Ann Wishart
10-27-08

A mile of beautiful new hiking trail at Newbury Township’s Oberland Park will soon offer hikers a chance to exercise and get back in touch with nature.

Oberland Trail, north of Newbury Local Schools on Auburn Road, consists of two loops. The first is about 1/3 of a mile long and the second loop, more to the east, is about 2/3 of a mile long, according to Judy Barnhart, project manager. The short loop winds through the old sugar bush, said Barnhart, who is on the Newbury Township Park Board.



“A lot of this trail was already in existence,” she said one October afternoon on a tour of the four-foot-wide walkway. The paths, which reveal the native clay where the topsoil, leaves and brush have been cleared away, are topped with several inches of pea-gravel to control mud and erosion.

The longer loop takes a visitor down along the edge of the hill through stately beech and mature maple trees and along a hay field called The Hidden Meadow, Barnhart said. The field is surrounded by woods and is still being harvested by Les Ober, who sold the 88-acre tract to the township several years ago. Basswood trees with their huge, heart-shaped leaves, grow tall and straight in the old woods. Bitternut hickory trees shed their nuts on the path where it snakes part-way down the ravine. A short spur of trail along a slight ridge gives the hiker a view of the topography and of Ober’s maple sap gathering tank. Long-term plans call for an observation deck to be built at the end of the spur where people can sit quietly and watch nature go by, Barnhart said.

“The tank is part of the story of the woods,” she said. “Look at the size of these sugar maples! The more leaves, the better (for sap production).” With their roots planted firmly in the soil the trees not only have trunks six feet or more in diameter, their canopies hover 75 to 100 feet above the forest floor, she estimated. Part of the stipulation of the funding for the trail was that the high canopy not be disturbed. When light gets through to the ground the natural forest environment becomes more vulnerable to invasion by less desirable plants, Barnhart said.

The trail was designed by the park board in conjunction with Mike Kler of Klerco Construction to take advantage of many of the most interesting or beautiful views in the woods, she said.
 
Under his agreement with the township, Ober still taps the sugar maple trees in the early spring to make maple syrup. Strands of tubing string the maples together, waiting for the days to lengthen and the sap to rise again. Most of the tubing is off the trail, Barnhart said, and Ober has equipped the few tubes that must cross the walkway with quick-disconnect couplings so the trails are tubeless in the late spring, summer and fall – the most popular hiking seasons.

Wild turkeys, deer, barred owls, chipmunk and other native animals have been spotted along the trails, she said. Both loops are finished with pea gravel and there are culverts in place to keep drainage water going where it naturally goes.



“The trails follow the contour lines of the land,” Barnhart said. “That should limit erosion here.”

As the trail turns back uphill an occasional apple tree hints at a time when the Ober farm had a productive orchard. Along the edge of the woodland several pieces of deserted farm equipment rust quietly in the brush, mutely telling their own story about the farm’s past.

The trail skirts the open land to the south then meets up again with the short loop under an apple tree and turns to the newly established gravel parking lot.

A total of 88 acres of land was bought from Obers by trustees and a Land Use Committee was formed in 2004, Barnhart said. It was determined that the 20 open acres would be used for recreation. Soccer field and baseball diamonds have been established, with another diamond planned to the east. The remaining 68 acres of woods, wetlands and meadows, besides offering a great hiking location, will also be used by teachers as an outdoor science classroom. Decisions regarding the sports fields are made by the joint school and township recreation board.

Barnhart has spearheaded the funding effort, meeting the requirements of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to retrieve money from a federal grant, stretching it as far as it will go. Many meetings and much research have gone into creating the almost-finished product. Barnhart said she worked with trustees to qualify for the grants and the township has also invested in the project.

After all the groundwork was laid, bids for the work went out in March 2008, proposals from contractors came in a month later and bids were awarded by trustees in May. A park board was formed in April by trustees Glen Quigley, Bob Fiorito and Bill Majeski. Overall, the trail has cost $22,400, she said, and more projects are under discussion, such as a shelter at the trail head. The project has been paid for with 75 percent coming from the grant and 25 percent matching funds from the trustees.

As government projects go, the trail has moved along fairly quickly, though Barnhart may not feel that way.

“It seemed like forever,” she said, but the wait – and the result – were worthwhile. “I think we got a lot of trail for the money,” she added.