Mill Creek Metro Parks' Swamp

Midst the Federal government spending spree, Ohio is offering for your consideration, its own version of pork. Mill Creek Metro Parks is the crown jewel of Mahoning County. I can’t think of a person who has a bad thing to say about it. It is stunning, beautiful…there are not enough superlatives to describe it. The trustees have made an effort to expand it from its core into other areas of Mahoning County to be enjoyed by all taxpayers. It is at the top of the list of why people who leave the area want to move back.

But lately the caretakers of Mill Creek Park have been smitten by wetlands. Instead of dredging the largest of the three lakes located within its boundaries, it left half of it go to “wetlands”, destroying its boating facility, eliminating ice skating on the lake, and making an overall mess of an area that used to be known as the “new boat docks”. In that circumstance, however, it was an issue of having to spend a whole lot of money to fix the lake, or a little bit of money to let it go to wetlands. They made the right decision.

Recently the park system purchased 44 acres in Boardman Township on Western Reserve Road. The acreage is located on the old sod farm that lined Mill Creek on either side. It was a huge expanse of beautiful green grass for most of my lifetime. The cost to Mill Creek Metro Parks was 2.6 million dollars. It is adjacent to areas which the park designates as existing wetlands. Now the Ohio EPA is providing a grant in the amount of $247,645.00 to convert the new land acquisition, adjacent to an existing wetland, into a new wetland identical to its neighbor. We will have just one, big happy wetland.

Folks, it’s a swamp. No matter how you slice and dice it…no matter how you ecologically justify it…no matter how much you try to dress it up…it is a swamp. Do we really need to spend $247,645.00 of taxpayer money for a swamp? More to the point, if they just left it alone, since it is adjacent to an existing swamp, wouldn’t it eventually return to its natural state as a swamp itself over a period of time?

People who are into this stuff tend to go over the top. Let it go. The money could be better spent in a thousand different ways. But since we are dealing with the government, and they are not spending their money, but your money, you have just bought yourself a swamp.

If you think this is bad…just wait. By the time the Feds get done with the “stimulus” package and the “omnibus spending bill,” they might just make this swamp look like a something worthwhile. We are in trouble. It is only a small example of things to come.