Parks & Recreation

January 22, 2015 by Staff Report

GEAUGA PARK DISTRICT

For more information, contact the park district at 440-286-9516 or visit www.geaugaparkdistrict.org.

A Hidden Gem

From the comfort of your seat at the cozy West Woods Nature Center, join Joe and Betty Koelliker and Jim Bissell, curator of botany at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, for an illustrated tour of this hidden Geauga County gem.

A Visit to Koelliker Fen takes place Jan. 25 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. at The West Woods Nature Center, 9465 Kinsman Road in Russell Township.

Geauga County is home to fens and bogs, which are fragile wetland relics of the last Ice Age and living museums of rare plants and animals. Distinct plant communities include rare orchids, star-flowered Solomon’s seal and poison sumac, as well as rare animals like the cloudy arches moth; a state record are able to survive only in the conditions unique to this treasure.

Koelliker Fen in Munson Township is part of the museum’s extensive Natural Areas Program. Joe and Betty Koelliker found the property and the fen in 1960.

Visitors to this program may also plan to make it an afternoon by visiting the new Return to the Ice Age exhibit component at The West Woods Nature Center and traveling to Peru during the preceding Travelogue: Peru – From the Amazon Voyage to the Peaks of Machu Picchu at 2 p.m., same location.

Registration is not required for this all ages program.