BEAVER TOWNSHIP Trustees await word on grant for preserve

The township parks department says the park will have no ball fields.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Barney Davidson just wanted a quiet place where he, and others, could go to escape the noise and bustle of everyday life. It appears that he's about to get his wish.
Beaver Township trustees, working with Mahoning County commissioners, are in the final stages of planning a nature preserve that's to be created just east of the Wildwood Lake recreation area.
The township plans to buy 80 acres off state Route 165, just west of New Buffalo Road, for about $175,000. The land is owned by Ohio Edison.
The township has applied for a $150,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Public Works Clean Ohio Conservation Fund. The grant, if approved, would go largely toward the property purchase.
"Everything is in limbo right now until we find out if we get the grant," said Davidson, a member of the township parks department. Trustees appointed him project leader.
Sarah Lown of the county special projects office said the site has two streams, including Turkey Creek, which is a tributary of Mill Creek. It also has wooded areas and open space.
About 30 acres of the site, nearest to Route 165, is being leased to a local farmer for cultivation.
"It has a little bit of everything," Davidson said.
Keeping it simple
If the grant is approved and trustees buy the land, it will be used as a nature preserve and wildlife area.
"No ball fields," Davidson said. "We just thought it would be nice if there were someplace where people could go and just relax rather than having soccer or baseball and all those things going on."
Davidson said trustees have nothing against sports complexes, but there are already other facilities for athletics.
"We wanted something that we could hold natural for Beaver Township," he said. "We wanted a place where kids can watch flowers growing or see birds nesting."
Lown said there are already some walking trails on the property that will need only minimal enhancement for public hikers.
A nature center will eventually be constructed near the parking lot, which will be just off Route 165. A picnic area also is planned near the nature center.
Lown and Davidson said the township already is working with forestry officials on the possibility of reforesting some of the open land.
Davidson said the park would be an ideal site for South Range School District pupils to study nature and participate in environmental projects such as restoring the acreage that is currently being farmed.
"There are a lot of big opportunities for things like that," he said.
Tree planting
Scouting and environmental groups have been invited to participate in the tree-planting process, Lown said. Experts from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Mill Creek MetroParks and Mahoning County Soil and Water Conservation District have offered guidance for that project.
Ohio Edison will be granted an easement to maintain power lines that stretch across the center of the property, Lown said.
Once the park opens, the nature preserve will be open to the general public -- including people who live outside Beaver Township -- at any time of the day or night, says information submitted to the state.
Lown said the township will own and manage the park. It will be maintained by the township's road department.
bjackson@vindy.com