Once called “The Woods” by the surrounding neighborhoods and dedicated as “West 11th Street Park” in 2008, today our urban forest is called, “The Lorraine Cherry Nature Preserve,” after the woman who was pivotal to preserving this green space.
LCNP is a nationally known birding “Hot Spot”. Ebird.org has been collecting data on the park since 1998 and over 153 species of birds have been documented in the park.
This deciduous native bush has light pink flowers in the spring, magenta berries in early fall, and grows up to five feet tall and wide in rich woods and thickets in the shade.
Dead trees that are still standing are called “snags”. Even after trees have died, their snags and fallen trunks still provide a valuable service to the forest. They give woodpeckers a place to forage for food and live and return needed nutrients to the soil as they break down.