By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
City residents want Wintergarden Park to stay wild, and Simpson Garden Park to get some more gardens. Overall, both parks are giving residents exactly what they need – places of peace and natural beauty.
Citizens came together to talk about the city’s natural parks and programs last week as part of a series of public forums to help with the strategic plan for the parks.
The consensus for Wintergarden Park was – leave it alone.
“We want to keep it as a nature preserve,” said Martha Mazzarella.
And for Simpson Garden Park – manage its growth as the funds become available.
Citizens said Wintergarden is ideal for nature observation, multi-generational programs such as nature walks, and has great diversity with a prairie, swamp woods and oak savannah.
The strengths at Simpson Garden Park include the diverse gardens, its accessibility to those unable to navigate wooded trails, its link to the hospital so people there can easily seek peace in the park, and its educational value with labeling of plants.
Programming isn’t heavy at Simpson, but that’s OK, said Frances Brent.
“Just its being is the most important part,” she said, explaining its value as a passive park.
Both sites make good use of volunteers, including master gardeners at Simpson.
Some citizens wanted to make sure Wintergarden wasn’t changed, while other wanted faster development of Simpson.
“Don’t screw it up,” Lee Rockett said about Wintergarden. “We need a natural area.”
Wintergarden Park
Rockett questioned the use of pesticides in the park and the removal invasive plants like the black raspberries. “When you affect the flora, you affect the fauna,” he said.
Others supported the removal of non-native invasive plant species, and complimented the park department for its efforts. All seemed to agree that no more trails were needed through the woods.
Jeffrey Cullen said Simpson Garden Park is a secret to some city residents, since most of it stretches back behind houses, off Wintergarden Road, south of Conneaut Avenue.
“I don’t think a lot of people know that it’s back there,” he said.
Cullen said the park consists of too much grass, and not enough trees and plants.
Others defended the garden park as a work in progress. “Things are being put in as money is available,” Brent said, with private and public dollars used to plant the park.
“It takes money to do anything, to do everything,” Mazzarella said.
Some concerns were voiced, including a complaint about too many dogs not on leashes in Wintergarden Park. “It affects wildlife,” said Kristin Vessey.
Though some park walkers have suggested that that city get rid of unsightly fallen trees in Wintergarden, the consensus at the forum was the trees should be left for wildlife habitat.
Gloria Gajewicz suggested that some “risk play” accommodations be made for kids – not plastic playground equipment, but something like a zip line and an area to build something with logs.
“Kids could explore and be around nature,” with no rules, she said. “You know what to do with a slide, but what do you do with a pile of logs?” An area like that could help create the next generation to engage with nature, Gajewicz said.
But some objected, saying the park is not a summer camp and should remain natural.
Other suggestions were made, such as: creating pockets of natural areas in other city parks, making sure the pond in Wintergarden is preserved, and adding adjacent land to the park.
Last week’s park forum was the second in a series of five to get citizen input for the strategic plan. Three more focus groups are planned – with each one targeting a specific topic. The comments will be restricted to the topics for each forum, which are:
- April 20: Fitness, aquatics and events.
- May 11: Active parks (City Park, Carter Park, etc.)
- May 18: Future directions.
All the meetings will be held at the Bowling Green Community Center, beginning at 7 p.m. Free child care will be available.
Anyone interested in a particular topic, who is unable to make it to that meeting, may email comments to the focus group moderator, Shannon Orr, from Bowling Green State University at skorr@bgsu.edu.
