Summary: Occupying an ancient, abandoned channel of the Grand River, Mentor Marsh became Ohio’s first State Nature Preserve in 1971. It is one of the largest natural marshes remaining along the Lake Erie shoreline. It is also a registered National Natural Landmark with the National Park Service. At 801 acres, Mentor Marsh is one of the largest natural freshwater marshes protected along the Lake Erie shoreline. It provides critical spawning habitat for Lake Erie fish and is an important refuge and nesting site for waterbirds and migrating songbirds. After salt mine tailings were dumped in an adjacent creek, Mentor Marsh became Ohio’s largest stand of the invasive, non-native Common Reed Grass (Phragmites australis). CMNH began a large-scale restoration of