MANSFIELD — The Richland County Park District has acquired a massive new nature preserve — but it won’t be open to the public for a few more years.
After years of restoration work at the Niss Waterfall Preserve, the Western Reserve Land Conservancy donated the 287-acre property to the county park district in April.
The conservancy acquired the property in 2019 from Niss Marion LLC, utilizing a grant from the Clean Ohio Conservation Fund and a donation from Dan and Brenda Niss.
Since then, the non-profit agency worked to restore the area, which was heavily forested and later converted to farmland, to its most natural state.
The property offers a rich, biodiverse array of wetlands, woods, streams and two seasonal waterfalls that emerge annually with the spring melt.
“Some land is too special to be developed, and this property falls in that category,” Dan Niss said in 2019. “The environmental significance and the aesthetics of this property will contribute to the greater good of our community, and I’m glad to see that happen.”
Parking lot to Trimble Road connector trail will open in the coming weeks
While under the ownership of the Land Conservancy, the former agricultural fields were seeded with a native pollinator mix. The property was also planted with 27,700 seedlings to provide wildlife habitat.
A parking area was installed, and the City of Mansfield built a trail connector in coordination with the Land Conservancy to join the Trimble Road multi-use path with the Richland B&O Trail, which is also managed by the park district.
Currently, the multi-use path is the only part of the property that’s open to the public.
“As with all of our properties, the public must stay on the marked trails. At this time, that’s only the Trimble Road connector trail,” said Jordan Tackett, the Richland County Park District’s executive director.
“In future years, we’ll come back and do some park development.”
Tackett said a trail parking lot off Marion Avenue will be open to the public soon.
Meanwhile, Tackett said the park district has other projects in the works across the county, but aims to add additional hiking trails at the Niss Waterfall Preserve in a few years.
“Without the Land Conservancy’s acquisition, this natural area likely would have been lost to development,” Tackett said.
“This generous donation connects the Park District’s B&O Trail with the City of Mansfield’s developing trail network, protects hundreds of acres of natural habitat and unique natural features, and paves the way for future park development and recreational opportunities for our community.”
