CANFIELD — Should a longtime naturalist who left many sets of indelible footprints throughout Mill Creek Park be honored so that his legacy may endure?

Chris Flak thinks so.

“Even after he retired, he was a volunteer for the park for years,” Flak, of Youngstown, said about the late Bill Whitehouse, whose association with the park dates back decades.

Whitehouse died Sept. 11 at age 87.

Specifically, Flak said during Monday’s Mill Creek MetroParks board of trustees meeting at the metroparks farm in Canfield that she would like to see a trail named in Whitehouse’s honor, as well as perhaps a tribute to him in the newly remodeled Ford Nature Center. The trail could be near a section of Lake Newport that was his favorite spot in the park, she added.

Park board members said they would take her suggestion under advisement.

In addition to being a celebrated park naturalist, Whitehouse was instrumental in setting up numerous educational programs, opportunities and seminars. He also was an expert at, among other things, identifying the park’s animals, flora and fauna, she told the board and about 70 attendees, many of whom are part of the Save the Deer of Mill Creek Park organization.

Whitehouse also co-hosted a radio talk show with the late Jean Kelty, a staunch animal-rights activist who founded Animal Charities in 1962, and taught English for more than 30 years at Youngstown State University. The two of them often discussed topics such as the effects of pollution and pesticides on the environment, along with what they felt was the largely unnecessary and irresponsible expansion of suburban development, Flak remembered.

Whitehouse also led many nature walks, continued a partnership with YSU and performed a lot of outreach work on behalf of the park. In addition, he started the monthly Vegetarians of the Greater Youngstown Area gatherings in 1989, which Flak took over in 2013, she continued.

Late last month, Ray Novotny, park naturalist emeritus, organized a memorial gathering for Whitehouse.

Also during the meeting, a few people spoke during the public comments portion against the park’s deer reduction program, partially conducted by U.S. Department of Agriculture sharpshooters.

Since Oct. 1, 136 deer have been harvested in nine regional parks, including 34 last week, Nick Derico, the park’s natural resources manager, noted.

In denouncing the program, one woman called it “a poaching free-for-all,” and expressed anger at having seen several dead deer and other wildlife in the park.

In addition, the woman told board members she feels that pesticides used on the golf course do greater ecological damage than any wildlife.

Lee Frey, board president, explained that sterilization as a deer-control and management method is illegal in Ohio, unless approved as a research project.

Also at the session, board member Jeff Harvey invited Boardman Township Trustee Thomas Costello to speak to the park board regarding concerns Costello voiced at a Boardman Township meeting in September. Costello’s concerns centered around publicly expressing his position on the deer reduction program, and the possible effects doing so might have had on the township’s partnership with the park to reduce chronic flooding in parts of Boardman.

Harvey also invited attendees to meet with him one on one regarding the deer hunts and other topics.

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