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Westside Messenger - January 12th, 2020

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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.

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