Students from the Graham School and volunteers planted native shrubs and bushes on the slope at the east entrance to Glen Echo Ravine Park in October 2003.

Red flags that dot the newly restored slope behind the stone wall (above photo) indicate the placement of plant species.  In May 2004, a team of volunteers completed the planting for Phase 1 of the south slope restoration.

In 2005, The Columbus Foundation awarded Friends of the Ravines $10,855 for Phase 2 of the south slope restoration.  This part of the project restored the area west of the stone wall and east of the wooden steps from Cliffside Drive—the steepest grade on the south side of the ravine.

The installation and planting of the gabions on the south slope west of the stone wall completed Phase 2 in 2006. 

In 2007, The Columbus Foundation awarded Friends of the Ravines a third conservation grant, totaling $3500, for the beautification of the east entrance of Glen Echo Park and the reforestation of the south slope.  Numerous volunteers from the neighborhood planted the following tree species on the slopes: Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa), Pin Oak (Quercus palustris), Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra), Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioica), Blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), and Pawpaw (Asimina triloba).  Redbud (Cercis Canadensis) and Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) trees were planted on the rim of the slope that borders Cliffside Drive.

The above photo shows Chris O’Leary, upper left corner, Beth Richardson, center, and Paul Sandstrom planting Gro-Lo Sumac bushes at the east entrance of Glen Echo Park in August 2008.

The beautification of Glen Echo’s east entrance was completed in September 2008.

   

    Before

   After

In addition to the generous financial support from The Columbus Foundation, Friends of the Ravines received in-kind contributions from Oakland Nursery and the OSU Department of Horticulture and Crop Science.  Friends of the Ravines thanks the many neighborhood volunteers, students from the the Graham School, and students from  Worthington Christian School who removed invasive plants from Glen Echo’s south slope and helped replant slopes with rescued native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees.

Now, the once eroded, barren south slope of Glen Echo Ravine hosts a variety of spring ephemerals, understory native shrubs, and young hardwood trees that will, in time, replace the dying tree canopy.

                               Cut-Leaved Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata)

       Large-Flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)

       Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)