The Athens Conservancy is a 501 (c) (3) land trust based in Athens County, Ohio . It was founded in 2002. It is an all-volunteer organization.
25-618: The Conservancy owns and manages 14 nature preserves in Athens County: In addition, the Conservancy holds a conservation and trail access easement on the 269-acre (109 ha) Baker Preserve, near Strouds Run State Park , which features hiking and horse trails open to the public. This easement was purchased using Clean Ohio Conservation Fund moneys. The Conservancy sponsors the Athens-Belpre Rail-Trail ,
50-618: A 161-acre (65 ha) artificial lake. The park is named after William Stroud who was a share-holder in the Ohio Company of Associates . The original land for the park was purchased for the Athens State Forest in the 1940s and 1950s. In the late 1950s, construction was started on the Dow Lake Dam, which was completed in 1960, at which point the land became Strouds Run State Park in its entirety. A large area on
75-481: A campground (pit toilets, no shower), swimming beach, boat dock, boat and canoe rentals, pistol, picnic grounds and shelters, and hiking trails. Hunting is permitted in season. Shooting ranges are no longer available for the public. Significant areas of the park are pine plantations (white and red) from the mid-twentieth century, when the land was purchased, originally as the Athens State Forest. There
100-504: A new multi-use trail to connect Belpre, Ohio , to Athens, Ohio , partially using the former B&O Railroad grade. The trail is open to foot, bicycles, and horses. Properties for this project have been secured in several ways. The Conservancy is also working on acquiring land for a trail-head area for the Moonville Rail-Trail , and has acquired additional right-of-way from private property owners who had acquired it from
125-431: Is also one small baldcypress plantation within the park. However, most of the area is mature hardwood forest. The park features many bluffs and rock outcrops of sandstone. Several beaver ponds are within the park boundaries. Many of the trails are open to mountain bikes. The lake is used by Ohio University for aquatic sports such as crew . The lake is also a very common destination of Ohio University students to enjoy
150-435: Is nearby, including Hawk Woods, which is one of Ohio's very few genuine old-growth forests . Common birds in the park include both black and turkey vultures , Canada geese , red-winged blackbirds , red-tailed hawks , red-shouldered hawks , and barn swallows . Beavers and white-tailed deer are common in the park. Bobcats are known to be in the area, but none are known within the park itself. Facilities include
175-770: Is owned by the city of Athens, Ohio and is dedicated as a state nature preserve, but the Athens Conservancy initiated and coordinated the project, and raised $ 40,000 in public contributions plus $ 50,000 from the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves . The organization also assisted the City of Athens, OH in acquiring two other tracts of the Strouds Ridge Preserve, totalling 182 acres (74 ha), in 2003 and 2004, and assisted Athens County, Ohio in acquiring two nature preserves, one part of
200-805: The Hockhocking Adena Bikeway , using Clean Ohio moneys. The Conservancy also offers a backpacking campsite on the Blair Preserve. This campsite was created using funds from the Athens County Foundation . One of the Conservancy's greatest successes to date was the establishment of the Riddle State Nature Preserve , which contains Hawk Woods, one of the most significant old-growth forests in Ohio, again using Clean Ohio moneys. The preserve
225-483: The 264-acre (1.07 km ) Baker Tract, managed by the Athens Conservancy, is a short drive away, with a public access trailhead on Ohio State Route 690. Athens Conservancy The Athens Conservancy is a 501 (c) (3) land trust based in Athens County, Ohio . It was founded in 2002. It is an all-volunteer organization. The Conservancy owns and manages 14 nature preserves in Athens County: In addition,
250-576: The Ames limestone, including Linscott Spring (which has an historic springhouse). Normal pool elevation of Dow Lake is about 665 feet above sea level, while the highest point in the park is about 1022 feet above sea level. The park is almost entirely within the Strouds Run watershed, although it does not include the entire watershed. The forest in some areas of the park is over a century old without significant disturbance. The Riddle State Nature Preserve
275-591: The Athens Area Outdoor Guide through the website. This is an extensive website that details open-space lands throughout southeast Ohio, with maps and directions for access. It also provides the Athens Outdoor Guide, Southeast Ohio Mapping Center and an NNIS (non-native invasive species) information center on-line (see at the website, below) as a public service. Several private conservation easements have also been negotiated with
SECTION 10
#1732791408083300-412: The Conservancy holds a conservation and trail access easement on the 269-acre (109 ha) Baker Preserve, near Strouds Run State Park , which features hiking and horse trails open to the public. This easement was purchased using Clean Ohio Conservation Fund moneys. The Conservancy sponsors the Athens-Belpre Rail-Trail , a new multi-use trail to connect Belpre, Ohio , to Athens, Ohio , partially using
