ASHLAND — A new project along the Mohican River aims to improve the ability to locate visitors in need for local law enforcement and emergency responders.
Miranda Burrell, executive director and lone employee of the Mohican-Loudonville Visitors Bureau, recently highlighted a project the bureau is collaborating on with local law enforcement to enhance safety along the river.
“When people are going down the river, one of the biggest issues is they call in for some sort of emergency service and they (emergency responders) can’t find them,” Burrell told the Ashland County Board of Commissioners on April 30.
The board expressed its support of the project.
Burrell said she plans to have signs placed every half mile along a 20-mile stretch of the river, designating what county folks are currently in along with a designated identifying number.
“All law enforcement is going to be supplied with a map of where these points are located and the best way to access each of these points,” the executive director said.
The bureau plans to front the cost of the project, Burrell said, but is hoping to work with local canoe liveries to help cover the initiative. No estimated cost was available at the time of publication.
Burrell is currently collecting memorandums of understanding from property owners along the planned stretch of river where the signs will be placed.
“We are putting them on trees instead of posts so they don’t get washed out,” she said. “The signs will be blue, reflective and about 12 by 18 inches.”
Ashland County Sheriff Kurt Schneider said his office has been working with Burrell, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Loudonville police, among others, to discuss the planned signage project.
“Miranda (Burrell) kind of spearheaded this whole project, which we thought was a wonderful idea,” Schneider said. “It will certainly be a help for folks when we need to get a hold of folks down there for emergencies.
“We’ll have a better location of where they’re at so we can get to them a lot quicker,” the sheriff said.
