Welcome to Nora’s exploration of Ohio’s plants!
For more information on Ohio botany, take a trip over to the companion website for EEOB 2210 at ohioplants.org. If you’re interested in my personal experience with the topic, pull up a chair and get cozy!
My name is Nora Reitz, and I am from Cincinnati, Ohio (specifically near Kings Island for the roller coaster fanatics among us). I am a fourth-year student at Ohio State University as a Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife major, specializing in Forestry and Wildlife. I’ll be graduating at the end of summer 2024, and starting in the fall, returning to Ohio State to pursue a graduate certification in Geographic Information Sciences and Technology. I’m especially interested in applying GIS to small mammal behavior, although I’d be amiss not to point out how much that behavior relies on habitat – enter botany! Although I’ve received wonderful background in forestry, woody plants, soil sciences, and wildlife, through EEOB 2210, I’d love the get a better handle on a more complete picture of Ohio’s habitats, and create a bridge between my areas of previous knowledge.
If I were to pick a symbol for my family crest, I would pick a shrew, as I feel they are an often-overlooked necessity of a healthy ecosystem, and filled absolutely filled to the (very short) brim with personality! My house motto? “The forest is forever.” This is the shortened version of a quote by Ursula K. Le Guin, from her 2001 book Tales from Earthsea, “What goes too long unchanged destroys itself. The forest is forever because it dies and dies and so lives.” I feel this quote fits my house for several reasons. First, and most obviously, it’s about a forest, which feels apt for a Forestry and Wildlife major. Second, I am an bookworm to my core, particularly for science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction history and biology books; Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) is one of my favorite books, if not my favorite. Third, I think it’s important to keep growing and renewing your ideas both as an individual and as a botanist. Hopefully through this page you will see evidence of me living up to my house motto and expanding and renewing my botanical knowledge, and maybe I can even help you do the same!