Blue Heron Reserve

Blue Heron Reserve. 2134 Country Road 260, Vickery OH 43464. , Blue Heron Reserve is located on County Road 260 at U.S. Route 6, and encompasses 160 acres. The property was acquired in 1986 by a donation from The Nature Conservancy and a federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant., This park has unique habitats including a restored wetland, a fen, a wet woods, and a natural spring. The fen is a type of wetland, or peatland, that is created by an upwelling of groundwater. The groundwater in the fen and the natural spring are part of a system of aquifers in the area that likely connect with other springs like Cold Creek, and the Blue Hole in Castalia., Over the years many different items have been found in the park, including a tooth from a giant ground sloth, an extinct species that stood over 20 feet tall! Blue Heron Reserve, as its name suggests, is a great location for birding, and is part of the Lake Erie Birding Trail. The trail covers the entire Ohio shoreline area, and contains 88 sites., A one-mile boardwalk loop made of recycled plastic lumber starts at the gravel parking lot for Blue Heron, and was made possible by a grant from OSS Joint Solid Waste District and the ODNR Nature Works Program. The first section of the boardwalk was constructed in 1993, and changes have been made since then. Other trails loop through the wetlands and give access to the fen.