Black Swamp Conservancy donates property to County Park District

FREMONT – Black Swamp Conservancy has donated its Redhorse Bend property to the Sandusky County Park District for use as a public park.

The 93-acre property is located along the Sandusky River north of Fremont and features over a mile of river frontage. The land, which was frequently flooded, was purchased by the Conservancy in 2015 with funding from the Clean Ohio Conservation Fund.

“Our staff have walked past this property for years and couldn’t help but notice how often it flooded. This stretch of the Sandusky River is heavily influenced by Lake Erie, and since the farmland was not productive due to flooding, we knew it would be the perfect place to improve water quality,” said Rob Krain, executive director of the Black Swamp Conservancy. .

The Conservancy recently completed a large-scale restoration of this property with funding from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources through the H2Ohio program.

Today, formerly flooded farmland contains a variety of natural habitats, including floodplains and functioning wetlands, which help filter phosphorus and other harmful pollutants from lakes and rivers.

A pollinator meadow has also been established in the drier parts of the property.

Redhorse Bend is the second property the reservation has donated to the Sandusky County Park District in recent years as part of this initiative to expand public access to the river. River Cliff Park, a former golf course, was purchased by the reserve and donated to the Park District in 2017. The Park District recently moved its headquarters to this property.

Together, these properties complete the City of Fremont with two new public parks, collectively opening up more than two miles of natural river access along the Sandusky River. The initiative represents a gift of more than $3 million to the community in land value and ecological improvements made through conservation.