LAKE COUNTY, Ohio  — Mentor Marsh is the largest coastal wetland in Northeast Ohio, and one of the largest natural marshes along the Lake Erie shoreline. While known for its beauty and wildlife, the marsh also has had its share of struggles.

What You Need To Know

  • $500,000 will go toward habitat restoration 

  • Hiker talks about her love for the wetland

  • Habitat restoration manager talks plans to keep invasive plants away 

Mia Yeager is the Mentor Marsh habitat restoration manager at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. She said the marsh, which became the state’s first nature preserve in 1971, has experienced a variety of damage before restoration efforts began.

From salt that was dumped in the 1960s, killing most of its swamp forest trees and marsh plants by the 70s, to wildfires, all of this drove wildlife out of one of the most species-rich locations along the Great Lakes and allowed non-native species like cat tails and salt-tolerant phragmites to take hold.

“It’s hard to see, but there’s some dense stands of cattail out there that we have yet to get, so that grant funding will help us tackle some of those areas,” Yeager said.

She said $500,000 from the state of Ohio will support the wellbeing of the 800-acre wetland.

“Roughly 600 of the 800 acres are in pretty good shape, but there are still about 200 acres that need some work, and that funding will help us tackle that,” she said. 

Yeager said they will use the money to purchase equipment which will to help them continue to combat the challenges of the wetland. 

“I was pretty excited because we didn’t have a truck here before to help us haul argos around or haul backpacks around, so now that we have a truck, it creates less of a footprint with the argos,” she said.

Hikers like Beth Mcdevitt are just as happy.

“I have recently been real interested in birds, and I have heard of this place, especially in the spring when migration comes, and I’ve always wanted to see where it was,” she said. 

Mcdevitt said she is happy that the wetland will continue to get the attention it needs.

“Anytime they take and return anything to a natural habitat the way it was supposed to be, I think is good for the environment,” she said. “Its good for people, education for kids, because I like to bring my grandkids out here so they can just see and hear everything too, and there are not a ton of places you can do that.”

Both Yeager and Mcdevitt hope the new funding will help maintain the marsh’s diverse species for generations to come. 

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