ASHLAND — Ashland County Parks District broke ground Tuesday on two miles of paved trails surrounding the Davy McClure Outdoor Education Center.
The trail will go around the Tom Kruse Wildlife Conservation Park and include a boardwalk across the pond near the education center. The center is located at 748 County Road 1754 in Ashland.
The paved trail will also include an overlook of a valley field where animals like to gather, Ashland County Park District Director Eric Schneider said.
The trails are funded through $1.2 million from the State Capital Improvement Fund and the Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation Program.
Those grants will also fund the construction of a new fishing pier, selective reforestation and construction of a nature playscape.
Nature playscapes are play areas that incorporate natural elements such as rocks and wooden structures, instead of a plastic playground. Schneider said the exact elements are still being decided.
Schneider said most of the trail will be paved by winter. The boardwalk will be installed in the spring, which should wrap up the project, Schneider said.
“I think people [who visit] Freer Field wouldn’t mind coming out here because it’s going to be a little bit of a longer trail, so you get people who will enjoy longer distances. And then I think we’ll also be pulling people from Jeromesville, who don’t want to go all the way into the city,” Schneider said.
Schneider said the trail will eventually connect to a paved trail in Byers Woods, which will expand the existing one-mile trail to a three-mile trail. The connected trails at Byers Woods and Tom Kruse Park would total five miles.
“The way paved trails have been so successful for us, it just makes sense to keep going,” Schneider said.
