After being closed for months, a trail at the Hermon Woodlands Metro Park outside Lima reopened following a major change.
Last summer, Johnny Appleseed Metro Park District employees noticed disease ridden oak trees along the North Trail. It was caused by a fungus called oak wilt, which is spread through roots and traveling beetles. In the Fall, they closed the path and started demolition. Six acres were affected and had to be cut down and burned. Now what's left is a sparse landscape of stumps and ash piles. But naturalists say this isn't all bad.
"It's really, really a very productive habitat, and one that we've lost here in Ohio. There's not really any kind of young forests around in Allen County and in Ohio in general," explains Dan Hodges, a Naturalist with the Johnny Appleseed Metro Park District. "So, this is kind of a unique habitat type. Not necessarily something we wanted to have happen, but something we can kind of make the most of. It'll be really fun to watch this as it progresses."
He says the first growing season will be the toughest, but after that, there should be a flourishing environment. Hikers were already seen on the newly re-graded North Trail paths on Friday.
