There was a time when winter in the Metro Parks meant sipping hot chocolate while warming yourself at the fire before taking another spin around the skating area. But times have changed. Climate has changed. People have changed. At Summit Metro Parks (SMP), we are keeping pace with our changing world. Human actions, including the continued burning of fossil fuels, have turned our snowy winters into balmy rains with intermittent freezes and thaws. You cannot have winter sports without winter, and the way the public is engaging with the parks is changing. For the past decade, sledding has been reduced to a few good days associated with temporary snow cover. Snow shoeing and cross-country skiing are almost nonexistent. And ice skating is nearly impossible as our skate areas simply no longer freeze enough to provide more than a few days of access.
So, we change. And we change smart. We change in a way that reflects our mission.
This change is best seen in the case of the (former) skating pond at the Big Bend Area of Sand Run Metro Park (Akron), which was constructed decades ago under the leadership of Harold Wagner, the park district’s first director. For generations, Big Bend was filled with ice skaters flying across the frozen 2-acre court. In summer, the area was drained and mowed to provide optimal conditions for when it would be refilled come November.
In response to climate change, SMP has begun to return some areas back to natural habitats. In 2021, we decided to leave water in the skate area at Big Bend over the summer to see what would happen. Almost immediately, the 2-acre area transitioned into a thriving wetland habitat. Dragonflies were the first to discover it, hundreds of them buzzing around the edges as they hunted or engaged in courtship and mating. Other insects including diving beetles, mayflies and water striders swiftly moved in. Amphibians were quick to follow with spring peepers, green frogs, American toads, and gray tree frogs now being confirmed residents of the newly created habitat. Where people once glided over the ice, tree swallows now soar above the water feeding on some of the aforementioned insects.
In 2024, SMP invited the public to participate in a BioBlitz – an observation survey of the area – to document the wildlife utilizing the newly formed wetland. As of June 2024, we had documented 158 plant and wildlife species that now call this area home. Of particular note is the presence of 12 species of damselflies and dragonflies, several turtles including snapper and painted turtles, and water-dependent bird species like spotted sandpiper, kingfisher, mallard, wood duck, hooded mergansers and pie-billed grebes. Some of these birds, like hooded merganser, are utilizing the wetland as a migratory stopover, while others, like wood duck, are year-round residents.
These actions illustrate how SMP manages land to adapt to our changing climate. However, it is also an example of how we can mitigate the effects of greenhouse gases and climate change. Not only do we now burn fewer fossil fuels to maintain the former skate area, the newly formed wetland is a carbon sponge. One study by The Conservation Fund found that one acre of wetlands can sequester between 81 and 216 tons of carbon per year The average American carbon footprint is about 16 tons per year, so the newly formed Big Bend Wetland may offset the entire annual carbon footprint of 10 to 27 Americans every year.
The BioBlitz at Big Bend is still ongoing via the iNaturalist app. To find out how you can contribute to this body of knowledge, download the iNaturalist phone app and learn more on our website.
For more stories like this, check out Green Islands magazine, a bi-monthly publication from Summit Metro Parks. Summit County residents can sign up to receive the publication at home free of charge.