An Ecological Study of Buckeye Lake. 15 



Back of the levee is a low belt 40-50 feet wide. From the park 

 to the waste weir this low land has been drained and small areas 

 have been cultivated. Part of it is overgrown with grasses, 

 Carices, Erigeron annnus, Onagara biennis, Aster sp. An oc- 

 casional cottage occupies the low land, which is bordered on the 

 north by meadows or cultivated fields. 



From the waste weir to a quarter of a mile west, the land 

 slopes from the top of the levee to the fields, there being no in- 

 tervening ditch. Three-quarters of a mile west of this, the ditch 

 appears again and iSj only partially drained. It is the bed of a 

 small stream, a tributary to Licking River, which had its head- 

 waters in the large swamp but which has been cut ofl^ from the 

 lake by the levee. This creek valley was formerly a wooded 

 swamp with water deep enough to admit of rowing, but is now 

 much disturbed, paths cut thru and partially drained. The trees 

 are the same as those on the embankment, Ulmus americana, 

 Salix nigra and Platanus occidentalis being the most numerous. 

 There are still small areas of Nymphaea advena, Peltandra vir- 

 ginica, an occasional Sparganium eurycarpum and Typha lati- 

 folia. The open pools are covered with Lemna trisulca and L. 

 minor and Spirodela polyrhiza. 



All the available space on the north slope of the levee has 

 been leased by the State for building sites, most of which are 

 now occupied. This has had a marked effect on the swamp 

 north of the levee. Draining the ground and the building of 

 paths has largely destroyed the former vegetation. The levee 

 extends entirely around the west end of the lake to the canal 

 at Millersport, near which it has been cut thru to admit of the 

 southwest feeder to the lake. The vegetation is much the same 

 as along the north bank except that the smaller number of cot- 

 tages and less frequent traffic have served to preserve it. The 

 summit of the embankment is generally grass and weed covered 

 except a narrow path along the center; the west slope is quite 

 steep and tree covered for the entire distance. At its foot from 

 Lakeside to the spur track of the Toledo and Ohio Central rail- 

 road, is open water with a Scirpus lacustris, Nymphaea advena 



