Mill Creek Metroparks offered a trolley ride through different areas of Mill Creek Park to the public on Aug. 25.

Tour guide Lynn Zocolo gave those on the tour interesting facts about the park as the trolley traveled from area to area. The tour started at Fellows Riverside Garden, looped around the park and ended back at the garden. Mill Creek designed the tour as a way for members of the park to notice the changes in season near the end of summer.

The tour started at the garden, headed to Lake Cohasset, in front of the Wall Garden, into the Lily Pond area, by the Birch Hill Cabin, around Pioneer Pavilion’s lot, over the suspension bridge, near Lanterman’s Mill, past Cascade Falls and entered the drive way leading to Judge Morley Pavilion’s parking lot before looping back around.

Zocolo opened the trolley ride with some trivia about the general history of the park. Her first couple of questions revolved around Fellows Riverside Garden since the tour began there. For example, Elizabeth Fellows donated the land to Mill Creek park in 1958 to create a community garden. Then, her trivia dealt with Volney Rogers, the park’s founder.

The trivia became about each area the trolley passed rather than the general history of the park. For instance, while at the Lily Pond, Zocolo explained where the Lily Pond’s nickname, “The Goldfish Pond,“ originated. According to the story, a police officer donated five goldfish to Volney Rogers for the newly opened pond.

The trolley ride provided beautiful sights for the riders. Zocolo showed the tour group notable nature points in the park, but occasionally, the trolley stopped for unplanned sights, such as a couple deer running through the woods and to look at the oldest continually lived in house in Youngstown, which resides next to the park. The group saw other wildlife on the tour as well, including squirrels and a heron.

Other information and history about Mill Creek can be found on their website, millcreekmetroparks.org, or on Zocolo’s other tours. She plans to host tours more often in 2018.

 

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The nature education standing committee to the Mill Creek MetroParks board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The finance standing committee will meet at 10 a.m. next Saturday.

The wildlife standing committee will meet at 2 p.m. Sept. 19; the community engagement standing committee will meet at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 22; and the development standing committee will meet at 4 p.m. Sept. 22.

All meetings take place in Classroom A at the MetroParks Farm, 7574 Columbiana-Canfield Road.

 

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Mill Creek Metroparks will host the fifth annual Green Cathedral race Sunday. The race will begin and end in the Wick Recreation Area at 1861 McCollum Road.

The Kids Fun Run begins at 8 a.m.; the half-marathon begins at 8:30; and the 5K Run/Walk begins at 8:45 a.m.

This event is open to all ages and abilities, and awards will be given according to age groups. The Kids Fun Run is free, and children will receive participation awards.

Early-bird registration was Aug. 27. the half-marathon is now $40. The 5K Run/Walk is now $30.

The Green Cathedral Race is sponsored by 21 WFMJ/WBCB, and all proceeds will benefit the Juliana Kurinka children’s play area at the Wick Recreational Area.

For information and to register, visit www.millcreekmetroparks.org or runsignup.com.

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Police with Mill Creek MetroParks are on alert after a woman reported her dog was fighting with what sounded like a coyote on a popular walking trail Wednesday morning.

According to MetroParks Police Chief Jim Willock, the woman was walking her dog about 7:30 a.m. near the Scholl Recreation area when her quiet walk turned frantic. He said the woman’s dog got off its leash and started chasing something. The woman then heard it fighting another animal and called 911.

“When officers arrived, they heard what they believed to be a coyote,” Willock said. “She was pretty upset. Our officers were able to locate her dog, get her dog back to her and get her to her dog.”

The woman’s dog was not hurt in the scuffle. Officers searched for the coyote but didn’t find it.

“We did a pretty good search for it this morning,” Willock confirmed. “No one was able to locate the animal. It’s just… you gotta be careful. The park is a wild place. The park is meant to be that way.”

While your chances are slim to encounter a dangerous wild animal, it’s possible. Wildlife expert Jamey Emmert with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said instances of what they call “conflict” with the animals is growing.

“Coyotes are very comfortable in urban parks and suburban parks,’ Emmert said. “Some coyotes might run and some might not. Often times, domestic dogs are instigating a conflict between the coyotes and dogs.”

Experts often urge people to ignore wildlife roaming through neighborhoods and they will just walk away, but Emmert said coyotes are different and need to be treated differently, suggesting people dowse them with water or pepper spray or make loud noises to scare them.

“Anything that is obnoxious and loud is going to scare an animal away and make it feel unwelcome,” Emmert said. “The number one thing is to not allow that animal to become habituated.”

A COYOTE IS IN YOUR BACKYARD. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

Willock said since he took over in 2009, this is the first time a coyote has been reported in the main section of Mill Creek Park. He said they are spotted on the bike trails occasionally, but it is no cause for panic.

“I don’t want to alarm people,” Chief Willock continued. “I don’t want people to be concerned. But if you carry something like pepper spray, and spray it in the general direction of the animal — trust me — they have a much stronger sense of smell than we do.”

Police don’t know if the dog was off the leash when it ran across the animal, or if the woman dropped the leash when the dog spotted it. But either way, keep a close eye on pets out walking, and don’t let them out of sight.

“All animals should be on the leash in the park,” Chief Willock cautioned. “There’s a rule that all animals are leashed in the park. Yes, you need to keep them on that. And the leashes need to be a certain length. We have people biking and things like that. If you have one of those long leashes, it could cause an accident with a biker or runner or something like that.”

 

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Doug McLarty jokes that his wife won’t go on walks with him anymore.

That’s because the Xenia-based artist is always stopping to pick up objects he finds along the way. Those objects – leaves, flowers, berries – might then become his next work of art.

“It’s very much a discovery process, and I never know what I’m going to come up with,” said McLarty. “It’s pretty much a mystery until suddenly I see it in front of me.”

McLarty, whose work now is on display at the Weller Gallery in the D.D. and Velma Davis Education & Visitor Center at Fellows Riverside Gardens, creates images using a high-resolution digital-scanning process called scanography.

Against black backgrounds, the objects found in nature stand out in striking, visceral detail. They’re a little whimsical, too.

For example, there’s his “Supremes” piece. Green peppers are depicted “on stage” as if they were the Diana Ross-led female singing group.

McLarty said he hopes his art encourages viewers to look at nature a little bit differently.

“There’s a certain perception zone that I think we all have. If you go to the Davis Center’s gardens and look, everyone sees the same scene of a little garden patch with some really pretty flowers,” he said.

“Then you go a little closer, and you zero in on the roses or another plant. Then you go a little closer, and you see individual leaf structure. What I want to do is have people, when they go out and look at nature, get comfortable with getting a lot closer and really look at nature from a design perspective.”

McLarty’s exhibit, “Natural Selection: Discoveries in Bloom,” is on display through Sept. 17.

Also on display at Fellows is an “Organic Steel” exhibit by local sculptor Tony Armeni. Armeni’s sculptures are placed throughout the gardens area.

Armeni, who teaches at Youngstown State University, has work on display at numerous other Youngstown locations, including the Butler Institute of American Art. He is working on a project that is being funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The term “organic” refers to the sculptures’ shapes, said Lily Martuccio, who handles graphics and promotions for Mill Creek MetroParks.

“The contrast of the hard steel, and the organic shapes that fit into the area of this outdoor gallery – it complements it,” she said.

“Trees bend, just as [Armeni] gets his work to bend.”

Armeni’s work will be on display at the Gardens through October.

Both McLarty’s and Armeni’s art is available for purchase.

For information about the exhibits, call the Gardens at 330-740-7116.

 

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