Invasion of the Cicadas

Coming late May
by John Pogacnik, Biologist

Periodical cirada

Lake County is due for an invasion this summer and the invaders are a large black and orange insect known as the periodical cicada. the last time they occurred en masse in Lake County was 1999 and 1982 before that. Periodical cicadas spend the first 16 years of their life underground and emerge the 17th year. They will emerge in huge numbers toward the end of May when the soil is 64 degrees.

Cicada nymph

Cicadas belong to the insect family known as true bugs, which are plant-sucking insects. There are two groups of cicadas, annual cicadas and periodical cicadas. There are 13 specials of annual cicadas (most of which are green and black in color) in Ohio, but most are only found in the southern part of the state. Periodical cicadas are orange and black with red eyes and groups are called broods. In Ohio, there are four broods of 17-year cicadas. Brood V covers the eastern half of Ohio, southwest Pennsylvania and West Virginia. This is the only one affecting Lake County. Other broods affecting Ohio are brood Vii in extreme eastern Ohio, brood X in western Ohio, and brood XIV in southern Ohio.

Dog Day/Annual Cicada

The periodical cicadas will emerge in late May. If you get out at night, you may see the nymphs crawling up the trunks of trees. They climb up into the tree where they’ll shed their outer skin and emerge as adults. When adults emerge they are white, but then will darken into their black and orange coloration within a few hours. When their wings harden enough they will fly higher into the tree and by morning only the empty shell will remain. In a week or so the males will begin to call. They are often in such high numbers that their sound will drown out even the sounds of singing birds. They will mate, and the female will cut a slit into the branches of trees to lay her eggs. The egg laying will occasionally kill the ends of branches—called flagging—which is recognizable by the dead branch tips and occasional broken branches hanging. Later in the summer, the eggs will hatch and the young will climb down the tree where they will spend the next 16 years of their lives in the ground. The adults will typically be gone by the first week of July. 

Cicadas do not bite and are harmless to humans and pets. In Lake County, periodical cicadas will be most common in the southern half of the county. Their numbers have declined due to habitat destruction, so they may not appear in all areas. If you miss them this year, you’ll have to wait another 17 years.

To learn more, visit cicadamania.com.

Recycle your Christmas tree and help the parks

Recycling Christmas trees helps the parks as they are chipped and the chips are then composted or used as mulch within Lake Metroparks. 

Lake Metroparks offers 15 convenient Christmas tree recycling drop off locations throughout Lake County. Please remove all decorations before placing trees in designated bins.

Tree bins are available at the parks listed below beginning mid-December and will be removed about January 15. 

Chagrin River Park (Reeves Road entrance)

Chapin Forest Reservation (east entrance/Rt. 306)

Concord Woods Nature Park

Erie Shores Golf Course

Girdled Road Reservation (south entrance/Radcliffe Rd.)

Grand River Landing

Gully Brook Park

Helen Hazen Wyman Park

Hidden Valley Park

Lake Erie Bluffs (Lane Road entrance)

Lakeshore Reservation

Parsons Gardens

Penitentiary Glen Reservation

Pete's Pond Preserve

Veterans Park

Click here for park information, including address and driving directions. 

Deer exclosure at Veterans Park

If you have driven past Veterans Park on Hopkins Road recently, you probably have noticed a large fenced area in the woods adjacent to the parking lot. This 10 x 20-meter structure is a deer exclosure, one of seven that are monitored by Lake Metroparks throughout the county. This area was selected after so many of the mature trees were taken down by the devastating winds of Hurricane Sandy.

If you are looking for a white-tailed deer inside the exclosure, you won’t see one. The space is designed to keep deer out to monitor the plants inside versus the plants on the outside. this will provide an index of what the impact of browse is by the white-tailed deer on that plant community.

The deer exclosure will have an important interpretive value to the public as, literally, they will see the structure from the parking lot and learn from it what impact it has on protecting the plant life within.

A small deer herd only makes a small impact, but too many deer consume the seeds of a forest’s future growth. Over time, these impacts create a visible browse line in the forest (see above).

