Western Wildlife Corridor’s mission is to protect the scenic beauty and natural resources of the Ohio River Valley through direct land protection and through the promotion of responsible land use.
Green space enhances the quality of life for people in the community by helping to remove pollutants from the air and water as well as increasing property values of land near green belts. To fulfill our mission, WWC has worked since 1992 to preserve and restore the greenway corridor of wooded hillsides along the Ohio River from the Mill Creek near downtown Cincinnati to the Great Miami River bordering Indiana…
It’s Finally Here-Tomorrow, April 27th is our 9th Annual Flower-A-Thon!
“The Earth laughs in flowers.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Join our celebration of Spring as WWC presents the 9th annual Flower-a-thon on Saturday, April 27th. This years “wildflower quest” includes a flexible menu of nature walks, food and fun for the whole family. Our veteran wildflower enthusiasts will guide you to woodland sites adrift with native species including Shooting star, Drooping trillium, Blue-eyed Mary and many others. This is also an excellent opportunity for you to see some of the many WWC nature preserves.
Join us at 8 a.m. for a Panera bagel breakfast at Embshoff Park and a wildflower walk. We will be then taking wildflower hunting walks at other locations iincluding our beautiful Delshire Preserve. A 1 p.m. walk on “Bender Mountain” trail will give you an opportunity to observe, not only beautiful native wildflowers, but also panaoramic views of the Ohio River Valley and Kentucky hillsides. After meeting on Bender Road, we will also hike at other great locations in the afternoon.
To round out the day please join us at EarthConnection, on the campus of Mount St. Joseph College, at 5 p.m. to enjoy a lasagna buffet . A wildflower presentation will be given by Denis Conover, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you on April 27th!
A $15 fee pays for the breakfast and the evening dinner.
This is our biggest fund raiser of the year! Donations will enable us to continue our important mission to purchase, preserve and protect precious hillside habitat along the Ohio River now, and for future generations. For more information on this event (e.g., reservations, donations and accessibility) please call: 513-922-2104.
For more information on our WWC mission, project
s and activities please visit our website: www.westernwildlifecorridor.org
7th Annual Wildflower Festival a Success
Here is a pictorial account of nature loving families enjoying flowers, food and fun at the Western Wildlife Corridors Wildflower Festival on April 6th at the College of Mount Saint Joseph on the Ohio.
Delshire Hike April 13, 2013
An afternoon hike in the Delshire Preserve treated wildflower enthusiasts with bounteous, beautiful, buds and blooms!
Habitat Restoration At Shady Lane Preserve this Saturday- Help us whack the wicked weed…
Western Wildlife Corridor project
The next habitat restoration project of the year will be at the Shady Lane preserve this coming Saturday, April 20, from 9am to noon. For this project we will meet at the wide grassy area opposite the house at 3005 Shady Lane, .6 mile from River Road (this is the house that has two deer statues in the front yard). We can park there and also on Aston Lakes Dr. which goes off Shady Lane a little past 3005 Shady Lane and on your left as you’re coming from River Road.
At this project we will clear the cursed Amur honeysuckle! Bring work gloves, plenty of water and wear work clothes and work shoes.
Please call me at 513 922 2104 for additional information.
Here are the rest of the projects and other events we have scheduled this spring, for your future enjoyment! Watch your emails for details.
April 27, half day or all day
Eighth Annual Flower-a-thon. Great chance to hike the corridor.
May 4, 9 am to noon
Habitat restoration
Beekley Preserve
May 18, 9 am to noon
Habitat restoration
Voss Preserve
June 8, 9 am to noon
Habitat restoration
Anders Court Preserve
June 15, 9 am to noon
Habitat restoration
Buckeye Trace Preserve
Mark your Calendars-9th Annual Flower-a-thon April 27th!
“The Earth laughs in flowers.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Join our celebration of Spring as WWC presents the 9th annual Flower-a-thon on Saturday, April 27th. This years “wildflower quest” includes a flexible menu of nature walks, food and fun for the whole family. Our veteran wildflower enthusiasts will guide you to woodland sites adrift with native species including Shooting star, Drooping trillium, Blue-eyed Mary and many others. This is also an excellent opportunity for you to see some of the many WWC nature preserves.
