By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
More than two years ago, a massive wall of ice pulverized Buttonwood Park on the banks of the Maumee River.
Photographs showed the ice walls towering over Wood County Park District staff as they surveyed the damage.
This spring, the walleye fishermen are back – but the rest of the park remains unrepaired since the park district has no desire to invest more money in a park that has been demolished by giant ice jams twice in four years.
The soccer fields were wiped out and the gravel parking area had been washed out by ice floes. Many of the trees in the park have had their bark rubbed off by the ice chunks. Some whole trees were swept away by the ice.
The park board declared the park was unsafe and should not be used. They decided that anyone who goes down there will be trespassing.
“The board was concerned about investing money into Buttonwood,” board member Denny Parish explained.
But on Tuesday, a neighbor of Buttonwood Park, Molly Strader, asked the park district board to consider a partial revival of the park that previously allowed primitive camping. Strader said people travel from across the U.S. – from Washington, Florida, Maine and New York – to use the park on the Maumee River.
“They knew it was a place to camp,” she said. “They wanted to be able to enjoy the river. A lot of people used to use the park.”
Strader asked that camping be reinstated in the park area.
“There’s definitely a lot of interest in getting something back,” she said.
Strader asked that the park board consider removing the “Park Closed, No Trespassing” signs. “So it doesn’t look so unloved,” she said. “It’s a great space.”
Strader said she isn’t asking the park district to invest a great deal of money in the site – but just open it up so it can be used.
“It’s not making it fancy, it’s just making it usable,” she said. “So people who are camping aren’t breaking the law there.”
There are volunteer groups in the Perrysburg area that would be willing to help with cleanup of the location.
Wood County Park District Director Neil Munger said the trespassing signs should be able to come down since the site is no longer a safety issue.
But the park district has been reluctant to put any money into the property until a hydrological study is conducted. Munger said he is also working with a landscape architect on the parkland. It has already been decided that the former soccer fields will be turned into a prairie area.
A new parking lot is planned for an area further away from the Maumee River.
Parish asked Munger to film the Buttonwood Park area, possibly by a drone, so the board can decide how to proceed with the parkland.
