Earlier this year, Ohio BHA kicked off a multipronged habitat and service initiative that will span the entire state. The plan is to lead and coordinate several different projects that allow BHA members to give back and support the public lands they love. Examples of projects will include clean ups, habitat restoration work, water quality monitoring, and learning workshops. Ohio is broken up into five different districts by the Ohio Division of Wildlife and BHA plans to ensure we have several active projects ongoing in all five districts by the end of 2019.
To kick off the initiative, BHA has adopted a trail at Lake Loramie State Park in Minster, Ohio located in the west central part of the state. Lake Loramie is a long and narrow lake originally created as part of the Miami-Erie Canal system back in the 1840’s. Today it serves as a great lake for kayaking, fishing, bird watching and hunting. The Ohio BHA chapter has adopted the Little Turtle Trace section of the park which serves as one of the largest chunks of land for whitetail deer, rabbit and squirrel hunting.
Chapter leader Benton Collins recreates at Lake Loramie quite often, so is leading the charge on this project. Parts of the trails leading through the section of land were blocked by downed ash trees and sporadic amounts of litter was present. The chapter is hitting the ground running and sections of the trails have already been cleared and cleaned in time for summer. Additional litter and trail maintenance will be started once this section is completed.
Keep a lookout and checkout the Events Calendar for trail adoption and cleanup opportunities this summer and fall. We currently have a cleanup day scheduled for June 1st at the Greenfield Dam Wildlife Area and a June 15th float trip, cleanup and wild game barbecue on the Little Miami River, with several more in the works.
Have an idea or want to lead a project? Let us know on social or email at [email protected].
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