The Native Plant Society of Northeastern Ohio Awards

James K. Bissell
The Gentian Award for 2021

James Kirk Bissell grew up on a dairy farm in Austinburg Township. A 1965 Geneva High School graduate, Jim earned a degree in plant ecology from the Ohio State University in 1969. He earned a Master of Science degree at the University of Wyoming and finished his M.S. thesis on the relationship of plants to geology within the upper Greys River in Western Wyoming in 1973.

In 2003, Jim received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of Akron and received the George Fell Award in 2004 from the Natural Areas Association for lifetime achievement in natural areas preservation. In 2009, Jim was inducted into the Ohio Natural Resources Hall of Fame.

Jim is Curator of Botany at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH), where he also serves as Director of Natural Areas and is in charge of managing the museum’s Natural Areas Program. Jim has devoted his professional life to protecting the biodiversity of northeastern Ohio. Under Jim’s direction, the museum’s preserve acreage has grown from just under 1,000 acres in 1971 to 11,000 acres of unique natural habitats in northeastern Ohio, including:

• North Kingsville Sand Barrens, the best remaining sand barren in northeastern Ohio;
• Geneva Swamp, the only large swamp forest remaining on the Lake Erie Lake Plain;
• Singer Lake Bog in Summit and Stark Counties, the finest poor fen glacial lake in Ohio; and
• several forest tracts, between 400 to more than 1,000 acres.

During Jim’s tenure, the natural areas holdings of the museum have increased from eight to fifty-five preserves.

Jim led many North East Ohio Naturalists (NEON) trips to natural areas in the spring for the Native Plant Society, taught the popular goldenrod workshop stopping along freeway roadsides to collect samples for the program.

On a personal note, I first met Jim in 1984 while working as a seasonal at Holden Arboretum with Brian Parsons. We met Jim along Pond Road to look at Lake Kelso property, now owned by Geauga Park District. After exploring the property and returning to our cars parked along the road, I realized I had locked my keys in the car. Jim found a hanger in his car and proceeded to break into my car with the old-fashioned locks – embarrassing for me as Jim would become my mentor. Jim hired me as his botany intern in 1986 where I had the privilege of sorting through an 1800’s herbarium collection stored in an old barn at the Holden Arboretum for inclusion into the museum’s herbarium. It contained many old northeast Ohio specimens. Jim interviewed me for the northeast Ohio stewardship intern with the Nature Conservancy in 1988. Both jobs have given me valuable experience in my botany career.

We thank Jim for his dedicated service to botany over the years and inspiring many others to reach for excellence.

The plaque has a picture of a fringed gentian and says:

Gentian Award
For Dedication to the Native Plants of Ohio
James K. Bissell
2021

This tribute was given by Judy Barnhart, president of the Native Plant Society of Northeastern Ohio.