325-693: The Conservancy, in order to enhance private property holders' future management of their lands. Strouds Run State Park Strouds Run State Park is a public recreation area abutting the city of Athens in Athens County , Ohio , in the United States. The state park is located primarily in Canaan Township , with a small part in Ames Township . Park boundaries coincide with Athens city limits in several places. The park comprises 2,606 acres (1,055 ha), and includes Dow Lake,
350-585: The Marchmont area that was located at the base of what was then known as Tucker Hill. This was on the same portion of land that remained in the Cone family after the park's construction, and currently remains with descendants of Charles Cone. In addition to Gillett and Cone, some other notable family names affected by the park's construction were Cain, Finsterwald, Weiss, and Stalder. Many of those families came to this country with Baron deSteiguer. The Baron purchased
375-496: The Strouds Ridge Preserve, totalling 182 acres (74 ha), in 2003 and 2004, and assisted Athens County, Ohio in acquiring two nature preserves, one part of the Strouds Ridge Preserve, with 23 acres (9.3 ha), and the Chauncey Canal Trail and Wetland Preserve, 13.5 acres (5.5 ha), in 2016. It has also provided small donations to assist several other agencies with land acquisition. The Conservancy sponsors
400-455: The Strouds Ridge Preserve, with 23 acres (9.3 ha), and the Chauncey Canal Trail and Wetland Preserve, 13.5 acres (5.5 ha), in 2016. It has also provided small donations to assist several other agencies with land acquisition. The Conservancy sponsors the Athens Area Outdoor Guide through the website. This is an extensive website that details open-space lands throughout southeast Ohio, with maps and directions for access. It also provides
425-519: The earliest practical handbooks on forestry. A large part of the upper east side of the part was owned by the Cone family, last owned by Charles Cone and Lucille Gillett Cone (a descendant of Samuel Gillett above.) Adjacent to the Cone farm was a large, one-room school house that was dismantled when the lake was built. Some of the materials from the school house were then used to construct the Strouds Run Community Church just up
450-492: The former B&O Railroad grade. The trail is open to foot, bicycles, and horses. Properties for this project have been secured in several ways. The Conservancy is also working on acquiring land for a trail-head area for the Moonville Rail-Trail , and has acquired additional right-of-way from private property owners who had acquired it from the former B&O Railroad to connect the Moonville Rail-Trail with
475-428: The former B&O Railroad to connect the Moonville Rail-Trail with the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway , using Clean Ohio moneys. The Conservancy also offers a backpacking campsite on the Blair Preserve. This campsite was created using funds from the Athens County Foundation . One of the Conservancy's greatest successes to date was the establishment of the Riddle State Nature Preserve , which contains Hawk Woods, one of
500-539: The lands from the heirs of John Paul Jones as most of the area land was once owned by the Revolutionary War admiral. Strouds Run is located within the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau . The park consists of mostly narrow valleys, narrow ridges, and steep hillsides. Bluffs and rock shelters are common throughout the park, formed by the Connellsville sandstone. There are a few springs in the park out of
525-464: The most recently purchased areas of the park was acquired in 1953 from the Crumley family, heirs to Dr. John Jackson Crumley, who purchased the land almost a century ago as an experimental tree farm. Dr. Crumley was a classical scholar who also was one of Ohio's early state foresters, who managed the purchase of the original land for Zaleski State Forest and Hocking State Forest , and who wrote one of
SECTION 20
#1732791408083550-445: The most significant old-growth forests in Ohio, again using Clean Ohio moneys. The preserve is owned by the city of Athens, Ohio and is dedicated as a state nature preserve, but the Athens Conservancy initiated and coordinated the project, and raised $ 40,000 in public contributions plus $ 50,000 from the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves . The organization also assisted the City of Athens, OH in acquiring two other tracts of
575-427: The road from the park, as well as a new barn for Charles Cone who lost his previous one to the park's construction. The church was eventually converted into a private residence, and was subsequently completely destroyed in a fire a few years later. The area from the old school house, up past where the church was constructed and beyond was briefly known as Marchmont. From 1893 to 1901, there was an inn and post office for
600-470: The weather on sunny spring or summer days. The lake is stocked on an annual basis with several kinds of fish, including rainbow trout, which cannot survive the winters. The park borders on the city's 325-acre (1.32 km ) Strouds Ridge Preserve Project, which includes the Riddle State Nature Preserve , and with the Athens Conservancy 's 75 acre (0.3 km ) Blair Preserve. In addition,
625-596: The west side of the park was formerly land of the Gillett family (Samuel and Charlotte Beach Gillett and their descendants). The family owned well over a thousand acres at one time. The old farmstead seen on the Trace Trail and the "Pioneer Cemetery" are both remnant from the Gillett occupancy of the land. Two of the adjacent nature preserves, both owned by the Athens Conservancy (Blair Preserve and Tucker Run Preserve) are also both on former Gillett family land. One of
#82917