Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District plans $11 million in improvements to four parks
NEW PHILADELPHIA ‒ The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) will be investing more than $11 million to make improvements at four of its parks in east central Ohio during 2024.
The agency has spent around $160 million on projects throughout the 18-county district over the past decade, with most of that money coming from oil and gas revenue. Those counties are Ashland, Belmont, Carroll, Coshocton, Guernsey, Harrison, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Richland, Stark, Summit, Tuscarawas, Washington and Wayne.
At Seneca Lake in Guernsey County, a new splashpad and water slid is planned, at a cost of $1.8 million. "That will be open this season, so this will be a place to take the kids and play," Lautenschleger said.
A storybook trail and sports courts are also planned for the park.
The conservancy district is working with IMC Solar in St. Clairsville to help design solar projects across the district. Butler said the MWCD has 15 projects at six parks that will be installed this year at a cost of $2.7 million. With these projects, the district will be able to generate about 15% of its electric load through solar.
Some of the projects will be out of sight of the general public, but others will be used for educational projects in the community, he said.
Atwood Lake Park
At Atwood Lake Park, located in Tuscarawas and Carroll counties, the MWCD is spending $1,551,600 to renovate the aging activity center. It will be climate-controlled and have new restrooms. The camp store will also get a new look. The renovations are expected to be done this year.
"It was really tough for people to use," said Craig Butler, the conservancy district's executive director. "It was not really functional. It wasn't climate controlled, air conditioned. The restrooms were not really super functional, and the nature center that we have really wasn't functional either. Rather than tear the building down, because we thought it had some good bones to it, we renovated it."
He said it will shine as "the centerpiece of Atwood."
The Atwood Camp Store, operated by Kathy Stotzer of Kathy's Cookies, Candies & Catering, is heavily used by patrons of the park, he noted. Services available there include catering, cookies, candies, baked goods, desserts, seasonal camping meals and camping supplies. Stotzer is famous for her Friday fish fries during the summer.
Other projects at the park include improving the ramp at Marina West and developing a new cottage site on the southeast side of the lake, west of Dellroy. The MWCD has 1,200 cottage sites around the district, and they're all taken. "There is a huge demand for more," Butler said.
Other district projects
At Tappan Lake, in Harrison County, the MWCD is spending $3.6 million to build a new welcome center at the park on the south side of the lake. It will be of timber frame construction and will look similar to the welcome center at Atwood. In addition, the district is planning to build basketball courts, pickleball courts and a pump track for bicycling.
A wastewater treatment plant and a water treatment plant are planned for Clendening Lake, also in Harrison County, according to Chief of Engineering David Lautenschleger. Those two projects will have a combined cost of around $3.7 million.
A new marina is in the design stage, and the MWCD will be breaking ground for it soon, he said. The current marina at Clendening is in an old house.
The conservancy district is going to exercise caution in building the new structure.
"That house, as ugly as it is and it needs to be replaced, it's home to the largest population in Ohio of a certain type of bat," Butler said. "When we take down that marina, we're going to figure out how we preserve parts of it so that the bats can stay. We want to give them a nice, happy home. So, we're thinking about how we build a bat habitat out there."
Joseph Johnson, an ecologist and assistant professor of information technology at the University of Cincinnati, estimates that between 500 and 1,000 little brown bats use the marina as a summer roost. They are an endangered species in Ohio because of a fungal disease, called white-nose syndrome, brought into the U.S. from Europe. It has been killing the species since 2006, reducing its population by approximately 95%, according to the University of Cincinnati.
Oil and gas revenue
Bonuses and royalties from oil and gas wells around the district have helped pay for these projects, Butler said. The district has about 100 wells on its property, generating around $200 million in revenue in the past decade or so.
"We continue to have record revenues from our activities in recreation, camping and such. But our revenues from oil and gas continue to be substantial," he said.
Improvements at MWCD parks have helped boost attendance, which is at more than 5 million people, Butler said.
He noted a study by Cleveland State University has shown that spending on its projects has had a $1 billion impact on the 18 counties in the district.
"We're pretty proud of that number. We hire a lot of local contractors and most of them are within the district. We thought that number would be significant, but not that significant," Butler said.
Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: MWCD plans improvements at Atwood, Tappan, Clendening and Seneca lakes