Join us at 8 a.m. for a Panera bagel breakfast at Embshoff Park and a wildflower walk. We will be then taking wildflower hunting walks at other locations iincluding our beautiful Delshire Preserve. A 1 p.m. walk on “Bender Mountain” trail will give you an opportunity to observe, not only beautiful native wildflowers, but also panaoramic views of the Ohio River Valley and Kentucky hillsides. After meeting on Bender Road, we will also hike at other great locations in the afternoon.
To round out the day please join us at EarthConnection, on the campus of Mount St. Joseph College, at 5 p.m. to enjoy a lasagna buffet . A wildflower presentation will be given by Denis Conover, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you on April 27th!
A $15 fee pays for the breakfast and the evening dinner.
This is our biggest fund raiser of the year! Donations will enable us to continue our important mission to purchase, preserve and protect precious hillside habitat along the Ohio River now, and for future generations. For more information on this event (e.g., reservations, donations and accessibility) please call: 513-922-2104.
For more information on our WWC mission, project
s and activities please visit our website: www.westernwildlifecorridor.org
Great News! The Wildflower Festival is This Friday…
Read All About It! April 5th Wildflower Festival Article in Delhi Press
Spring has sprung and to celebrate the Western Wildlife Corridor is teaming up with the College of Mount St. Joseph to host the seventh annual Wildflower Festival 6-9 p.m. Friday, April 5, at the college gymnasium.
Admission is free to the festival and there will be many activities for children and adults to enjoy, Western Wildlife Corridor President Tim Sisson said.
“It’s a great opportunity to learn the resources of the region,” he said. “There will be native plants and wildflowers for sale, information about how to be energy efficient, raffles, a painting class, crafts, pottery and activities for kids.”
Western Wildlife Corridor artist Sally Anderson will demonstrate how to paint wildflowers and a chipmunk. The class is free, but people should register before the festival.
Fundraising chairwoman and Sisson’s sister Rebecca said there will be 45 vendors and food can be bought in the college’s food court.
“This year we’re incorporating more craft vendors,” she said. “There will be natural jewelry, butterfly wing jewelry, silk prints and sculptures.”
Tim Sisson said the Western Wildlife Corridor has a good relationship with the college and their teamwork has helped make the event successful. This is the second year they’ve had the event at the College of Mount St. Joseph.
“We started out in the Delhi Lodge and then we moved to the senior center and then that became too small, we outgrew it, and we moved over to the college,” he said.
Involved with the Wildflower Festival is the College of Mount St. Joseph’s Environmental Action Committee.
“The Environmental Action Committee seeks out and welcomes partnerships, across the campus and within the community, because, most simply, we are all in this together,” committee member Bill Lonneman said. “If we’ve learned anything from both our faith traditions and the ecology movement it is that all life is interconnected and the best way to ensure a thriving environment is to recognize that fact and work together for the common good of all.”
In the meantime, Tim Sisson said the Western Wildlife Corridor is hard at work to make sure the Wildflower Festival is a success.
“We’re expecting a big crowd,” he said.
The group is still accepting vendors for the festival. Vendors should have a green or natural product or something nature oriented, Rebecca Sisson said. Fees are $25 for exhibitors, with a suggested donation of 10 percent of the proceeds to Western Wildlife Corridor. For more information or to sign up, call Rebecca Sisson at (859) 512-1983 or email rsisson654@zoomtown.com.
To register for the free painting class, call 353-2708. Visit www.westernwildlifecorridor.orgfor information about the festival and the Western Wildlife Corridor’s upcoming events.
New Property Acquired-Buckeye Trace in Sayler Park
Due to the dogged determination of our fearless leader we now own the Buckeye Trace Property! Read about the acquisition of this great property in this Delhi Press story
:
The Western Wildlife Corridor has secured its 10th property with the purchase of 15.7 acres at 6446 Hillside Avenue in Sayler Park.
The nonprofit, which has a mission to preserve greenspace in the Ohio River valley, is naming the site Buckeye Trace.
“We’ve been eying this land since 2006,” Western Wildlife Corridor President Tim Sisson said. “There’s a heavily wooded forest with nice mature trees and a meadow.”
He said that the group tried to purchase the land when it was for sale in 2006 but before they could get money together for an offer, it sold. The land went back up for sale last fall.
The wildlife corridor paid $80,000 for the land, $59,000 of which they secured through a Clean Ohio Conservation Grant and the Hamilton County Park District paid $5,000 to purchase a conservation easement. The remaining $16,000 came from donations to the corridor’s land acquisition fund and membership money, Sisson said.
Wildlife Corridor board member John Klein said it was important to secure grants and other funding for the property.
