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A Publication of the Holmes County Rails to Trails Coalition
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President's Comments --- |
Hello, I am Bill Baker, your new RTT Chairman as of November
2002. Years of previous leadership from the past Chairman, Andy Hart, has
inspired many of us to step up and get involved. I would like to thank Andy
for all his time and sacrifice for this cause.
The year 2002 was a magnificent year for the trail organization, when
our executive director, Joan Simcak successfully obtained matching funds of
approximately $1.8 million dollars from various Federal, State and local resources. Her persistence and knowledge of the grant writing process takes the
Coalition to the next phase of the project, which is to design and construct the
Millersburg to Fredericksburg section. Thank you Joan.
We have chosen Linn Engineering out of Zanesville for our engineer-
ing firm (out of 23 candidates). They will re-engineer all of the bridges and
the trail design including all environmental work for this section. We anticipate putting all work out for bid by the end of December and award bids by
February 2004. A lot of things need to be well planned to make this time
frame. Our board will do its best to achieve this goal. Stay tuned.
All actual construction will take place in 2004 or about one year from
now. Your support in our volunteer workdays and daily vigilance of the trail
is greatly appreciated.
A special thanks to Commissioner Graven for his Board attendance
and continued support. Our progress is on going and picking up speed.
I will update you in June with our progress or problems, until then get
your group involved with the Trail.
See the County by Trail.
Bill Baker, Chairman
| Federal Grant to Aid Development of Holmes County Trail |
| "Spring on the Trail" -- The River Otter |
Soon after the mid 1800s the river otter was gone from Ohio's waterways. Milton B. Troutman
writes in The Fishes of Ohio [1957],..."all of the large fur bearers such as the River Otter...were extirpated during the period of 1850 to 1900." The otter, along with the beaver, were hunted and trapped to
extinction in Ohio for their luxurious pelts. While an occasional stray otter may have appeared in the
Pymatuning Swamp in northeastern Ohio in the early 1900s, it wasn't until 1991 that otters again
played and swam and fished in waters within the boundaries of Holmes County.
In January 1991 the Ohio Division of Wildlife released 15 pregnant females and 10 males that
were live-trapped in Louisiana. The otters were released into the Killbuck watershed at the bridge on
County Road 1. After a period of adjustment (one showed up in a neighboring barn), the otters
adapted to the area and are now well established from Overton south into Coshocton County.
The river otter is nearly the size of a red fox but is built like a dachshund; short legs attached to
a muscular body much like an oversized weasel, the family it belongs to.
Its hair is a rich dark brown with a lighter-colored belly
and a whitish throat. Its tail is heavy and tapered like that
of a Labrador retriever, though covered with shorter hair.
An adult male may weigh over 20 pounds. Definitely a
formidable foe for any German carp cruising the murky
waters of the Killbuck.
The otter is, above all, a fish eater. As agile as a
seal underwater, the otter is swift enough to catch a trout
or bass. Studies, however, have shown that the otter's
main fare is rough fish such as the carp and sucker. Although I have never been privileged to see an otter along
the Trail or the Killbuck (one of the engineers working on
the Trail saw otters playing), I have seen its feeding areas
and the scales and heads of the fish are almost always
carp. I'm sure few fishermen begrudge the otter eating the
Killbuck's sewer bass.
While otters tend to be nocturnal, they do remain active into the daylight hours, especially
once the young move about. Several years ago a friend of mine saw a family of otters feed and play in
the pond on the comer of SR 83 and County Road 1. He watched them for over an hour. The four
young were about half grown.
The three or four young are born in early spring, usually in underground burrows near water
such as an old beaver den, but if a suitable site isn't available the otters may travel up to half a mile
from water to den and rear their young. The young don't enter the water until they are 70 to 80 days old
and then they have to coaxed by their parents to take the plunge. Unlike getting teenagers to drive a
car.
The family will stay together into the autumn and early winter and goes to show that the family
that plays together stays together.
Having the river otter back in the waterways of our county and along the Trail after an absence
of 150 years, makes our community a more complete and interesting place.
David Kline, RTTC.