OAK OPENINGS

Pioneer settlers of northwest Ohio who had toiled through dense swamp forests during their westward trek found the going easier when they reached the dunelands west of the Maumee River where sands deposited centuries before by retreating glaciers supported only open groves of trees. In appreciation of the opportunity of driving a wagon in any direction through the patches of forest without the need of hewing a path, the pioneers named this 130-square-mile sandy region “Oak Openings.”

Now a naturalists’ paradise, but generally inhospitable to agriculture, Oak Openings is bisected by the Ohio Turnpike which crosses it from east to west for a distance of five miles just east of the Oak Openings Service Plaza. This sizable ancient wilderness in the lush farmland of northern Ohio covers parts of three counties – Lucas, Fulton and Henry.

The yellow soil of Oak Openings, which is in striking contrast with the black and fertile soil of most of northwestern Ohio, is dry in some places and either level or heaped into dunes. Elsewhere it is wet and either levels or hollowed out. The vegetation varies according to the surface and has produced a number of different inhabitants for vegetation and wildlife. In the open oak woods, widely-spaced black and white oaks grow on dunes, whereas close by, swamp forests offer aspens, pin oaks, elms, maples and tupelos growing in wet hollows. Alders and willows grow densely in the bogs at the bases of dunes. Out on the wet prairies between the dunes, luxuriant growths of grasses with occasional shrubs flourish in areas that are flooded in the spring. For contrast there are also bare dunes and dry prairies, the latter sparsely covered with grasses and low shrubs.

Many plants which are rare in many sections of Ohio are found in Oak Openings. About 20 varieties of orchids grow there, including the showy lady’s slipper, perhaps the most beautiful of all wildflowers. In these surroundings more than 132 species of birds make their homes, including the rare Lawrence’s warbler. Deer and virtually every other type of wildlife native to Ohio are also found here.

More than 3,000 acres of Oak Openings have been acquired as a part of the Toledo Metropolitan Park System and are being preserved as far as possible in their primitive state. Many miles of trails have been developed and an extensive reforestation project begun. In the southern part of the Oak Openings area another 2,900 acres are being preserved and developed as Maumee State Forest by the Ohio Division of Forestry.

Although the Oak Openings region may be shunned by the farmer as too barren for profitable cultivation, it is attracting increasing numbers of hunters, naturalists and other outdoor enthusiasts who are finding it handier than ever to reach via the Ohio Turnpike.