By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Wood County Park District has a target in mind for new property next to its archery range.
Neil Munger, park district director, announced Tuesday at a park board meeting that the Wood County Commissioners are amenable to nearly doubling the park district’s six-acre property on the south side of the Portage River behind the county historical center.
That additional six acres could potentially be used as a primitive campground for groups like Scouts or 4-H clubs.
The wooded acreage is located in a floodplain, so it can’t be built upon, Munger explained.
“We want to keep it as a natural setting,” he said after the board meeting. “It would be perfect for primitive camping.”
In 2016, the county commissioners gave the park district the original six acre parcel that is now used for the Arrowwood Archery Park, located on Linwood Road, southeast of Bowling Green.
The park added archery to the activity list of canoeing, biking, fishing, hiking, hunting, kayaking and rock climbing already offered by the park district.
“It’s been very popular,” Munger said of the 10-lane archery range, which has an open shelter house with a concrete slab floor where archers stand when they shoot at targets.
The park district has been considering the building of an archery tower on the site, but to do that, some additional property would be needed for the alignment of the tower.
When Munger approached Wood County Administrator Andrew Kalmar about the need for more land, the conversation led to talk about the county commissioners giving the park district the remaining five to six acres located west of the archery range, across the Portage River from the historical center.
The transfer would give the park district all the county acreage south of the river.
The park district already maintains the grounds at the county historical center, Munger said. And the proximity of the camping site to the historical center would make it convenient for youth groups to walk across the bridge to the historical site.
“It would be a nice partnership,” he said.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, the park board agreed that its COVID messaging would change from requiring masks to making masks “strongly encouraged.”
The board also went into executive session to discuss the candidates for the park director’s position, since Munger is retiring early next year.
