Ross County Park District receives land donation
CHILLICOTHE— Just south of Ross County Park District’s Kinnikinnick Fen Nature Preserve sits approximately 180 acres of potentially diverse greenspace.
This includes 30 acres of existing high-quality fen wetland. Particularly found in the northern hemisphere, a fen is a freshwater, peat-forming wetland fed usually by groundwater, having a water chemistry that generally is alkaline and is characterized by reeds, grasses, sedges and wildflowers.
As a result of the unusual chemistry, several threatened plant and animal species call the area home. Landowners, Herron Farms, knew the importance of placing this land in conservation and so along with the past land donation from the family of a portion of Kinnikinnick Fen Nature Preserve, now comes the generous donation towards the 180 acres.
"Herron Farms LLC has been extremely generous with their monetary donations and their efforts to protect these wetlands," said Joe Letsche, Ross County Park District’s Director. "Their love of community greenspace and nature conservation is obvious in this donation, as well as their donations toward Kinnikinnick Fen Nature Preserve."
The Park District has been granted funding to purchase 75% of the property through the Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation Program and the Herron Family has donated the remaining 25% of land costs. In addition to this donation ENGIE North America will be donating $15,000 towards trail construction and boardwalks.
ENGIE North America serves both public and private sector customers across the U.S. and Canada and is constructing the Salt City Solar farm directly south of the donated land. ENGIE has already proven to be good neighbors through their willingness to collaborate with the Park District on their choice of native pollinator plants to be grown amongst their solar arrays.
“We are thrilled that the Ross County Park District’s request to the Clean Ohio Fund, Green Space Conservation Program to expand the Kinnikinnick Fen has been granted,” said Ryan Economy, Senior Advisor, Project Development for ENGIE. “We are committed to providing the cleanest, most sustainable energy that we can, and are in full support of fellow endeavors that promote environmental stewardship and an enhanced quality of life in the local community. We very much look forward to having the expanded Fen as our neighbor immediately to the north of our Salt City Solar farm project.”
Respecting all wetlands, local ecology and wildlife, ENGIE’s Salt City Solar project will be capable of producing nearly 50 MW of clean, renewable energy, enough to power approximately 8,200 homes for a year. Situated on 560 acres the project’s operation would enable a reduction of approximately 84,406 tons per year of carbon dioxide. This amount, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, is equivalent to that captured by 93,814 acres of forest. Both forests and renewable energy such as solar and wind play an important role in reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, as too much creates a greenhouse effect, trapping heat at the ground level and preventing the earth from cooling during the evening.
The new preserve, Herron Downs Fen Nature Preserve will remain separate from Kinnikinnick Fen Nature Preserve with a separate entrance and parking. The new park logo pays tribute to a sketch created by family member, John Herron, which has been incorporated into various family business ventures. An opening date for the park has not been released although design work has already begun.
"The new property is not publicly accessible just yet. The park district is currently looking at funding options to build an access road and a parking area," Letsche said. "Our trail guru, Deven Atkinson, is working on the trail design now, which we hope to have built and ready when public access opens up.”
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Ross County Park District receives land donation
