Fallon Michael
Each autumn Mother Nature paints the landscape with gorgeous colors that dazzle our eyes. The reds, yellows, oranges, purples and even greens, brighten up The 330 and truly signal the transition from one season to the next. It is a show you really won’t want to miss.
This color change begins with a very important element—sunlight. Pat Rydquist has been with the Summit Metro Parks for 17 years and has been fielding questions about the changing colors each autumn. “As the sunlight decreases, the trees get ready to shut down for the winter,” says Rydquist. “The deciduous trees go into hibernation for the winter and so they start closing off the chlorophyll production, which starts to leave the sugars in the leaves. That’s where we see our reds and yellows and purples in the leaves.”
Rydquist explains that the sugars left in the leaves create vivid colors. Vibrant yellows come from carotene and the rich reds and purples from anthocyanins.
“The sunlight is what helps to stop the production of the chlorophyll in the leaf, but the actual changing will probably be around the first and second week of October,” says Rydquist. This change in light lends itself to a beautiful introduction to the season. “We’ve got a really beautiful 3-week time period where we have the best leaf peeping.”
If you are looking to trek farther from home to enjoy some fall foliage, all of Northeast Ohio is available for your enjoyment. Casey Burdick is in her 11th season as a forester with the Ohio Division of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry. Burdick says that there are over a hundred different tree species around the state of Ohio, each adding a unique element to the fall composition. “[This variety is] one of the reasons it’s so great to view fall color here. We have such diversity in plants here,” says Burdick.
One of the major players in the colorful landscape is the maple. “Northeast Ohio has a really great population of maple and to me, it’s great because it has the full range of fall colors,” she says. “Maples can go from yellow to orange to red, so that’s really nice and it makes for a really spectacular color.”
A spectacular place to view the leaves in the Greater Akron Area is at Goodyear Heights Metro Park. The park is home to a hybrid maple tree that was bred specifically for its bright scarlet coloring. The Scanlon Maple is named after its creator. “Mr. Scanlon was actually the arborist for Cleveland many years ago and he just loved the red color. So he developed a business out of it,” says Rydquist. Several of these unique trees are in the parking lot at Goodyear Heights.
There is a lot to see in the Summit Metro Parks with 14,100 acres, 16 parks, several conservation areas and over 125 miles of trails. Each year, approximately 5.2 million visits are made to the metro parks. Throughout the state, the general makeup of the trees is similar. However Burdick says that the more water, the more variations. “As you get to areas with more water —whether that is lakefront at Lake Erie, or at smaller lakes or river systems—you are going to have slightly different trees than you’re going to have in upland woods.” By heading to a location rich in water, viewers can get an extra bang for their buck because of the reflections.
The entire area can be enjoyed by car with a drive through the many parks, or you can experience the fall splendor by foot or bike on the Towpath Trail. “I think hiking on the Towpath Trail is perfect because then you can see a whole variety of trees,” says Rydquist. Whether you stretch your legs in the Merriman Valley or to the South on the way to Clinton, the different hues will wow your whole family. Get out this fall and enjoy the colors throughout the Greater Akron Area and all of Northeast Ohio. Leaf removal can be a pesky task for homeowners in the fall. Though immaculate yards are very desirable, they are not always best for the ecosystem. “If you are able to create a mulch pile with some of your leaves, you might be saving some butterflies and moths,” says Rydquist. The winged beauties wrap themselves in the leaves for the winter before the leaves fall, remaining there throughout the season. However once the leaves fall, they are at the mercy of whoever is cleaning up the leaves. “When we rake up the leaves, we are getting rid of a lot of butterflies and moths that are an important part of our ecosystem.” Rydquist suggests creating a mulch pile or leaving them on flower beds as a natural blanket. “In the spring you can turn around that mulch pile and use it in your garden. [By doing this,] you would be saving a lot of butterflies and moths.”
The surviving caterpillars are part of an even bigger picture. In the spring, they emerge and help to provide food for hungry birds. “The birds are really dependent on the new butterflies and moths. That’s an important food source,” says Rydquist. “It’s a great food cycle that we distrupt.”
