On Monday, Mill Creek MetroParks announced it was considering allowing for boulder climbing in a section of the park.

Behind Bears Den Cabin in Mill Creek Park is an outcrop of boulders that would be ideal for climbing.

“I wished there were more rocks here but the rocks that are here are good quality,” said Norm Swann, director of the Ohio Climbers Coalition.

One of his jobs is to gain access for climbers. Swann said these boulders would be perfect.

“It’s not a large area, it wouldn’t be a destination climbing area but for local folks, maybe you get off work, you come out, boulder for a couple hours, get some exercise.”

Right now, it’s illegal to climb the rocks at Mill Creek Park.

People do get hurt bouldering.

“It’s a sport like any other sport,” Swann said. “There are injuries.”

That’s why a big concern of park officials is liability.

Swann said it shouldn’t be because Ohio has a recreational use statute.

“It does limit liability for the landowner as long as they don’t charge a fee and it’s a recreational activity.”

If the MetroParks Board approves, it would only be for one of two rock or boulder climbing areas around Youngstown. The other is the Logtown area near Lisbon, but ropes are needed there.

At Mill Creek, though, Swann likes what he sees.

“There’s a lot of big holds. There’s a lot of big holds for the feet. It is a little overhung, which makes it a little more challenging,” he said.

But Swann likes a challenge.

The top two priorities of the Ohio Climbers Coalition in creating climbing areas are parking and the approach area to the climbing site.

Swann said the Bears Den area is perfect. It has abundant parking and an easy approach.

Full article at wkbn.com

The renovation to an important landmark inside Mill Creek Park got a little closer to reality Monday evening.

Almost five years ago, Mill Creek MetroParks announced plans to renovate the Ford Nature Center.

The project received a $300,000 donation Monday night from the Michael Kusalaba Fund.

The donation was approved by a unanimous vote.

A plaza attached to the rear of the new center will be named the Michael Kusalaba Plaza.

The total cost of the project is $3 million.

No dates were announced for the start of the Ford Nature Center renovation.

Full article at wkbn.com

Llamas and turkeys and rabbits. Oh my…

It seemed like that’s what the wide-eyed children were thinking as they followed the little dirt path at Mill Creek MetroParks’ Old McDonald’s Barn at the Canfield Fair earlier this week.

Bill Gilmore, an educator / naturalist for Mill Creek MetroParks, brings about 30 animals to the fair each year.

“I help the kids pet the animals, then ensure that the kids have fun with them,” he said.

Gilmore, of Howland, brought the animals from the MetroParks Experimental Farm on Colum-biana-Canfield Road. People also can visit them there when it is not fair time.

The staff at the barn said they do their best to take care of the animals and their well-being is their highest concern. Staff is scheduled daily at 7 a.m. to begin feeding the animals.

This year, sheep, donkeys, geese, ducks, a rooster, chickens, rabbits, goats, a Holstein calf, a llama, an alpaca and several different species of birds were featured. Gilmore also had a pot-bellied pig in tow.

“We call him Peter Porker,” he joked, referring to Spider-Man’s alter ego, Peter Parker.

And Gilmore held a kid — a baby goat — so a different kind of kid could pet him.

“It’s a ball here,” he said about the fair. “We’ll have wall-to-wall people on the weekend.”

Gilmore, who has worked for the MetroParks for two years, served as a biology teacher for 36 years at Southeast High School in Portage County.

In addition to the farm, Mill Creek MetroParks features many other animals and locations to see them. They include Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, with more than 200 documented bird species, along with deer and muskrats; Newport Wetlands attracts hummingbirds, butterflies and beavers; Mill Creek Preserve is 44 acres of birds, dragonflies, butterflies and giant crayfish; Vickers Nature Preserve has ducks, herons, river otters and an equestrian facility; and McGuffey Wildlife Preserve has wild turkeys, woodpeckers, hawks, deer and coyotes.

Old McDonald’s Farm at the Canfield Fair is open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. today, Sunday and Monday.

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The Mill Creek Park hosted the monthly Tales for Tots event on Aug. 16 at Fellows Riverside Gardens.

Naturalist Marilyn Williams hosted the event for children ages 2 and 3.

“Today we are going to learn about ladybugs,” Williams said.

The event took place outside in the pavilion by the rose gardens, where Williams set up five interactive stations for children and their families to work at.

Williams started the event by reading to children about ladybugs.

“We are going to learn that all insects have six legs, that they are actually lady beetles, and that all ladybugs have two sets of wings,” Williams said.

She brought a ladybug pupa and a jar of aphids, which are smaller bugs that ladybugs eat, to show the children gathered at the event.

Families were then able to work through the stations.

They were able to match the number of spots on ladybugs, organize photos of the beetles life cycle and work on other ladybug themed activities.

After everyone worked through the stations Williams organized a nature walk to search for ladybugs.

“We like to encourage people to come out to the park,” Williams said. “A hike is always included so we get to just enjoy being outside.”

Six children attended the event with their parent or guardian.

Williams said that the park also hosts a monthly event for children ages 3-6 called Little Explorers.

Full article at vindy.com

In early July, Mill Creek MetroParks commissioners decided park employees would now operate and maintain the Vickers Nature Preserve, ending 25 years of the preserve being run by a group known as the Buckeye Horse Park.

One month later, MetroParks administrators are already looking to the future and developing a master plan for Vickers.

Thursday afternoon at the Vickers Nature Preserve, located along Route 224 west, Brienna Donaldson and Houston Burbridge, both of Austintown, saddled up their horses for an afternoon ride.

“It’s a nice place. It’s close. It’s convenient,” Burbridge said.

“The trails could be marked a little bit better, they get confusing when you’re on them,” Donaldson said.

“Do we want to keep each and every component? Do we want to change it? Do we want to upgrade it? Do we want to renovate?” asked Steve Avery, director of planning and operations for Mill Creek MetroParks.

Avery is responsible for putting together the master plan for the Vickers Nature Preserve of the future. He already has several ideas.

“We have a pond… well, let’s let fishing in here — there’s a recreational use that we can have happen like that. And if we add a dock or a fishing pier, that actually improves accessibility,” he said.

Avery wants new restrooms, especially since the lone restroom at Vickers is an outhouse. Another possibility is a playground with an equestrian theme. He would also like to build a second pavilion on site.

“So you could just come, ‘Hey, I just want to come here with my family,’ and rent that. I don’t want to rent the ring — yeah, you could do that,” Avery said.

But the ring, the barns and everything else horses can be rented, too.

Although there were no big horse shows this year, there could be some in the future, just like there were in the past.

Donaldson suggests creating areas for advanced riders.

“Different obstacles, like, different things that the horses can do, like bridges, maybe some water they can cross over, something to make them think a little bit about what they’re going to do,” she said.

Currently, Vickers is geared toward horses, which will continue to be the focus. But it could change, at least a little bit.

“I mean, we’re not going to put a soccer complex here. So you gotta think through some things and play off what you already have,” Avery said.

Avery has no timetable yet for when any work would get done.

Mill Creek has some drawings of what’s being proposed on its website and is also looking for public comments on the Vickers master plan, which must be submitted by Friday, Sept. 13.

Full article at wkbn.com