Historical neighborhoods in Columbus are part of the city’s rich history. They are neighborhoods that have been kept to look the same in the city throughout the years. But to preserve their beauty and enticing demeanor, they also must keep finding ways to improve.
Columbus’ historical neighborhoods are involved in many new prospects, brought upon by the city and other organizations to improve their facades. The latest of which is a Metro Park that will provide a good combination of nature and education to the Columbus area.
Metro Parks is an organization whose intent is to conserve natural resources and to educate the public about nature. They manage 14 parks in the surrounding region that are on more than 20,000 acres of land. The 15th park that will be operated by Franklin County Metro Parks, will be the park on the Whittier Peninsula.
Funding for these parks comes from organizations such as the Local Government Fund, the Local Government Revenue Assistance Fund, grants and other donations from private entities.
Metro parks and city parks differ in that Metro Parks are maintained and run by Franklin County, while the City of Columbus is responsible for the city parks.
While Columbus waits for its next Metro Park, Audubon Ohio will be busy planning the park’s informational nature center. The organization will soley be responsible for the center’s operations and management.
“The center (Audubon Center) will incorporate school activities with educational opportunities,” said John O’Meara, Franklin County Metro Parks director.
The addition of the Audubon Center fulfills a recommendation of the Columbus Riverfront Vision Plan that was adopted by the city of Columbus in 1998. This plan was designed to help improve the conditions along both the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers for the next 20 years.
The plan says, “interpretive centers and trails, observational towers, wetland research areas, and access along the riparian edge will reveal the natural history of the river.”
Laura Busby, director of Centers and Education for Audubon Ohio, said the center is in a process of planning right now.
“There is a process of building that the nature centers have. We have to tailor to each particular community, so we need input from those communities,” Busby said.
Audubon is a national, private non-profit organization that has centers in 46 states. The center in Whittier Park will be the second one of its kind run by Audubon in Ohio – the first is in Dayton. However, the center in Whittier Park will be the first to be developed in the heart of an urban setting in Ohio.
“We want to bring nature education to an urban area,” Busby said. “We are hoping to open new eyes to nature.”
“The park will be very near to COSI. There are a lot of shared interests between the park and COSI, so we hope that it helps them,” O’Meara said.
O’Meara said the plan for the Audubon Center is to work with school groups, and also to teach nature education and nature sciences.
In some aspects, the vision has already started to materialize. Audubon Ohio has been working with professors at Ohio State in the planning process of the center.
Busby said professors who have been involved in the planning are John Heywood, of the school of natural resources, John Simpson, of the school of architecture and Jay Kandampully, of the College of Human Ecology, among others.
Heywood is in the middle of the second of two quarters, teaching a class that is involved with planning for the park. He said this quarter his students are focusing on inventory evaluation of the area.
“I think (the park) will be a great opportunity for students at OSU,” Heywood said. “Students are often involved with Metro Parks, doing internships. And this park is closer than other parks.”
John York, the president of the Brewery District Society and a Brewery District resident, said he thinks the center will be a great educational opportunity for the area.
“Any surprises about the park were pleasant for me,” York said.
“The center is essentially looking to provide nature education programs,” Busby said.
Funding for the center will strictly come from money raised by Audubon Ohio. Fundraising will begin early next year after the final plan for the center is complete and Audubon has set a budget.
Busby said the final plan only will be finished after Audubon has an idea of the demography of the area and knows who will most likely use the center.
“This park will be a good place for land laboratories and also a good place for kids to progress through their studies,” O’Meara said.
Whittier Park is tentatively scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2006, and the Audubon Center is tentatively scheduled to be completed by 2008.