“It’s a way to stretch our budget dollars,” he said.
The former property owners installed a gravel driveway through the center of the property which Sisson said the wildlife corridor will use as a hiking trail. He added that they will likely build a trail off that drive and loop it back to make a longer trail.
But before they can build trails, the wildlife corridor has some cleaning up to do.
“It’s important to return the property to a real natural state,” he said. “Honeysuckle eliminates other plants and produces a chemical that inhibits growth. We’re going to go in and clear the honeysuckle out, garlic mustard and other invasive alien plant species.”
Sisson said he will be enlisting the help of volunteers to clean up the site.
“We’re an all-volunteer organization. Even I’m a volunteer,” he said. “Over the last few years we’ve had more than 100 people volunteering to maintain our preserves.”
Klein said that the volunteer base stays active throughout the year.
“We really get involved and get our hands dirty,” he said. “Every week we clear unwanted plants from our preserves for habitat restoration.”
Sisson said he is happy that the organization can help preserve so many sites.
“We have so much to offer,” he said. “Our sites are open to the public for hiking, birding and for people to take photos. This really fulfills our mission of preserving greenspace.”
For more information about the wildlife corridor, visit www.westernwildlifecorridor.org or call 921-9453.
If you have Cabin Fever-the Wildflower Festival on April 5th is the Cure!
Click for Delhi Press Article in Delhi Press
Throw off those winter doldrums and join us at the 7th Annual WWC Wildflower Festival on April 5th from 6-9 p.m.in the gymnasium at the College of Mount Saint Joseph.
This “new and improved” Western Wildlife Corridor event celebrates the joys of Spring and has it all going on:
*More vendors, with a bigger selection of native plants, hand-crafted items and nature organizations to check out.
*You’ll learn how to attract butterflies to your garden and be able to purchase flowers and plants that will entice these beauties to your yard.
*We’ll also offer a variety of native wildflowers for your home garden to create a woodland paradise for those hard to grow shady areas.
*For the children there will be a variety of fun games, hands on crafts and other activities to stimulate your child’s interest in the natural world.
*To bring out your inner artist you can learn how to paint wildflowers and cute chipmunks at a a free watercolor workshop taught by our artist-in-residence, Sally Sisson Anderson.
*Learn everything you ever wanted to know about chipmunks, but were afraid to ask, at a special lecture by John Klein, a retired Land Manager for the Hamilton County Parks System
The Wildflower Festival will again be held at our bigger and better venue at the College of Mount St. Joseph in the Gymnasium. Ample parking will be provided nearby. The college is at the junction of Neeb and Delhi Roads in Delhi Township.
Won’t you join us for what promises to be our best Wildflower Festival ever!
Spring 2013 Newsletter
To View Newsletter-Click Here: newsletterSpring2013
Western Wildlife Corridor Announces Our 9th Annual “Flower-a-thon” April 27th
“
“The Earth laughs in flowers.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Join our celebration of Spring as WWC presents the 9th annual Flower-a-thon on Saturday, April 27th. This years “wildflower quest” includes a flexible menu of nature walks, food and fun for the whole family. Our veteran wildflower enthusiasts will guide you to woodland sites adrift with native species including Shooting star, Drooping trillium, Blue-eyed Mary and many others. This is also an excellent opportunity for you to see some of the many WWC nature preserves.
Join us at 8 a.m. for a Panera bagel breakfast at Embshoff Park and a wildflower walk. We will be then taking wildflower hunting walks at other locations iincluding our beautiful Delshire Preserve. A 1 p.m. walk on “Bender Mountain” trail will give you an opportunity to observe, not only beautiful native wildflowers, but also panaoramic views of the Ohio River Valley and Kentucky hillsides. After meeting on Bender Road, we will also hike at other great locations in the afternoon.
To round out the day please join us at EarthConnection, on the campus of Mount St. Joseph College, at 5 p.m. to enjoy a lasagna buffet . A wildflower presentation will be given by Denis Conover, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you on April 27th!
A $15 fee pays for the breakfast and the evening dinner. This is our biggest fund raiser of the year! Donations will enable us to continue our important mission to purchase, preserve and protect precious hillside habitat along the Ohio River now, and for future generations. For more information on this event (e.g., reservations, donations and accessibility) please call: 513-922-2104.
