THORNVILLE — Perry County has had a park district since 1996, but according to district Naturalist Jessie Bennett, this might still come as news to some county residents.
“Unfortunately, we’re still in the phase where a lot of people in Perry County don’t know that we have a park district,” Bennett told attendees at a Perry County Chamber of Commerce luncheon held April 16 at Horvath Harbor in Thornville. “So that’s my main goal, to try to remedy that.”
Bennett, who said she is the only employee of the district, recounted that the district was started by county Probate/Juvenile Judge Luann Cooperrider, “and she did that so that somebody else didn’t come and swoop in and do it and then make all the decisions for us.”
The district is overseen by a volunteer board with five commissioners — C. Chair C. Scott Moore, Vice Chair Fred Redfern, Secretary Tami McAdams, Sue Oberhauser and Jack Coll.
“Right now we are fully funded by the county commissioners, which is awesome,” Bennett told her audience. “They would not have to support us at all, so the fact that they’ve provided any money is amazing.”
In the future, Bennett suggested, the district might seek direct taxpayer support. “The more people that get to hear about us and value us and see what we can do, hopefully we can pass a levy here in the next three to five years,” she said. “We know taxes are already high, but park districts are so important and Perry County is so cool. We really need to protect some of our land.”
The district’s mission statement says it exists “to support the conservation and preservation of natural areas in Perry County and to enhance wonder, appreciation, and education within our county through environmental, historical, cultural, and recreational programs and activities, to enrich the quality of life in our communities.”
In pursuit of those aims, Bennett offers a wide variety of programs, of which she offered some examples.
“One of the fun things is, we’re partnering with the health department and doing a ‘Less Talkin’, More Walkin’ hiking series,” she related, in which she makes the effort “to not gab as much at every flower” seen along the way. “It’s more of a get out and get your heart pumping, get a little bit of exercise (activity).”
The first hike in the program took place March 20 at Finck’s Nature Preserve in Somerset, and the next is scheduled for Sunday, April 28 at Wilson Mound in Glenford. Bennett described the latter site as “a cool property the commissioners own,” which is not yet open to the public, but can be explored by those who sign up for the hike.
On May 7,thehike will take place in Ludowici Community Foundation Park in New Lexington, and then on June 20, at Tecumseh Lake in Shawnee.
As part of the campaign to publicize the district, Bennett said, “We’ve started doing monthly interviews with WHIZ, both the radio and the TV station. You might have noticed us a couple times.”
This month’s interview, she said, featured guest amphibians. “We took in frogs,” she explained.” The frogs are calling now; they’re doing their mating calls. The males are trying to attract females and they’re really loud. You call them peepers probably, but spring peepers are a specific type of frog. So all of the other frogs that call may not be peepers.”
Bennett continues to come up with new ideas for programs, and previewed one at the luncheon with the caveat, “you’re gonna laugh at me because I’m pretty weird.” She went on to address home gardeners who raise tomato plants, and have to cope with “those hornworms that you get that you probably hate and squish.”
However, she added, “They turn into really cool. moths. They’re awesome. They’re native. They’re fantastic. So if you have extra tomato plants that you would like to give me please do, because I’m going to collect tomato worms and raise them.”
She said she’s also on the lookout for roadkill, the remains of which can be used as educational aids in teaching about wildlife.
Bennett stressed, however, that any hornworms should be brought to her, not to the park. “Don’t bring them to the park,” she said. “Please don’t bring any wildlife to any park. Don’t do that. That’s not good.”
Likewise, she said, people should let her know when they see roadkill, but not pick it up themselves, which requires a permit.
Bennett emphasized that the district is always looking for volunteers, donors, and opportunities to publicize what it offers.
“If you’ve got community events that we can come to get the word out that would be great,” she said. “Scout groups, I can help you earn badges.”
Email at jphillips@perrytribune.com
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