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PAGE 6 - WESTSIDE MESSENGER - <strong>January</strong> 12, <strong>2020</strong><br />
Club meeting - Lions Club<br />
The Grove City Lions Club meets at<br />
6:45 p.m. the second and fourth<br />
Wednesday of each month at Beautiful<br />
Savior Lutheran Church, 2213 White<br />
Road.<br />
Community Focus<br />
Hiking to help<br />
the environment<br />
www.columbusmessenger.com<br />
WE NEED YOU!<br />
From changing a light bulb to<br />
shoveling snow, we need volunteers<br />
who would be willing to give a little<br />
time to an older member of our<br />
westside community.<br />
For more information call Barbara<br />
Camfield 614-276-8224 ex 5028<br />
By Kristy Zurbrick<br />
Madison Editor<br />
Since its introduction 47 years ago, the Metro Parks Winter<br />
Hike Series has morphed into a massive event.<br />
Thousands of people now show up for the hikes which take<br />
place in <strong>January</strong> and February at 13 of the system’s 19 parks.<br />
Participants are treated to guided and self-guided hikes, hot<br />
chocolate and soup, and the fellowship of like-minded winter<br />
adventurers.<br />
But with all that good stuff comes lots of discarded bowls, spoon<br />
and cups, and carbon emissions from cars carrying those adventurers<br />
to and from the parks.<br />
While Metro Parks is thrilled that so many people have latched<br />
onto the hike series, they also want to be good stewards of the<br />
environment.<br />
“We’re happy to provide the experience, but we also don’t want<br />
to make a mess of this world,” said Jill Snyder, assistant manager<br />
of education and interpretation.<br />
To that end, Metro Parks started a few years ago to encourage<br />
participants to carpool to the hikes and bring their own reusable<br />
mugs and bowls. Hikers also can earn commemorative mugs by<br />
donating five cans of food, five personal hygiene items, or $5 to the<br />
Mid Ohio Food Bank.<br />
This year, the park system is ramping up its conservation<br />
efforts even more.<br />
“We’re really trying to reduce waste from the event,” Snyder<br />
said.<br />
To do that, Metro Parks is using compostable bowls and utensils<br />
where possible in place of styrofoam and plastic. They have<br />
partnered with The Compost Exchange, which will compost refuse<br />
and food waste from the hikes, as well as educate hikers about<br />
composting. In addition to the mugs hikers can earn with food<br />
bank donations, the Friends of the Metro Parks are selling<br />
reusable bowls and spoons.<br />
“We hope to divert a whole lot of trash from the landfill,”<br />
Snyder said.<br />
Metro Parks staffers plan to track just how much waste they<br />
divert.<br />
“If we hit certain goals, we’re going to save the turtles—not sea<br />
turtles, but our own Ohio turtles,” Snyder said.<br />
The idea is to provide better habitat and resources for protection<br />
of turtles, especially box turtles, whose numbers are declining<br />
due to habitat loss and fragmentation. (Turtles are getting hit on<br />
roads, including those within the parks, that bisect their living<br />
areas.) Additionally, a new nature center planned for Blacklick<br />
Woods Metro Park in Reynoldsburg will include an educational<br />
component on turtles.<br />
So, what do turtles have to do with waste reduction?<br />
“Sometimes, it’s hard to get people excited about trash... This<br />
way, we’re saying that if we can get everyone on board with our<br />
conservation efforts, we as a Metro Park district will give back to<br />
protecting the environment,” Snyder said.<br />
This year’s motto for the Winter Hike Series is “Hike to a<br />
Greener Place.” For more information, go to metroparks.net.<br />
Schedule<br />
The 47th Annual Winter Hike Series, presented by Columbus<br />
and Franklin County Metro Parks, runs Jan. 4 - Feb. 22.<br />
Anyone who completes at least seven hikes receives an embroidered<br />
patch. Anyone who completes all 13 hikes and is a paying<br />
member of the Friends of the Metro Parks receives a walking stick<br />
and/or a medallion for the stick. Friends membership is $10 per<br />
year. This year’s medallion pays tribute to the Scioto Audubon<br />
Photo courtesy of John Nixon/Metro Parks<br />
A pair of hikers make their way along a trail at Prairie Oaks Metro<br />
Park during last year’s Winter Hike Series.<br />
Metro Park.<br />
Dates, times, places and distances for each of this year’s<br />
remaining hikes are as follows:<br />
Jan. 12—2 p.m., Prairie Oaks in West Jefferson, 1, 3 or 5 miles,<br />
pets welcome;<br />
Jan. 18—10 a.m., Scioto Audubon, downtown Columbus, 1 or 2<br />
miles, pets welcome;<br />
Jan. 25—10 a.m., Clear Creek in Rockbridge, 1, 3 or 5 miles;<br />
Jan. 26—2 p.m., Inniswood in Westerville, 2 miles;<br />
Feb. 1—10 a.m., Blendon Woods in northeast Columbus, 2 or 4<br />
miles;<br />
Feb. 2—2 p.m., Scioto Grove in Grove City, 1 or 2 miles, pets<br />
welcome;<br />
Feb. 8—10 a.m., Highbanks in Lewis Center, 2.5 or 5 miles;<br />
Feb. 9—2 p.m., Glacier Ridge in Plain City, 2 miles, pets welcome;<br />
Feb. 15—10 a.m., Three Creeks in Groveport, 1, 3 or 5.6 miles,<br />
pets welcome;<br />
Feb. 16—2 p.m., Slate Run in Canal Winchester, 2.5 or 5 miles;<br />
and<br />
Feb. 22—10 a.m., Battelle Darby Creek in Galloway, 2, 4 or 6<br />
miles, pets welcome.<br />
Hikes are free. No registration is required.