Endangered plant found on Erie County beach

SANDUSKY — An endangered plant has recently been found on an Erie County beach 125 years after it was last spotted in Erie County. A state botanist, Shaun Pogacnik, spotted it last August at a beach on the Cedar Point peninsula in Erie County. The Coastal Little Bluestem, known by the scientific name Schizachyrium scoparium littorale, had last been seen in Erie County in 1899. Considered endangered in Ohio, the plant was previously only known to be found in Lake and Ashtabula counties, Pogacnik said. The discovery was announced in the annual 2024 newsletter of the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, issued this month. According to a plant guide issued by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Coastal Little Bluestem, also known by other names, is commonly found in sand dunes in coastal regions. While it commonly grows from 1-2 feet tall, it can grow up to 5 feet tall in some regions of the country. It is mainly found along the U.S. coast from Texas to Massachusetts but also is found in coastal sand dunes along the Lake Erie and Lake Michigan shore in the Great Lakes area. Pogacnik said he found the plant last August in a single clump on a Cedar Point beach while updating records. The last known sighting of the plant in Erie County was in 1899, he said. Pogacnik, 29, a part-time state field botanist, expects to graduate this year with a bachelor's degree in environmental and plant biology from Ohio University. He then hopes to land a full-time job as a botanist. Pogacnik also was credited with finding another rare plant, Plains Muhly, Muhlenbergia cuspidata, on the Sandusky River in Seneca County. In addition, he also helped discover four other rare plants in Ohio last year. A Lake County native, Pogacnik said his father, John Pogacnik, is a now-retired biologist for Lake County's Metroparks. Pogacnik was with his father in 2013 when dad spotted a Heart-leaved twayblade orchid in Ashtabula County, which hadn't been seen in 70 years. Pogacnik said, this year, he will be looking for other examples of Coastal Little Bluestem in Erie and Ottawa counties. "It's definitely something that's on my list," he said.