Kinnikinnick, Ross County — A sizable crowd attended the long-awaited opening of the unfinished newest nature preserve in the Ross County Park District, the Herron-Downs Fen Nature Preserve.
Chamber leader Mike Throne emceed a video of the opening, and park district director Myranda Vance explained the park and the work on it, before one of the managers of the former farmland cut the ribbon.
Vance said this may be largest calacareous fen in world, a type of wetland where alkaline groundwater wells up after filtering through limestone gravel. She also pointed out that restoration of the land has not begun yet…so this is the worst the park will ever look.
The flyer on the event noted that the park district will start a $2.4M EPA-funded wetland and stream restoration project within a year and a half.
The preserve is 174.7 acres, with 80.7 acres of restorable wetland, along the south side of Kinnikinnick Creek between State Route 159 and US Route 23. The main entrance is between the two roundabouts on S.R. 159.
Herron-Downs is across the creek from the 154-acre Kinnikinnick Fen Nature Preserve, accessed from Crouse Chapel Road. The two parks create a solid corridor containing Kinnikinnick Creek between the highways.
Two of the “managing partners” of Herron Farms were in attendance, as well as two previous park district directors.
After the ribbon was cut, attendees took a guided tour of the 3 1/2 mile trail that includes a boardwalk built by Boy Scout Kooper Lambert and Scout Troop #14 as his Eagle Scout project.
The Ross County Park District has a page on the Herron-Downs Fen Nature Preserve, as well as Kinnikinnick Fen. You can also watch videos of the event on their Facebook page.
Hear the two previous park district directors and the managing partners of Herron Farms in their own words, as well as the ribbon cutting and introduction, below.
