How to grow a butterfly
It’s that time of year when monarch butterflies begin their magical migration south to the mountains of Mexico, where they’ll spend the winter. I’ve been seeing monarch butterflies in the …Read More
Friday Night Floaters
The sun shone brightly on Sharon Woods’ 11-acre Schrock Lake as its recent Friday Night Float program began. Eager canoeists, many of them first-timers, signed-on for a 20-minute float around …Read More
Hellbenders make a splash as they return to Big Darby Creek
Eastern hellbenders found a new home in Big Darby Creek in August. More than 80 of these impressively sized creatures, the largest species of amphibian in Ohio and one of …Read More
Winter blues spark Metro Parks adventures
On a drab winter night, Scott Ballard, 49, contemplated what he would do for the rest of the year. He certainly didn’t want to spend it inside doing little or …Read More
Insects make for delicious and nutritious fare
Blacklick Woods Metro Park is offering a delightful program for food lovers with a taste for something new and exotic. Join us at the nature center on Sunday August 20, …Read More
It’s always Dog Days at Prairie Oak—but especially at WAG!
BARK BASH – August 24, 2024 Bark Bash is the super-duper event of the summer for you and your canine friends. The inaugural Bark Bash replaces the cancelled WAG! Fest …Read More
Visiting the parks: Blacklick Woods, an urban retreat
Just like the citizens of Central Ohio, Metro Parks are a wide-ranging lot, offering everything from herb gardens to strenuous hikes for the 10-million people who visit them annually. In …Read More
It’s threshing time
A golden, ripe wheat field is a beautiful sight and its appearance in July means it is grain threshing season on the farm. At Metro Parks’ Slate Run Living Historical …Read More
Happy birthday, Henry David Thoreau
Two hundred years ago, on July 12, 1817, Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts. This famous American author, transcendentalist, naturalist, political dissident and human rights advocate inspired the …Read More
World Snake Day: Celebrating Memaw and snakes around the globe
July 16 marks World Snake Day, a time to celebrate snakes and the vital roles they play in the ecosystem. The Metro Parks have several different snakes, including Memaw, a …Read More
Butterflies of the Night
Butterflies get all the attention. They’re pretty, and they fly during the day when us fellow day-dwellers are likely to actually see them. Moths, on the other hand, are mostly …Read More
Archery in 3D makes its bow at Scioto Grove
A new facility for the Robin Hoods and archers among us has just opened at Scioto Grove Metro Park. The new feature is actually two separate archery courses. The first …Read More
The importance and beauty of forests
A summer walk in the cool green forests at any of your 19 Metro Parks will inspire your imagination and stir your senses. Forests are the centerpiece of most parks, …Read More
Unsung beauties lie ready for discovery in the fields
A stroll or run through a Metro Park provides many views—forest, fields, mid-succession areas and mowed lawn areas. Fields provide a habitat for many plants and animals and are typically …Read More
Threshing is done the old-fashioned way at Slate Run Living Historical Farm
With each passing month from spring to fall, the farm’s Percheron draft horses are kept busy as the driving forces behind the farm’s vast array of machinery and tools for …Read More
Bicycle Built for Two
Last week Rangers at Homestead Metro Park received a call on the duty cell phone from some cyclists at the end of the Heritage Trail. They were concerned after finding …Read More
Simply Succulents is simply fascinating
A long-standing tradition at Inniswood Metro Gardens is the seasonal garden theme for the display beds. This theme is chosen at the beginning of every year to help guide the …Read More
The parks remove huge spreads of callery pear and other biological pollutants
If you hike the Mingo Trail at Scioto Grove Metro Park you will notice that many trees are being cut in the area. Visitors seem a little startled when they …Read More