Metroparks working to curb invasive species

City, park system have entered a 20-year land agreement

Painesville City Council entered into a shared property agreement with Lake Metroparks at the city’s March 4 meeting.

The 20-year agreement will bring two separate parcels of land under the stewardship of the Lake Metroparks.

A 16.85-acre parcel was first purchased by the city from Crile Grist Mill Center, Inc. in 2005. A second 6.51acre parcel was donated to Painesville via the Lake County Land Reutilization Corporation in June of 2016.

The parcels, located along the Grand River between Richmond and St. Clair streets, will join Metroparks property already maintained in that region.

The area falls entirely within a 100-year floodplain and offers limited parkland usage, according to both

The 20-year agreement will bring two separate parcels of land under the stewardship of the Lake Metroparks.

Painesville Community Development Director Doug Lewis and Metroparks Executive Director Paul Palagyi who were on hand to field questions from Council.

“Even though we don’t see public access in this section, we are happy to take over as a partner in the community and help manage,” explained Palagyi.

The intention of the arrangement focuses on land management and the eradication of phragmites, an invasive plant species which has taken hold around the base of the Richmond Street bridge.

Palagyi detailed the threat that the tall, wheatlike grasses pose to the region.

“It’s incredibly dense and it blocks out a lot of native plant life and that affects animals that depend on that native plantlife,” he said.

Due the plant’s resilience, successful eradication will take the efforts of a multiyear approach that will see the plant progressively cut back at strategic points in its growing cycles, according to Palagyi.

The resolution states that “any improvements and natural resource management of the property will be the responsibility of Lake Metroparks.”

Originally presented as the first of three readings, Council moved the motion ahead to allow for an immediate vote which was unanimously approved.