Tom Adair, Parks Services Director, in an interview on the "Around Town" program on Mentor TV, said with the elimination of plant life, we will see a related loss or decrease in the diversity of insect life, bird life and mammal life as it relates to Veterans Park.

"Lake Metroparks has monitored the growth of white trillium in this area over the past 10 to 15 years and we have records that showed us that there were over 1,000 white trillium on a small plot, a 10' x 10' area," said Adair. "That site within the past two to three years has yielded no more than a dozen white trillium."

Plants inside the fenced area at Veterans Park are now protected from deer. Over time, this will show us how a healthy forest in Northeast Ohio can recover.

Click here to watch the video. The deer exclosure is the first segment of the program.

Lake Metroparks preserves maple woodland through maple sugaring

Lake Metroparks preserves 27 acres of maple woodland through the conservation efforts of the maple sugaring program at Farmpark. Be part of this conservation effort with an opportunity to adopt a tap and enjoy a unique maple experience while supporting Farmpark’s maple operation.

Maple Sugaring Weekend
Lake Metroparks Farmpark
March 10 & 11 • 9 am to 5 pm

Ever wonder how maple syrup is produced?  

Tap into the fun and discover how 100% pure maple syrup is made during Maple Sugaring Weekend. At Farmpark, you can watch the entire process as the sap is collected, boiled, and turned into maple syrup and other products. New this year, through the use of reverse-osmosis, over 50% of the water is removed from the sap prior to boiling which saves both time and resources.

Throughout the weekend, demonstrations offer hands-on opportunities to learn about the maple sugaring process. Help tap a tree and gather sap used to make maple syrup. You’ll even learn how you can make maple syrup in your own backyard. A video about the production of maple syrup is online at lakemetroparks.com on the Maple Sugaring Weekend page. Maple sugaring activities and demonstrations include:

• Maple flavored ice cream making
• Sugar bush and maple conservation tours
• Make a model mokuk (bark bucket)
• Silver dollar pancake samples
• Horse-drawn sap gathering
• Hand tree tapping
• Sugar making
• Maple leaf craft
• History of maple sugar exhibit 

 

Sample the delicious end product with freshly made maple syrup and maple sugar. Maple stirs available for purchase to make your own tasty treat. Take some of Farmpark’s very own pure maple syrup and other maple items home to enjoy. Maple products are available for sale in the Woodland Science Center and Gift Shop.

Maple Sugaring Weekend pours into Farmpark March 10 and 11. Hours are 9 am – 5 pm. For more information, visit lakemetroparks.com or call 440-256-2122 or 800-366-3276.  

If you can’t join us this weekend then mark your calendars as maple maple activities and pancake breakfasts will also be offered March 17 and 18.

Passport to the Parks puts fall color in spotlight

Overlook at Lake Metroparks Girdled Road Reservation
Photo by Duncan Scott/The News-Herald

Passport to the Parks is offering a view of the fall colors in its final month.

The fifth and final installment of the summer walking program sponsored by The Cleveland Clinic spotlights Girdled Road Reservation in Concord Township.

The 902-acre park is bordered by Girdled, Radcliffe and Concord-Hambden roads.

Visitors can access the pedestrian walkway from the North Entrance on Girdled Road.

Passport to the Parks encourages area residents to get out and get some exercise in the area’s parks.

While you’re out walking the trail, you’ll come across a trail marker with a code word for entry into a contest with prizes such as a three-month subscription to The News-Herald and a one-year membership to Lake Metroparks Farmpark.

There are three ways to enter the contest:

* Text the code word to 22700.

* Email the code word to http://bit.ly/girdledroad

* Call Lake Metroparks at 440-358-7275 and provide the code word to customer service.

Each month since June, a new park has been announced as part of the program.

The code words for the first four parks — Veteran’s Park in Mentor; Lakeshore Reservation in North Perry Village; Gully Brook Park in Willoughby; and Chagrin River Park in Willoughby — remain in effect.

You can enter once per park, and if you walk all five parks, you’ll have five entries into the contest.

The signs and code words will remain in place until Nov. 15.

Those who complete all five parks will be entered into a drawing to win reusable lunch containers, courtesy of Lake Metroparks.

Up to 100 participants will receive the lunch containers.

Story by Laura Kessel/The News-Herald