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Boardwalk to be built in restored wetlands, thanks to Wal-Mart grant

Wal-Mart’s $55,000 donation will mean greater public access to Ice Age-era wetlands in Dayton.

Illustration describing what a fen is

Map of the Woodman Fen area

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Steve Bennish, Staff Writer Updated 12:46 AM Saturday, January 16, 2010

DAYTON — A restored Ice Age-era fen will reopen with a raised 1,200-foot-long boardwalk that will curve around the wetlands.

Michael Enright, a conservation biologist with Five Rivers MetroParks, said the Wal-Mart Foundation awarded the parks $55,000 to purchase materials for the boardwalk.

It’s a welcome gift to allow greater public access as visitors will be able to keep their feet dry while seeing the fen.

Parks workers will begin construction within three weeks using durable recycled plastic lumber, Enright said. It should be completed by early April. He said a June story in the Dayton Daily News about the need for the boardwalk was a key factor in the award.

The 40-acre Woodman Fen, wedged between Woodman Drive and a residential neighborhood around Belmont Park, is a unique example of now mostly vanished fens, or groundwater-fed wetlands. Five Rivers has spent years on the restoration, which has included fixing water flow problems, hauling away trash and replanting the fen with 14,000 unusual sedges, wildflowers and other native wetland plants.

“This is the finishing touch for a remarkable restoration project,” Enright said. “This will let the public see all the plants, animals and habitats.”

Enright said Five Rivers hopes to work with the city to develop programs at the fen, the only one in Montgomery County. Its cousins are the Cedar Bog Nature Preserve in Champaign County and the Beaver Creek Wetlands in Greene County.

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