page_title: Euclid Creek
section_title: Flora and wildlife
hierarchical_section_title: Euclid Creek / Flora and wildlife
caption_attribution_description: Beschreibung: Schilfrohr (Phragmites australis) Fotograf: Darkone, 15. Dezember 2004
context_page_description: Euclid Creek is a 43-mile long stream located in Cuyahoga and Lake counties in the state of Ohio in the United States. The 11.5-mile long main branch runs from the Euclid Creek Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks to Lake Erie. The west branch is usually considered part of the main branch, and extends another 16 miles to the creek's headwaters in Beachwood, Ohio. The east branch runs for 19 miles and has headwaters in Willoughby Hills, Ohio.
  The stream has exposed geologic formations which proved of importance to science, and these formations proved economically important in the Cleveland, Ohio, area in the early and mid 1800s. Five major in-channel obstructions impair the stream, which runs through a heavily urbanized area east of Cleveland. Portions of the creek are culvertized and channelized, and the stream has been heavily polluted in the past. Although the level of pollution has lessened in the last 30 years, the fishery remains significantly impaired.
context_section_description: Although no wildlife survey of Euclid Creek had been conducted as of 2006, anecdotal evidence indicates that wildlife supported by the stream is typical of that found in an urban area with extensive greenspace: beaver, great blue heron, mink, red fox, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, and a small (and perhaps transient) population of coyotes in the Acacia Reservation. Although no known endangered or threatened amphibian, fish, invertebrate, or mammal is known to exist in the Euclid Creek watershed, the lack of extensive studies means that their presence cannot be ruled out.
  Only a small number of areas, limited in size, have been studied to identify plant species within the Euclid Creek watershed. One endangered plant and two uncommon plants are known to exist in the area. Solidago puberula ("downy goldenrod") is a perennial herb listed as endangered in Ohio by ODNR. The only known stable population of this plant species in Ohio is found in Highland Heights Community Park near the headwaters of a tributary of the east branch of Euclid Creek. Hypericum gentianoides (a species of St. John's wort commonly known as "orangegrass" or "pineweed") and Rhynchospora capitellata (a species of sedge commonly known as "brownish beaksedge" or "brownish beaked-rush") are also found in wet areas of Highland Heights Community Park. This is the only known location in Cuyahoga County for either species.
  As a highly disturbed stream, Euclid Creek is heavily impacted by a large number of invasive plant species. Phragmites australis (a perennial grass) is extremely common north of Euclid Creek Reservation and in nearly all places where the stream banks have been disturbed. Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) and Reynoutria japonica (Japanese knotweed) are found extensively north of Euclid Creek Reservation. Other common invasive species throughout the watershed include autumn olive, buckthorn, several species of bush honeysuckle, Canada thistle, Japanese honeysuckle, multiflora rose, narrow-leaf cattail, purple loosestrife, reed canary grass, Russian olive, and tree of heaven.
caption: Phragmites  australis, a grass that is one of the most common invasive species along Euclid Creek
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