Natural ResourcesCrawford Park District is committed to maintaining the health of our natural resources within CPD Parks promoting biological diversity and the protection of habitat by:
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A remnant oak-savannah prairie, Daughmer Savannah State Nature Preserve is a living relic into Ohio's pre-European settlement landscape.
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Protecting Our Resources Ohio is bound with many natural resources that make this land a very productive and fruitful state to inhabit. Throughout history, Ohio's natural resources have been depleted time and time again, but some have continued to rebound. One such example is of Ohio's beautiful forests. In the 1800's, Ohio was covered in a primordial forest full of ancient, giant trees. Settlers moved into the territory and began transforming and cultivating the land. Then in the early 1900's after intense land transformation, much of Ohio's mature forests had been depleted and disappeared. Through these actions arose the necessity for conservation and the implementation of plans to regenerate Ohio's land and natural resources. Over the course of the last one hundred years, conservationists have been working diligently to restore Ohio's landscape to a fraction of its historical self and have successfully recovered 30 percent of Ohio's forests.
Healthy, functioning ecosystems are crucial for providing services conducive for maintaining a healthy, functioning human society. While this statement is clear from the perspective of ecology, it is not always apparent in human-dominated landscapes where issues related to the day-to-day repair and maintenance of our built infrastructure (e.g. water, wastewater, transportation, energy) appear separated from natural ecosystem processes. Naturally functioning and sustainable ecosystems provide services that support human activities in the region. For example, forests, wetlands, and natural lakes slow storm water runoff and reduce flooding, while also providing habitat for native plants, mammals, birds, amphibians, and fish. Replacing natural infrastructure with human engineered infrastructure requires a large initial development investment and perpetual repair and replacement costs from human society. Protecting, conserving, and restoring natural ecosystem structure and function represent a cost-effective way to maintain and improve the benefits humans derive from the ecosystems they inhabit. CPD provides area leadership in and around Crawford County protecting existing and also additional open spaces, with special attention to areas adjacent to existing park properties, with significant historical or natural history connections, and/or properties with rare or unique flora and fauna. Through partnerships such as the H2Ohio Project, cooperative efforts, and the support of other agencies such as The Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Crawford Soil & Water Conservation District, CPD pursues the protection of the remaining major river valleys within the North Central Ohio region such as the Sandusky River Corridor. To this end, CPD's Natural Resource Division assists with the evaluation of tracts of land that are candidates for protection through acquisition, easement, or other means. |
A scenic view of the Sandusky River as seen from Sandusky Headwaters Preserve.
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