, OH 44110. Enter through the cafe and go to the back for the community center.
- For those of you not located near a training site, on-line training materials are available at www.greatlakes.org/adoptabeach
For a list of beach visits open to the public visit: http://www.greatlakes.org/Page.aspx?pid=970
What is Adopt-a-BeachTM?
Adopt-a-Beach™ is the Alliance for the Great Lakes’ largest volunteer program and is present on 4 of the 5 Great Lakes. More than 7,000 volunteers including schools, businesses, individuals and families participate in the program. Teams catalogue and remove litter, and also complete a beach health assessment form that includes science based observation of beach conditions and water testing. Information collected by teams is entered into our online database system and can be used for education about conditions at their beach, shared with local beach authorities, and used to identify areas where volunteers can make improvements of beach conditions. For more information, go to: www.greatlakes.org/adoptabeach
Ask a naturalist - about ferns and ground covers
Here are some more answers from FOEC member Barb Holtz. Barb is manager/naturalist at Look About Lodge with Cleveland Metroparks where she began her interest in native plants in home landscapes. She is also the president and founder of Western Reserve Wild Ones, a chapter of the the national Wild Ones. Barb also does consulting from Ohio Prarie Nursery of Hiram, Ohio. Barb has a BA in biology and art from Wittenberg University and an MS in biology from UNC-Charlotte.
Question:
What is your opinion of using ferns in our home landscapes and which would you recommend?
Answer:
I LOVE using ferns in my home landscape. I think they are often overlooked as a possibility for a ground cover, foundation screen or graceful addition to other plantings. My favorite ferns include: wood ferns (Dryopteris); esp. marginal wood fern (semi-evergreen), Christmas fern (Polystichum; semi-evergreen), maidenhair fern (Adiantum; soft look, graceful appearance), ostrich fern (Matteuccia; big-makes a statement). If you have a wet area you'd like to fill, try sensitive fern (Onoclea).
Question:
As a groundcover, what is your opinion of using wild ginger?
Answer:
Wild ginger would makes a great groundcover but it is a spring wildflower. You cannot expect it to look wonderful over the course of an entire summer and into fall. There are many native plants to consider as ground covers but they are not vinca or English ivy. Vinca and ivy are tenacious, fast growing and evergreen. While this has made our "I want it now" form of landscaping easier, they are INVASIVE! For me, this trumps all of their other attributes. Don't plant them. What you plant in your yard does not stay in your yard. Instead, plant a variety of native groundcovers that will change with the seasons.
Possibilities include: violets, foamflower, ferns, wild ginger, wild geranium, bunchberry, Virginia bluebells, blue iris, Jacob's ladder, mayapple, native pachysandra/wild spurge, woodland sedge.
The image of the native Christmas fern comes from http://www.dnr.state.oh.us which states that ferns have been part of Ohio landscapes for millions of years, predating both dinosaurs and flowering plants. The Christmas fern is found in nearly every Ohio county and is a welcome sign year round.
More about wildlife in the watershed and Ohio
The red fox image comes from Ohio.gov. The red fox has been spotted at the Dike 14 Nature Preserve. The Nov. 22, 2009, issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer explained that mink appear at the Dike 14 location. http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/ provides the image.
The Jan. 7, 2010 issue of The Plain Dealer states that Northern cardinals brighten up the cold winter scene in Northeast Ohio and expanded their range northward over the past century. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/ shows this image of the official bird of Ohio.
Spring Starts March 20
It won't be long before we see scenes, such as a yellow butterfly attracted to dusty goldenrod.
