New Ottawa County Park District director excited to make new connections
PORT CLINTON — Paving the way for one of the last remaining missing pieces of the well-known Northcoast Inland Trail to be connected is the top priority for the new executive director of the Ottawa County Park District.
Jannah Wilson said she is excited to get started with working toward the district’s goals on the immediate horizon, much of which is continuing the development of multi-use trails throughout Ottawa County.
“I’m most excited for our first opportunity to break ground, wherever that may be,” she said. “We do have the Northcoast Inland Trail project — that’ll probably be the first one that we’re able to get moving with.”
Ottawa County has the first section in Ottawa County, Elmore-to-Genoa, recently completed and is now moving on toward the completion of the Genoa-to-Millbury section.
The park district hopes to be awarded funding from the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives Program, or TAP, which it will submit an application for at the end of this month, according to Wilson.
Bike Trail: Elmore, Genoa now linked by North Coast Inland Bike Trail
The district expects to find out this spring if the project is selected for this round of ODOT’s TAP grant funding.
Connecting people with Ottawa County's parks and places
“That will be very exciting, if we do get the funds and are actually able to start breaking ground sometime this year or early next year,” Wilson said. "But as far as the park district goes, our primary mission right now is to connect people with Ottawa County’s parks and places.”
Once it is connected, about 15 more miles will remain to complete, at which point the Northcoast Inland Trail will run from Toledo to Lorain.
“The Northcoast Inland Trail is a project that people have been working on for 40-plus years and this is really one of those last big sections needed to get done,” she said. “It would be a huge thing for Ottawa County to those that got one of the last big chunks of the trail connected. And it will be huge for the whole region. So we’re pretty excited about that.”
The Lighthouse: Port Clinton Lighthouse keeps growing stronger, preserving historic local icon
Before being hired as the parks’ executive director, Wilson worked as the outdoor experiences manager for Lorain County Metro Parks since 2006, where she began her career as a naturalist.
Her expertise and experience ranges from nature-based educational programming to outdoor recreation program design, along with a plethora of skills and hobbies all centered around the great outdoors, such as camping, backpacking, fishing, survival, shelter building, paddling and much more.
Wilson, 40, lives in Port Clinton with her husband and two daughters, who often join her for many of the outdoor adventures around the parks, Lake Erie and traveling.
jstinchcom@gannett.com
419-680-4897
Twitter: @JonDBN
This article originally appeared on Port Clinton News Herald: New Ottawa County Park District director excited to make connections
