Seldom Seen Park a hidden gem in Delaware County
Back in the day, Seldom Seen Road in southern Delaware County may indeed have been seldom seen. It once was a sparsely traveled country lane. Not today. Southern Delaware County and the Powell area have experienced meteoric growth.
In 1808, the year of its founding, fewer than 2,000 people lived in the 457 square miles encompassed by Delaware County. By 1900, barely 25,000 people had settled here. It wasn’t until 1980 that the population exceeded 50,000, and it took until 2000 to break six figures.
The 21st century saw a major population boom, mostly in the southern reaches of the county. Today, nearly 250,000 people reside in Delaware County.
Whenever people explode, natural habitats implode. Many of Delaware County’s original natural landscapes are gone, steamrolled by rampant development. Such losses make protection of wild places ever more important, and there are some shining lights among the housing developments, office complexes, strip malls and gridwork of roads.
I recently visited a little gem of a place called Seldom Seen Park, which is owned by the City of Powell. This 23acre park is mostly ballfields, a playground and modern shelter house, but what caught my eye were the five acres of wetlands tucked in the northwest corner. Within five minutes of inspection, I had a good guess as to who had a hand in its design.
Sure enough, I would later discover that MAD Scientist Associates, LLC designed and oversaw the wetland project, which involved both creation of new wetlands and enhancement of existing ones. I have long been familiar with MAD Scientist (the acronym is for its founder, Mark A. Dilley) and its work. This environmental consulting firm is sophisticated in its approach to projects and has overseen numerous successful wetland restorations.
The 5-acre chunk of park punches way over its weight in producing biodiversity. Several species of rushes, sedges, bulrushes, pickerelweed, pondweeds and other aquatic flora occupy the shallows. An upland buffer strip is cleverly spiced with appropriate natives including notables like Ohio goldenrod,
sky-blue aster and Sullivant’s milkweed. All three species were originally discovered in Ohio. The aster was first collected along the banks of the Olentangy River in Worthington, only four miles to the southeast.
Plant diversity produces insect diversity and 22 species of damselflies and dragonflies have thus far been documented. So have several dozen butterfly and moth species.
Insects are fuel for higher organisms, perhaps most notably birds. And plenty of the feathered crowd were obvious during my visit. Most conspicuous is a thriving colony of purple martins. An expert on cavitynesting birds, Paula Ziebarth erected several large-scale martin houses and the big swallows took a shine to the dwellings. Their melodious gurgles fill the air. Mosquitoes, beware.
Seldom Seen Park could serve as a model for suburban park development. Appending “wild” areas to land occupied by traditional park uses such as baseball and soccer fields spikes biodiversity big time. I saw over 20 species of birds during my brief visit. The purple martins wintered in deep in South America, as did a solitary sandpiper refueling in the wetlands. It is headed to northern boreal forests. A cheery yellow warbler probably wintered in Central America, returning to the park’s wetlands to nest.
When the birds are factored in, even a scant 5 acres can have a positive impact disproportionate to its size, with ramifications far beyond the park boundaries. Kudos to the City of Powell for supporting this project, and thanks to all who had a hand in designing little Seldom Seen Park.
Seldom Seen Park is at 3232 Seldom Seen Road. MAD Scientist Associates will host public programming onsite (fourth Wednesdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m., May through August). They will feature hands-on learning opportunities about wetland ecology, amphibians, macroinvertebrates, birds, plants and more.
Naturalist Jim Mccormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at jimmccormac.blogspot.com.