600 trees planted at Shoup Mill Conservation Area

Some of the work crew on Saturday at Shoup Mill Conservation Area

On Saturday 600 trees were planted at the Shoup Mill Conservation Area along the Stillwater River.  Thanks to the outstanding leadership of the volunteer leaders it went smoothly and quickly.  These folks are amazing and very dedicated as are the "regular" volunteers who came.  This planting was one of many work sites for Adopt a Park Day.  Over 50 volunteers socked the trees in these trees in under 3 hours and installed the tree shelters.  The trees were planted in what was a cornfield on this recently purchased piece of land.  Trees planted were bur, white, swamp white, and red oaks, flowering dogwood, and American Elm.  The elms were raised from seed at Cox Arboretum, and came from 6 large elms in Montgomery County that do not show signs of Dutch Elm Disease.  One of the trees was "Elmer", the huge elm just south of the planting site.

I might as well tell the story of this Conservation Area, because it is interesting.  The Shoup Mill Conservation Area is 67 acres in size and is located along the Stillwater River in north Dayton and Harrison Township. This land used to be part of a recreational park for the employees of Frigidaire.  It featured a running track, ballfields and picnic grounds.  It was later sold to be developed as an industrial park.  .  However, restrictions were put on the portion of the land adjacent to the river that mandated that it be preserved as open space. It became a popular place to dump all manner of trash and junk for many years, and a haven for off-road trucks to churn up the mud.  In 1992 the Park District first approached the developer marketing the property about buying the river corridor.  We could not agree on the price for the property and nothing happened.  I called them every year after that and every year it was the same story.  Finally, in 2009, after 17 years, we agreed on a price.  An application was written to the Clean Ohio Program to cover 75% of the purchase price.  It also covered this percentage of the cost to remove honeysuckle, giant piles of trash and junk, and install an access lane.