NEW NATURE PRESERVE FOR CRAWFORD COUNTY!

The Crawford Park District is pleased to announce the creation of a new  public nature preserve for Crawford County. The 43 acre area will be  named the Heckert Nature Preserve and is located on the south side of  State Route 19 half way in between Bucyrus and Galion. The Nature Preserve will be owned and managed by the Crawford Park District. The  preservation of the area was made possible by the generosity of Gerald Heckert of Bucyrus, and funding provided by a Clean Ohio Conservation grant and the Friends of the Crawford Park District. Purchase of the property was completed on September 22, 2003. The area contains a well preserved forest containing unusually large and well preserved wetland areas. The property will preserve two species of plants that are state  listed as Potentially Threatened: Tubercled Rein-orchid and Swamp  Cottonwood. In addition, in a botany study completed in 2003 on the property, a total of over 200 species of native plants have been recorded, including many others rare in Crawford County. In the first  bird census conducted on the property in the spring of 2003, a  Kirtlanda Warbler was recorded, a Federal Endangered Species. This is  the first time this bird has been recorded in Crawford County. The area  also contains fourteen Great Blue Heron nests. Archeology studies will be done to  help determine if there is any evidence that the Seccaium Indian Trading  Post was on the site. Park District plans for the site include further  study of the plants and animals of the site, archeology studies, and  construction of a hiking trail and parking lot. Plans call for the area  to open to the public by the fall of 2006. For more information please  phone the Lowe-Volk Park Nature Center at 419-683-9000.