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Do IT this week: Layering
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 12:18 p.m. EDT, Oct 12, 2009
Metro Parks, Serving Summit County will plant a prairie at its first park in Springfield Township.
The purchase of 165 acres at what it called the Springfield Bog was announced Monday by the Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation group with an office in Cleveland.
The property west of Portage Line Road, east of Canton Road, south of Sanitarium Road and north of Tisen Road includes 15 acres of rare kettle bog ecology.
''This is the nucleus,'' said Neal Hess, a project manager of the Trust for Public Land.
The plan is to add an additional 85 to 115 acres to the tract where carrots were grown in the black muck soil. Those purchases have not been completed, Hess said.
''We're excited about the land in Springfield Township,'' said Keith Shy, director-secretary of the park district. ''We wanted a greater presence in this area, and its quality wetlands and a potential prairie will make it a unique metro park.''
The park district intends to provide public access to the new park. The land will be a park, not a nature preserve.
Township trustee Vince Mealy said the new metro park ''is going to open up a beautiful asset for Springfield Township residents and our surrounding neighbors to use and enjoy. . . . I thank Metro Parks, Serving Summit County and the Trust for Public Land for making this possible.''
The Trust for Public Land is purchasing the land, owned by a land development company, for $2.1 million with half coming from the Clean Ohio Fund and half from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Water Resource Restoration Sponsor program.
Ownership then will be transferred to the park district.
About $400,000 remains from the two state grants and will be used late this year or early next year to finalize additional land purchases, Hess said.
''We are proud to help Springfield establish its first metro park and protect this significant ecological treasure,'' said Bill Carroll, Ohio director of the Trust for Public Land.
The possible acquisition was revealed in January.
Also assisting in the purchase was the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, with offices in the Cleveland suburb of Cuyahoga Heights.
The sewer district got a low-interest, state-backed loan from the Ohio EPA for sewer work in Cuyahoga County. A portion of the money saved with the lower interest rate will be funnelled to buy the bog and five other environmental projects in Northeast Ohio.
Hess likened Springfield Bog to Singer Lake, the high-quality wetland preserve off Koons Road in Green that the Cleveland Museum of Natural History owns and manages.
Hess approached the park district in 2008 about the Springfield Bog.
It appears that the remaining Springfield Bog is the remnant of what was once an extremely large wetland, he said.
What officials saw was called a spectacular wetland with great biodiversity, said Michael Johnson, chief of natural resources for the park district.
More than one-third of the desired acreage is wetlands, he estimated. That includes two smaller high-quality wetlands of 12 acres and 5 acres and a larger, less pristine, wetland of 91.5 acres just east of Young Elementary, he said.
The smaller kettle bogs are dominated by leatherleaf, a knee-high brush that is a potentially threatened species in Ohio and a member of the blueberry family. The high-bush blueberry is also a dominant species in the smallest wetland.
Other rare and at-risk plants have been found, and additional research probably will turn up more rare species.
The larger wetland is significant for its size alone.
The wetlands are tucked behind farm fields and out of sight, Johnson said. For that reason, they survived and have not been studied by biologists, he said.
The new park will sit on the continental divide between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. It includes headwater streams that feed the Tuscarawas River.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Metro Parks, Serving Summit County will plant a prairie at its first park in Springfield Township.
The purchase of 165 acres at what it called the Springfield Bog was announced Monday by the Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation group with an office in Cleveland.
The property west of Portage Line Road, east of Canton Road, south of Sanitarium Road and north of Tisen Road includes 15 acres of rare kettle bog ecology.
''This is the nucleus,'' said Neal Hess, a project manager of the Trust for Public Land.
The plan is to add an additional 85 to 115 acres to the tract where carrots were grown in the black muck soil. Those purchases have not been completed, Hess said.
''We're excited about the land in Springfield Township,'' said Keith Shy, director-secretary of the park district. ''We wanted a greater presence in this area, and its quality wetlands and a potential prairie will make it a unique metro park.''
The park district intends to provide public access to the new park. The land will be a park, not a nature preserve.
Township trustee Vince Mealy said the new metro park ''is going to open up a beautiful asset for Springfield Township residents and our surrounding neighbors to use and enjoy. . . . I thank Metro Parks, Serving Summit County and the Trust for Public Land for making this possible.''
The Trust for Public Land is purchasing the land, owned by a land development company, for $2.1 million with half coming from the Clean Ohio Fund and half from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Water Resource Restoration Sponsor program.
Ownership then will be transferred to the park district.
About $400,000 remains from the two state grants and will be used late this year or early next year to finalize additional land purchases, Hess said.
''We are proud to help Springfield establish its first metro park and protect this significant ecological treasure,'' said Bill Carroll, Ohio director of the Trust for Public Land.
