Posted on 01/10/2002 3:36:27 AM PST by mommadooo3
Little Darby area farmer happy to sell bottomland to state
Thursday, January 10, 2002
Michael Hawthorne
Dispatch Environment Reporter
Farmers and federal lawmakers scuttled a proposed national wildlife refuge along the Little Darby Creek, but they can't stop property owners from selling land to help preserve the state and national scenic river.
Though nothing close to the proposed 49,000-acre refuge is under consideration, bits of land along the Little Darby and nearby Big Darby Creek are steadily being purchased by conservation-minded government agencies.
John Blatter is the most recent farmer to sell.
For years, city dwellers flocked to his 55 acres of bottomland every fall to pick pumpkins and ride hay wagons through woods dotted with celebrity caricatures.
Trees eventually will tower over the field, which the Ohio Department of Natural Resources recently purchased to separate a stretch of the Little Darby from development that pushes west from Columbus.
"I probably could have gotten more if I sold to some developer, but I thought the state would make a real good neighbor,'' said Blatter, who kept his house, barn and former farm market. "I think I can do a lot of good by letting the land go back to what it was like 250 years ago.''
With the purchase of Blatter's Truck Patch, the Natural Resources Department now owns three of the four corners where Rt. 40 crosses the Little Darby. The department owns or retains conservation easements for about 400 acres along both creeks, said Bob Gable, director of the agency's scenic-rivers program.
Metro Parks, meanwhile, added more than 740 acres during the past two years to Battelle-Darby Metro Park, which surrounds the confluence of the two creeks. Congress recently earmarked $900,000 to expand the park.
An additional 172 acres along the Big Darby is being added to Prairie Oaks Metro Park.
"Protecting the river corridors is one of our top priorities,'' Gable said. "Like Metro Parks, we're always looking for sources of funding and willing sellers.''
The Ohio Department of Transportation will cover the $154,750 tab for the Blatter property. The department pledged to spend $1 million to restore natural areas after a state contractor illegally bulldozed the headwaters of the Big Darby in 1997 while paving a new access ramp for Rt. 33 in Logan County.
Though several property owners have sold land along the Darbys to the state or to Metro Parks, many vowed they would not sell to the federal government, which wanted to build a wildlife refuge on 23,000 acres in Madison and Union counties and secure development rights for another 26,000 acres.
Refuge opponents won support from Republican members of the Ohio congressional delegation who blocked efforts by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine to develop the refuge.
"The government already owns so much,'' Blatter said. "But I did it, and I feel good about it. I set myself up for retirement and I made sure this land will be protected.''
Thanks mommadooo for the latest on this story.
We drove thru the area just last week, and will be doing so again this weekend on our way to Oxford.
I'm wondering if the gov't. wiil eventually get what it wants, after all....
This statement says it all.
I am a farmer. I am opposed to government ownership of land, in most situations. None the less, the owner should have the right to do what they want to do with the land within the law. Obviously, this farmer did not want his land developed and he needed money for retirement.
I hope I never face a situation where I would need to sell my land to the gov't.
Yes, the folks we were with at the Rally, were passionate about keeping and protecting their homesteads. But when the current 'crop' of passionate folks 'die out', will the suceeding generations retain that passion, or sense of 'roots'???
I pray so.
Some don't have the option. If the government wants it they'll take it one way or the other.
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