Christy Counterman, Marketing Assistant & Janean Kazimir, Interpretive Naturalist
Megan Shaeffer, Ph.D., Cultural Resource Coordinator
Marlo Perdicas, Park Biologist
In 1978, the North American Bluebird Society was founded to promote education and conservation of the species. The society led a continent-wide effort to place nesting boxes throughout their range. Together with our volunteers, Summit Metro Parks has monitored bluebird nest boxes since the 1970s.
Long-time volunteer Lew Monagen has monitored the same boxes in Hampton Hills and O’Neil Woods Metro Parks since the establishment of our official monitoring program in 1993.
“Over the years I’ve had a lot of encouragement from folks like former park district employee Bert Szabo and the Akron Audubon Society. My…
Peg Bobel, Cultural Resource Specialist
But now things were looking up — in Akron, the growing rubber industries were hiring thousands of new factory workers and the city was growing by leaps and bounds. Much of the work, however, was dirty and backbreaking, with workers putting in long days. Nonetheless, progress was being made on shortening work hours and laborers found they had more leisure time. Popular nature writers such as John Burroughs were inspiring everyday folks to get outside and experience the physical and spiritual benefits of nature. …
Meghan Doran, Assistant Education & Recreation Manager
How can birding be ethical? The answer is quite simple - it is making decisions and taking actions that are based on moral principles and personal beliefs of doing no harm while pursuing an activity, in this case, birding.
Megan Shaeffer, PhD, cultural resource coordinator
Mark Szeremet, Land Acquisition Specialist/Park Planner
The property protects 44 acres of high-quality riparian forest and Category 3 wetlands and connects to other protected natural areas along the Tinkers Creek corridor. A special feature of this property is a stream that artfully meanders, creating several oxbow wetlands that are habitat for a variety of sensitive amphibian species. As a protected conservation area, it will remain closed to the public.
Lindsay Smith, marketing and public relations manager
“One park experience that is most memorable is when me and my husband, Tobin, took our two sons, Jackson and Justice, to a night out at F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm to learn from a naturalist, catch lightning bugs and make s’mores around a campfire. This is something we still enjoy doing at our home around the fire pit now that my sons are older,” Buckner recalled.
We are grateful to Buckner for her leadership in our community, especially through an unusually challenging year. Like many people, she and her family found the parks…
Ben Mullaly, interpretive naturalist
Though steadily becoming a more common sight, the American bald eagle has had a turbulent past. At the time of European colonization of North America, bald eagles flourished in untouched woodlands and pristine waters. By the time of our park district’s beginning in 1921, they were rare in Ohio, having been driven out of the state’s interior and towards Lake Erie by deforestation.
With widespread use of the pesticide DDT in the 1950s and 60s, only four nesting pairs of eagles remained by 1979. Through habitat conservation and restoration initiatives over the past several decades, Ohioans…
Summit Metro Parks manages 14,000 acres, 16 parks and more than 150 miles of trails. Find more at www.summitmetroparks.org.