DAYTON’ S NEWEST WETLAND IS WAITING TO BE EXPLORED
Ceremony to be held Thursday to officially open new Fairborn park.
GreeneCounty Parks FAIRBORN— and Trails director Jon Dobney said the area’s newest fen is “unique, and simply gorgeous.”
Situated and somewhat hidden right off Byron Road in Fairborn, Pearl’s Fen will be ceremoniously open to the public following an online ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. Thursday though people arewelcometo visit before then. The ceremony will be broadcast Live on the park system’s Facebook page and will feature a guided tour of the fen — or wetlands — by Dave Nolin, Beaver Creek Wetlands Association president.
“That thing was his (Dave’s) baby and Imean, it is beautiful,” said Dobney. “The prairie grasses that are blooming out there — it is just gorgeous.”
In addition to its aesthetic qualities it offers, Pearl’s Fen, named for the late owner of the land, extends the distance hikers can explorewhen visiting the nearby OakesQuarry Park at 1267EXenia Drive in Fairborn.
When walking Pearl’s boardwalk, people willfindanother trail that leads to the back portion of the fen and eventually connects to a trail leading toOakesQuarry. Vis
itors can nowenter at either Oakes or Pearl’s, and hike the entirety of both parks.
Thefen’slandwasacquired bytheparksdepartmentyears ago, but a Clean Ohio Grant obtained in 2018 allowed the park system to partner with Beaver CreekWetlands Association to finally begin restoring the land from riddled with invasive species, to flourishing with native ones. Removing invasive species, while preserving plants that should stay, involves almost all labor to be done by hand and is extremely labor intensive, Dobney said.
“I cannotgiveDaveenough credit,” Dobney said. “He basically wrote the plan for redeveloping Pearl’s Fen.”
As thequeen-of-the-prairie plant and black-eyed Susan blossom into their late-summer glory, now is a perfect time for people to check out the new fen.
“Dave’s plan was to keep color out there,” Dobney said. “Even in the offseason, therewill be green. His planwas to keep color there from the first time it warms up, well into the fall. They did extensive plantings and it is beautiful.”
Though Pearl’s is not the area’s first wetland, it is a unique one.
“This is a ‘mound fen’ which is unique in the fen world,” Dobney said. “You’ll see the fen bubble up and that’s the headwater of Beaver Creek. It is really cool. ... You’ll see, as you’rewalking, the ground actually start to risewhere the fen is because the ground is pushing it up. The groundwill be level and then you’ll see the hump coming.”
Pearl’s Fen is located at 4535 Byron Road.