In May, the slopes of the upland forest floor are laced with trillium in full white bloom, blood-colored wake robins, pale spring beauties and velvety wild ginger. The meadow is mowed about every five years to maintain open habitat for butterflies. A platform overlooking the marsh here is a likely place to see Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow Warblers or herons. Woodpeckers and other birds that nest in the cavities of dead trees find no shortage of soft, decaying wood in which to hunt for beetles and other tasty insects. Mentor Marsh and the adjacent Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve are among the best place in the state to witness spring migrations of songbirds.
Natural marshes are especially vulnerable to fires.
The predominance of hybrid cattail and feathery phragmites grass at Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve provided ample fuel for a fire that charred about 400 acres in May 1992. A dense system of underwater stems enables these plants to regenerate within a few weeks. The 1992 fire occurred at the height of nesting season for many birds, however, and those that did not perish in hollow trees probably faced fierce competition for nesting sites in unburned portions of the marsh. Directions to the Marsh House To get to the Marsh House from Cleveland, take state Route 2 east and exit at state Route 44. Exit and go west on Lakeshore to the first traffic light, then turn right onto Corduroy Road.