Kelleys+Island+North+Shore+Alvar+State+Nature+Preserve

Also, see Kelleys Island and Lake Erie Western Basin Important Bird Area
 * =Birding in Ohio=

Erie County
=Kelleys Island= =North Shore Alvar State Nature Preserve= Kelleys Island, Ohio 43438 North Shore Alvar State Nature Preserve webpage Kelleys Island website Kelleys Island map from Kelleys Island Audubon Society

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Kelleys Island--North Shore Alvar State Nature Preserve
Coordinates: 41.6150573, -82.7100134 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

About North Shore Alvar State Nature Preserve
Located within Kelleys Island State Park. From Water Street, proceed north 2 miles on Division Street, go past Glacial Grooves State Memorial until the road dead ends at the boaters' parking lot. Enter the preserve via a state park trail to the northwest.

An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie-like plants.
 * Ohio's most intact alvar community

The North Shore Alvar on Kelleys Island is the finest of the few such sites in Ohio. Alvars are horizontal exposures of nearly barren limestone or dolomite which were exposed by glaciers and are kept open by a variety of environmental factors.

The name "alvar" is derived from a Swedish word for similar landforms near the Baltic Sea.

On Kelleys Island, the alvar is scoured by wind, waves, and ice. Only a few specially adapted plant species can survive in this hostile terrain.

Some of these unusual species on Kelleys Island are northern bog violet (an endangered species), balsam squaw-weed, Kalm's lobelia, and Pringle's aster. The alvar also features shallow glacial striations.

Other Ohio alvars are found on the Marblehead Peninsula. Most of these have been disturbed or destroyed by quarrying and other human activities. Extensive alvars are found only in Michigan, New York, and Ontario, Canada. From North Shore Alvar State Nature Preserve webpage



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|| L907782 US US-OH US-OH-043 41.6150573 -82.7100134 Kelleys Island--North Shore Alvar State Nature Preserve