For more information on our WWC mission, projects and activities please visit our website: www.westernwildlifecorridor.org
Winter Wonderland in The Delshire Preserve
The 13.4 acre Delshire Preserve was created in 1996 and is owned by the Western Wildlife Corridor. Read about how this preserve came to be here
The Delshire Preserve is bound by Cloverhill Terrace on the North, Hillside Ave. on the south, the cul-de-sacs of Eagle Point, Redstar and Fairdale on the East and Fiest Manor, Gertrude Rose and Delhi Swim Club on the West. The terrain is hilly with multiple small creek valleys with grade variation from approximately 580′ – 855′ above sea level. The preserve is primarily deciduous growth, and has a large expanse of perennial Bluebell Flowers on the eastern slope of the creek that dissects the property. The Delshire Preserve is home to an approximately 200 year old Burr Oak on western slope. Deer are a common sight on the property.
Primary access to the property is on the north side of Hillside Ave approximately 0.5 miles west of the intersection of Hillside and River Rd.
Harbinger of Spring!
I found this wildflower blooming at the Beekley Preserve this past Thursday – January 17!
BTW, as I type this two Red Shouldered Hawks are circling over my yard. Maybe they’ll nest here as they did a few years ago…Tim Sisson, President WWC
Western Wildlife Corridor monitoring hike
The weather is going to be beautiful, so I hope you can join us for a hike this Saturday (January 19) on Bender Mt. This will be a little different from our usual hike. Since its pretty chilly in the morning now, were going to try an afternoon hike.
Since we started our all out war on vine honeysuckle last summer, weve eliminated 90 to 95% of it from the mountain. However, there are some remnants hiding out there. Saturday I plan on taking a few squirters to treat them as we hike by (not cutting, well just spray the leaves).
Well meet at the WWC sign on the east side of Bender Road a quarter mile up from Hillside Ave. at 2pm and hike for an hour or two. I plan on hiking to the top of the mt., so it will be strenuous. The up side is that well see a really splendid forest and great view.
Please call me at 513 922 2104 for additional information.
New Buckeye Trace Property!
PRESIDENT’S JOURNAL
By Tim Sisson
After six years of trying, Western Wildlife Corridor has signed an agreement to buy an
absolutely gorgeous property in Sayler Park. This property is exactly the kind of land
that we were founded to protect; 15.7 acres of mature forest in the Ohio River valley. It
sits on the hillside above Hillside Avenue a bit north of Rapid Run Road.
We are pleased to share artwork by Sally Sisson Anderson, our Artist in Residence.
This print will be available during the raffle at the Wildflower Festival this year scheduled for Friday, April 5th from 6-9pm at College of Mount St. Joseph. Save the date!!!
Western Wildlife Corridor-20 Years and Growing
Footprints in the Snow-Bender Mountain
It’s always interesting to see what’s been wandering around on Bender Mountain, and today was no exception. Right away, as I walked down the slope from Bender Road on the Eagle Scout trail, I could see that a lot of deer had been out and about (as you can see from the pictures). Tracks further along showed that they had hiked on long stretches of the trail going up to the ridgetop; they obviously appreciate our trail making efforts! There were no human footprints besides mine on the Eagle Scout trail, but along with the deer there were squirrel and mouse and bird tracks aplenty.
On the Ridge trail it was a different story. A lot of humans with big dogs had traveled there. I also found the tracks of a fox as it crossed and sometimes hiked along the Ridge trail. I spotted three deer bedded down on the slope below the trail. I didn’t mean to disturb them, but they got up and moved along when they saw me.
I could see from the tracks that humans had taken the south Paw Paw Gap trail too – along with more deer.
As I headed down the north Paw Paw Gap trail I left the hikers behind. No other animal, human or otherwise, had taken it down from the ridge. Further down this trail and along the slope above Rapid Run Creek, I found the tracks again of deer and squirrels that had been wandering there.
Sometimes when we hike in our nature preserves it seems that we’re the only ones who visit them – because there are no signs of other travelers. On a day after a snowfall, however, it becomes obvious that many enjoy our forests. Tim Sisson
2012 Wildflower Festival Recap
Western Wildlife Corridor had its annual Wildflower Festival on April 13, and what a great success it was. Hundreds of people strolled along the isles packed with informational displays on the environment as well as native plants and nature related crafts for sale. Of course the children made a bee-line for the activities designed for them.
Forest Inventory Data for Bender Mountain
Did you catch the article on Forest Inventory in the latest Winter Edition of the Steward newsletter? If not, check it out here. Below, you’ll find some supplementary information to accompany Matt Fitzpatrick’s informative article;