Coitsville works to become educated on wildlife preserves

COITSVILLE -- Township officials worked to secure funding and talk with volunteers Tuesday about maintaining and expanding its newly acquired William Holmes McGuffey Wildlife Preserve, which the township obtained from Mill Creek MetroParks for $1 in May.

During a morning meeting at the township hall, Trustee Phyllis Johnson provided background on how the township acquired the 73-acre property on McGuffey Road. After the meeting, trustees met with a representative of the Youngstown Foundation, from which trustees are seeking a grant.

In June, trustees responded to complaints from the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society that the park was closed and no signage was posted. But the park reopened at the end of June, Trustee Gerald Backo said Tuesday.

Johnson said when trustees learned the MetroParks wished to sell the property, "Of course, we jumped at the opportunity to look into the township acquiring it because this is a place that is located in our community.

"Many of us felt very strongly that we wanted (the wildlife preserve) to be maintained in our community. It has a legacy here. That piece of property ... was known to be the boyhood home of William Holmes McGuffey. That is something that this board and our community has been very proud of," Johnson said.

"We didn't want to see the ownership of that property go somewhere where maybe they wouldn't have the same type of feeling for the wildlife. We contacted Mill Creek Park and told them we were interested. We met with (MetroParks director) Aaron Young a couple of times, and he offered it to the township for the cost of a dollar. We said, 'How can we refuse that?' "

She said the preserve is "pristine farmland. There used to be a farm there years ago."

She said the MetroParks acquired the property from the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society because the historical society did not have the funds to operate it.

"They did a great job," Johnson said of the park district that acquired it in 1988. "We're very happy with the preserve. A lot of our residents used it -- a lot of people from other communities used it -- for hiking and also for ... educational trainings, for bird-watching and things like that."

Johnson said trustees realized when they acquired the property that their budget "was very small and very tight, and we said, 'Oh, how are we going to be able to maintain this beautiful facility and maybe even fix it up a little bit?' We started to look at what we could do as a community here in Coitsville."

They formed a committee of residents interested in developing the facility in May. At the first meeting, there was a good turnout with about 20 people in attendance.

"There was a lot of interest in helping," she said.

A speaker from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources with experience in wildlife preserves spoke at a second meeting at the township hall Tuesday evening after touring the preserve. His role was to help committee members become educated on wildlife preserves.

"Our group has all kinds of questions," Johnson said at the morning meeting. "Like what can you do there? What can you not do?" Coitsville Township Fiscal Officer Chris Partika credited Johnson for applying for grant funds for the operation of the preserve. One was a state budget appropriation. It was not approved, but the township can apply again next year.

"We also applied for a grant from the CASTLO Community Fund. They really liked our proposal and recommended that we ... apply to the Youngstown Foundation. And then after we do that, we will go further with (CASTLO), if we need additional funds," Partika said.

Partika noted that she created a separate township fund that was approved by the State Auditor's Office. "And that way all money that comes in as donations or grant money will go into a separate fund. It will not come out of our general fund. It will be used specifically for the wildlife preserve," Partika said.

Trustee Gerald Backo met with the Mill Creek MetroParks greenskeepers, who advised that it would take about eight hours per week to maintain the wildlife preserve, Partika said

As fiscal officer, having sufficient funds to maintain the park was "one of my concerns from the beginning to make sure we had enough money to maintain it as it is," Partika said.

A budget was written for wildlife preserve maintenance, such as grass cutting. The trustees voted to transfer $10,000 from the general fund last month to the new McGuffey Wildlife Preserve Fund.

In June, trustees approved $5,000 for salaries and property services for this year, leaving $5,000 for next year, Partika said. That will "make sure the grass is maintained and kept up to standards. Hopefully with some of these other grants we have applied for, we can do additional projects," Partika said.

Johnson said one of the projects that is needed is to replace the signage that was on the property before because the MetroParks removed its signage so that its logos would not be on the property anymore.

There is no map of the trails anymore, but the MetroParks provided the digital image of the sign that showed the trails so that another sign can be made. She said there needs to be a sign at a couple of locations, including the parking lot.

The plan is to have a sign that tells visitors the "Dos and Don'ts" of using the park and the times when the park is open.

Johnson said the wildlife preserve committee will be filling a fundraisers and donations committee. Another is community engagement regarding the preserve, and another is an educational programs subcommittee.

Johnson said one volunteer has college training on wildlife preserves and said she wanted to be involved. And her husband, a Coitsville firefighter, is also interested in being involved.

Partika said the committee meetings will be advertised to the public as a public meeting. The township newsletter, the Coitsville Reader, also helps people stay involved, Johnson said.

"We do put articles in the newsletter about William Holmes McGuffey," Johnson said. "We're trying to make them aware this is part of your heritage here in Coitsville, something we all can be proud of -- that (McGuffey) spent his boyhood here."

McGuffey became famous for having written the Eclectic Readers series that became popularly known as the McGuffey Readers.The widely read series, first published in 1836, told stories that highlighted the importance of one's character, values, patriotism and piety, as well as the importance of God and good citizenship," according to Vindicator archives.

They also were the basic primer for elementary school students, especially in the Midwest, for about a century, according to Miami University Libraries in Oxford.

The William H. McGuffey Boyhood Home Site, which includes the 73-acre McGuffey Wildlife Preserve, is designated a National Historic Landmark, according to Richard Scarsella, chairman of the board of trustees of the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society.