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providing informed decisions for future park plantings. By following the Ohio Department of Natural Resources recommendation of using no more than 10 percent of one species, 20 percent of one genus, and 30 percent of one family, intelligent decisions can be made for species diversity. With tree inventory data, diseases such as the emerald ash borer and Dutch elm disease can be better managed to reinforce practical management decisions.

In the City’s most recent inventory (completed in 2005), out of a total of 34 tree families, results show overpopulations of the family pinaceae, including a ratio imbalance of pungens, species at 13.37 percent; picea, genus at 22.81 percent; and pinaceae, family 32.0 percent. As a result, the City will begin planting other selections until the ratios are in line with ODNR recommendations.

Health assessments and species diversity will be determined on planted and existing trees in three-year rotations. The trees inventoried are surrounded by mowed grass. Woodlots are not included. GPS devices will be used to locate and map all new and existing trees. Park staff needs to be knowledgeable in both horticulture/arboriculture and computer sciences to facilitate the integration of the tree inventory and coordination with the

Information Technology (IT)/GIS team. Once

data is collected, staff can initiate physically planting and removing trees each year to meet City objectives.

Prairies and grasslands once spread across the midsection of the country, reaching eastward as far as western Ohio, with remnants of fragmented prairies extending into the central regions of the state.

These remnant prairies appear in and around the Dayton area and are among the few left in central Ohio. Most are found in undisturbed areas such as cemeteries and railroad rights-of-ways. Several remaining prairie fragments are preserved and protected by Columbus Metro Parks and are as close as neighboring Plain City and Darby Creek.

Prairies are native grasses and forbs that dotted the area’s landscape prior to settlement by humans. Their deep rooting structure makes them resistant to droughts and fire. Introduced, exotic landscape grasses and perennials do not have the same deep rooting structure.

Roughs, meadows and links grasses are three different terms for non-mowed, taller grassed landscapes.