DOCUMENT RESUME ED 073 945 SE 015 853 AUTBCR Melvin, Ruth W. TITLE A Guide to Chia Outdoor EducationAreas. INSTITUTION Ohio Academy of Science,Columbus Ohio State Dept. of Natural Resources, Columbus. PUB CATE 70 NOTE 154p. EERS PRICE mF-$0.65 BC-$6.58 DESCRIPTORS *Directories; *Environmental Education;Guides; Indexes (Locaters); *NaturalResources; Nature centers; *Outdoor Education;Rural Area Site Development; *Study Facilities IEENTIFIERS Ohio AESTRACT More than 700 areas in Ohio,useful as sites for environmental-and outdoor studies,are catalogued in this guide. They include national forests; stateparks; forest and wildlifeareas; historic sites and memorials; metropolitan, country, and cityparks; agency and private camps; conservationagency properties; conservancy district lands and reservoirs;school land laboratories;private conservation farms and campgrounds;and nature preserves. Fora general overview of the state,four maps in the introductionshow physiographic sections, geology,glacial deposits-, and original natural vegetation. The majorsection of the guide compilesthe areas in alphabetical order by counties.Each entry providesa short description of the bio-physical features of the area or sitetogether with its official name, location,size, and source to contact for additional information. A separatechapter is devoted to nature preserves, °living museum° typeareas, often outstanding remnants of woodlands, swamps, prairies,glacial relic vegatationl and/or geologic phenomena. A concludingindex identifies eacharea by type (natural environment, schoolcamping, conservation education,or undeveloped) and specified theirfacilities for publicuse Notes on how to use the guideare included. (BL) FILMED PROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY U 3 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS PEER REPRO DUCED EXACTLY AS RccovEn FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG !HATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN A. GUIDE TO IONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU OHIO OUTDOOR CATION POSITION OR POLICY EDUCATION AREAS THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES THE OHIO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE A GUIDE TO OHIO OUTDOOR EDUCATION AREAS - INCLUDING - State Parks, Forests and Wildlife Areas, Historic Sites and Memorials, Wayne National Forest, Metropolitan, County, and City Parks, Agency and Private Camps,Conservation Agency Properties, Conservancy District Lands and Reservoirs. School Land Laboratories, Private Conservation Farms and Campgrounds, and Nature Preserves. Prepared by Ruth W Melvin for THE STATE OF OHIO DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES and THE OHIO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE JAMES A. RHODES FRED E. MORR Gov! Non DIRECTOR STATE OF OHIO DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES OHIO DEPARTMENTS BUILDING COLUMBUS 43215 August 1970 Dear Outdoor Educator: Publication of this Guide represents a milestone in outdoor education in Ohio.It is my belief that only through increased exposure to the outdoor world can we better understand our environ- ment and the imperative need to preserve and restore its quality. Ever-expanding urbanization precludes outdoor experiences for an increasing number of children today.This Guide can be an important motivating factor in encouraging teachers and others interested in outdoor education to expand their horizons into the out-of-doors for firsthand experiences with the world:in which we live. We in the Department of Natural Resources cos the Ohio Academy of Science for cooperative thoroughness and quality of this work. We are sure the Guide will fill a great need and provide a valuable tool for more effective environmental education. Sincerely, FRED E. MORR Director FEMf jd FORESTRY AND RECLAMATION GEOLOGICAL SURVEY LANDS AND SOIL OIL AND GAS PARKS AND RECREATION SOIL AND WATER DISTRICTS WATER WATERCRAFT WILDLIFE FOREWORD BY 1)11. PAUL B. SEARS Emeritus Professor of Conservation. Yale 1' niversity Past President, The Ohio Academy of Science Formerly Member, Wildlife CouncilOhio Department of Natural Resources ki,rhen my great-grandparents. like those of many native Ohioans, entered this beautiful and bounteous state, they came into a land of great forests. This land was rolling, but level enough so that for the first time, perhaps in history, it was possible to divide it into mile square sections by roads running north-south and east-west. Their chief problem was to remove enough of the giant trees to grow food and fiber for themselves and their livestock. The forest land in places the prairie) was in a sense their rival for space as well as a source of building material. Since it seemed unlimited, they gave littivi though) to the fact if they knew about it that in older lands such as Switzerland, France, Denmark, and Germany people had found it necessary to restore the forests to provide needed timber and protect the water supply. One of their first concerns, after making a living, was to establish schools and later colleges. Because there was, for a long time, plenty to see and do out-of-doors