Editor’s Note: In the coming weeks, Ashland Source will highlight some of the few places that remain open to the public — the Ashland County Parks District’s 18 parks. So long as individuals maintain appropriate social distancing, people may enjoy the outdoors, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a March press conference.
ASHLAND — The name gives it away: Hurdle Waterfowl Park is perhaps the best of Ashland County Park District’s 18 parks to spot ducks and geese.Â
The 66-acre park, located at 297 Township Road 581 in Sullivan, was designed by its former owners to attract waterfowl.
Prior to becoming a park in 2011, the Hurdle family used the property as a retreat, where they could enjoy watching wildlife. They intentionally created a space to attract ducks and geese. The family added two islands in the center of a large lake as a “protected area” for waterfowl to rest, Ashland County Park District (ACPD) director Stephanie Featheringill said.
The family later provided the local matching funds needed to pair with a Clean Ohio grant, allowing the ACPD to acquire the property.Â
Since then, the public can enjoy the park’s approximately two miles of hiking trails and numerous ponds. There’s a 4.5-acre fishing pond, a 12-acre shallow pond complex and a 2.5-acre duck pond.
An 65-foot observation tower once could be climbed and served as an outlook, but it is currently closed for maintenance.Â
Last year, the ACPD added a second parking lot to offer easy access to one of the fishing ponds and began converting a corn crib into a pavilion, too. The corn crib’s doors and inner walls were removed and a concrete floor was added. A few months ago, the project was finished with the addition of picnic tables.
In the near future, the ACPD plans to replace the boardwalks leading to the islands at the center of one of the ponds. This will be made possible through a donation from Adrian Bauer.
“We want to make them wider, so we can use them to get equipment out to the islands, too,” Featheringill said.Â
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