Conservation
The Holden Arboretum owns more
than 3,500 acres, of which nearly 3,000 acres are natural areas.
Approximately
80 percent of Holden’s natural areas are woodland; 15 percent are meadows; and
the remaining five percent are wetlands, streams, river, ponds or lakes. Holden
is blessed with abundant natural resources that range from the unique land
itself to the hundreds of native plant, animal and insect species that live
within these lands. For the past 75 years The Holden Arboretum has been
acquiring land in order to protect these natural resources. Unfortunately,
today, it is not enough to just own the land to protect its natural
biodiversity; active management is needed.
In June 2006, Holden adopted a
strategic conservation plan in order to establish goals and to outline the
types
of active management that would take place in Holden natural areas. Holden has
natural resources that are common and rare on a state level. These resources can
range from a plant community, to an ecosystem, to a plant, animal, or insect
species. Essentially, the long-term conservation goals are
to manage
Holden natural areas for the purpose of sustaining or increasing levels of
native biodiversity, with an emphasis on plants. Likewise, Holden has a
commitment to assure the protection of these regionally rare and/or critical
natural resources.
In order to accomplish these goals, we must manage these regionally rare natural resources by optimizing habitat to promote the reproductive success of rare plant and animal species. Likewise, we must attempt to mitigate negative threats, to the extent possible, including but not limited to, invasive plant species, invasive pests and pathogens and white-tailed deer. To complete the management loop, for some natural resources it will be necessary to re-establish plant community composition, age classes and/or plant layers, to the extent possible in order to maintain the current levels of natural biodiversity that we call The Holden Arboretum.
One of the most amazing features
of The Holden Arboretum is its topography, its geology and the East Branch of
the Chagrin River. The East Branch of the Chagrin is a State Scenic river and
over 5.5 miles of the river flows through The Holden
Arboretum. The Pierson
Creek valley, Stebbins Gulch, and the Baldwin natural area are
important
watersheds that feed into the East Branch and help protect and maintain its
water quality. Holden’s conservation easement program has contributed to protect
more than 1,200 acres that likewise serve to protect our region’s water quality.
For the sake of
management purposes, The Holden Arboretum has been organized into 14 natural
areas. Some of these natural areas are well known such as Pierson Creek Valley,
Bole Woods, Carver’s Pond, Little
Mountain, and Stebbins’ Gulch; and others are
less well known and visited. A Holden institutional goal will be to provide more
opportunities and better access into all of its natural areas. The Holden Master
Plan will propose ways in which more Holden visitors can visit Holden natural
areas without putting these natural resources at risk.