The possible acquisition was revealed in January.
Also assisting in the purchase was the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, with offices in the Cleveland suburb of Cuyahoga Heights.
The sewer district got a low-interest, state-backed loan from the Ohio EPA for sewer work in Cuyahoga County. A portion of the money saved with the lower interest rate will be funnelled to buy the bog and five other environmental projects in Northeast Ohio.
Hess likened Springfield Bog to Singer Lake, the high-quality wetland preserve off Koons Road in Green that the Cleveland Museum of Natural History owns and manages.
Hess approached the park district in 2008 about the Springfield Bog.
It appears that the remaining Springfield Bog is the remnant of what was once an extremely large wetland, he said.
What officials saw was called a spectacular wetland with great biodiversity, said Michael Johnson, chief of natural resources for the park district.
More than one-third of the desired acreage is wetlands, he estimated. That includes two smaller high-quality wetlands of 12 acres and 5 acres and a larger, less pristine, wetland of 91.5 acres just east of Young Elementary, he said.
The smaller kettle bogs are dominated by leatherleaf, a knee-high brush that is a potentially threatened species in Ohio and a member of the blueberry family. The high-bush blueberry is also a dominant species in the smallest wetland.
Other rare and at-risk plants have been found, and additional research probably will turn up more rare species.
The larger wetland is significant for its size alone.
The wetlands are tucked behind farm fields and out of sight, Johnson said. For that reason, they survived and have not been studied by biologists, he said.
The new park will sit on the continental divide between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. It includes headwater streams that feed the Tuscarawas River.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 01:54 PM, 10/12/2009
I've been in that area and there is some great wildlife worth preserving. KUDOS to Metro Parks.
Akron, OH
Posted 03:30 PM, 10/12/2009
Looking forward to it.
Good to see Metro Park development in the southeastern end of Summit County.
Hope they find no green men.
Posted 05:03 PM, 10/12/2009
Twp. Trustees Mealy and Young have done more for the township in their single terms as trustees than their predecessors did in 20 years. The main reason the twp. wound up in the shape it was in was the previous set of trustees sat on their hands and did not do one thing to ensure quality of life improvements for the residents, therefore people moved, schools failed, businesses departed.
Here's to the current town hall public servants for a job well done. Nice move to get this park initiative for the wetlands and the park on Pickle Rd. is very nice as well. Now get some parks and playgrounds for children, nice basketball areas and maybe tennis courts too.
Posted 07:00 PM, 10/12/2009
What a wonderful asset to the Springfield community!! Kudos to the 'Trust for Public Land' people.
Akron, Oh
Posted 08:08 AM, 10/13/2009
I would agree with a number of the posters, it now seems as if the new trustees of Springfield have direction and motivation....now, see if you can get Metro to obtain the Rubber City Wildlife area as well....combine it with a trail along the Tusc, and utilize the Tritts Mill site...lots of potential in Springfield ....how long has it been since anyone could say that and mean it...
Akron, OH
Posted 08:27 AM, 10/13/2009
Yes, the old Rubber City Wildlife Preserve area. I believe a local utility has taken over a significant part of that great old place. Wish I had a dollar for every time I rode my old bike up Archmere Drive and back through those rugged dirt trails leading all through those beautiful woods.
Mark Price should write a feature on it.
Norka, Oh
Posted 09:49 AM, 10/13/2009
Is'nt the Rubber City area a former dumping ground from the rubber shops?...I used to snorkel in the lake. The water was crystal clear..really cool.
Green, Ohio
Posted 10:10 AM, 10/13/2009
Awesome! Bogs are one of Ohio's treasures. They are not new but newly found in as parks. Three of my most favorite plants are Tamarak Trees (An evergreen which loses it needles in the fall) Pitcher Plant and Sun Dew (both carniverous plants)
akron, oh
Posted 10:27 AM, 10/13/2009
Parks are nice. I hope picnic tables and benches will also be added.
akron, oh
Posted 01:20 PM, 10/13/2009
Springfield is full of inbred jerks. Dump them all in the bog.
Akron, OH
Posted 01:36 PM, 10/13/2009
I would have thought you could have purchased the entire township for $2.1 million.
Mogadore, Oh
Posted 03:33 PM, 10/13/2009
wonder if Keith shy can find an area for the model airplanes some where in the park system? Since it is a bog it is going to have limited useage for the public due to the reported endangered species.
Orrville, Oh
Posted 05:09 PM, 10/13/2009
The Springfield blog; is needed; to expose human waste to sun and air stink!
Mogadore, OH
Posted 07:50 PM, 10/13/2009
This is the first time I have seen a Loren Eberly comment that is not the regular cut & paste! Although, I still don't understand what he is trying to say.
