The focus of this trip will be blooming prairie wildflowers. In 1992, Great Parks of Hamilton County began a native prairie and wetland restoration project of several hundred acres at Miami Whitewater Forest. The project has been a great success, and today, over 500 acres of a native grassland and wetland community is preserved. Often referred to as the Miami Whitewater wetlands, the entire complex is officially named Shaker Trace and represents the largest wetland/grassland complex in Hamilton County. Late summer is a great time to see these prairie
plants in bloom in a stunning array of colors.
Identifying all of these plants can be a challenge. But our trip leader, Jim Mundy, is more than qualified in that regard. In fact Jim has probably planted a large percentage of these plants. Jim is recently retired from the Hamilton County Park District where he worked for almost 30 years in the Stewardship Department. Many of those years were spent working on the Shaker Trace project. Jim is a skilled botanist and overall naturalist and is also a board member of our Audubon Society Chapter and heads up our Preserves Committee.
Jim plans to take a leisurely morning walk exploring the Shaker Trace complex to look at and identify plants, especially the prairie blooms. This is also a great time of year for butterflies and breeding birds. Jim will identify these and any other wildlife we encounter.
Directions: Take I-74 west to the Dry Fork Road exit # 3. Turn right onto Dry Fork Road (north) and go 2.2 miles to New Haven Road. Bear right (east) onto New Haven Road and go .8 mile to Oxford Road. Turn left onto Oxford Road and then immediately left again onto Baughman Road. Go .7 mile and look for the parking lot on the right side (north) of the road just after passing the Bike/Hike Trail crosswalk.