and honks and teachers were scarce, teaching and learning went on indoors. As high school and colleges sprang up this continued to be true; life was studied from books and in lab- oratories through the microscope. It is true that for many years students were encouraged to collect plants and identify them; meanwhile, their knowledge of animals came largely from hunting, fishing, farm livestock and pets. The main emphasis was on the three It's, their higher branches, and laboratory science. Geologists of course were obliged to take their students on field trips. Some zoologists like Edward L. Rice of Ohio Wesleyan encouraged bird-study, others like the late Lynds Jones of Oberlin actually taught ecology, still gratefully recalled by alumni. Another notable example war the modest and learned naturalist Edwin Moseley who taught for years in the Sandusky High School and later at Bowling Green State University. All of nature was his province. But these men had to take what they found in the field. The possibility of setting aside nature preserves and outdoor laboratories seemed remote. A notable excep- tion was the establishment of the Lake Laboratory or "Bug House" at Cedar Point by a consortium of colleges. This facility, since removed to Gibraltar island, has paid rich div- idends,to science and its teaching. Only in recent decades, as urban expansion, highway development, and industrial operations have threatened to destroy all traces of natural communities within the state, has it become possible to set aside remnants of them for teaching and research. It is a plea- sure to learn that there is now a total of at least 780 of these. About 100 are 'winterized' and many can be used for extended visits by classes. The majority of these are available and heavily used for instruction, but some are set aside as preserves to be used in research. Credit for this great service to the public must be widely shared among many individuals and organizations, including Ohio's nature writers, professional scientists like the late Charles Dambach, lay naturalists, the Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy. Many of these benefactors will be identified in the text which follows. A notable example with which, in spite of my long absences from Ohio, I am familiar, is the Audubon Nature Center near Dayton, made possible by the generosity of Mrs. Marie Aull, A feature of this heavily used center is a reconstructed prairie of tall grasses and other plants that once flourished in enclaves in Ohio. Another is the well-known Glen Helen at Antioch College in Yellow Springs. Nor should the Forestry Camps and similar establishments where high school students and teachers are sent by contributions from garden clubs and other sources by overlooked. Let no one think that these are merely "nice things" or even luxuries in a busy and preoccupied world, to be sacrificed to growing land hunger when the time comes. For in the self-regulating organization of natural communities that have maintained themselves through the ages, enriching the soil, regulating the flow of water, purifying the air, and stablizing the land surface, we have a model for the use of energy and materials which our technical civilization, with its exploitation, waste, and pollution has violated to a point where it threatens the quality of human life, if not its survival. To establish them has been a difficult task. To preserve and maintain them may be even more difficult, as a conversation with those in charge of some of them will quickly prove. Constant vigilance is required to prevent invasion, damage, or even take-over for projects such as sewer lines, highways, and other developments which can be made to sound more important-in this crowded world. The citizens of Ohio should stand ready to prevent this kind of mischief and lend their steady support to those who have rendered them an invaluable service. III PREFACE Outdoor education has become an imperative for the presen: and future preservation and quality of life on earth. The need to understand and appreciate natural environment is the challenge of education as well as governmental, industrial, and private organizations. This can best be achieved, it is generally agreed. by going into the outdoors, learning the relation hips of physical environment to plant life and to animal life including man. Only by association and knowledge can a generation of appreciative concerned citizens perpet- uate the small remnants of remaining natural areas and provide an environmental quality which makes life fit for living. A Guide to Ohio Outdoor Education Areas is a "mitt ral succession" project resulting from a long time emphasis on conservation education in The Ohio Academy of Science. It was conceived as a means of helping teachers and youth group leaders find sites for field trips, school camping, and training in outdoor education. Long before the present environ- mental crisis, the conviction that children and youth should have more opportunities to encounter and study the natural environment in order to conserve it was foremost in the minds of the members of the Conservation Section of the Academy.