43
Ford Nature Center sponsors special event
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
Seven-year-old Auriel Hilton and her brother, Chase Cortner, 5, watched intently as an Eastern box turtle freely walked past them.
“What color is its eyes?” Marilyn Williams asked the two Youngstown children.
“Orange and red!” replied an excited Auriel, a Youngstown Community School second-grader.
The turtle, estimated to be 35 years old, was one of several attractions to which the youngsters were drawn during Saturday’s “Discover the Ford Nature Center” gathering at the 42-year-old center on Old Furnace Road in Mill Creek MetroParks.
The four-hour program allowed participants to see the facility’s offerings and more-fully appreciate the park, including its many hiking trails, noted Williams, a park naturalist.
Auriel and Chase, who came with their mother, Nichole Benson, also were intrigued by replicas of a beaver, a white-tailed deer and a bear in the Habitat Room.
The children learned that only male white-tailed deer have antlers, which typically fall off in late winter. In addition, Williams explained how most beavers are adept at gnawing on wood and creating their own lodges, mainly from branches and mud.
Both youngsters also took part in an indoor scavenger hunt that contained 21 items, including pine cones, a garter snake, turtle eggs and a cicada.
Afterward, Linda Miller, a park volunteer, helped Chase and Auriel decorate pine cones with peanut butter and suet, and string popcorn, cranberries, peanuts, cereal and sliced apples to hang on their trees for birds.
Saturday morning’s event also marked the first time the children’s mother had visited the nature center in many years, said Benson, who works at Kingly Hand Wash & Wax in Youngstown.
The park is a regular stomping ground, however, for Jim Mueller, his girlfriend, Mindy Myers, and Myers’ 13-year-old daughter, Nadia Rhoads, all of Boardman.
“There’s a lot of stuff to do here if you pay attention and look for it,” said Mueller, an employee with Boardman-based Austintown Dairy.
The three also enjoyed getting acquainted with the box turtle. Such turtles typically live on land and are omnivores, meaning they eat either animals or plants. They also have the ability to fold in their lower bodies and conceal themselves when frightened or threatened, Williams noted, adding that the turtles can live to be 100 years old.
She also described a few characteristics of the center’s Eastern milk snake, which was found in a Canfield barn. The snakes acquired their name because many farmers erroneously assumed they drank milk from cows, though in reality, they often enter structures to look for mice, Williams continued.
Nadia, a Boardman Glenwood Middle School seventh-grader, listed the wildlife and nature trails as two of her favorite park features.
Williams said she hopes that events such as Saturday’s open house will encourage more people to take advantage of what Mill Creek MetroParks has in store year-round.
“There are a lot of hidden treasures that Mother Nature has to offer,” she added. “There’s not just the big things, but the little gems the park has to offer.”