Photos of the Prairie Oaks Metro Park

After more than three decades, the fight by Franklin and Madison county landowners to keep Big Darby Creek free of a Columbus dam project came to a symbolic end in August as the main section of Prairie Oaks Metro Park opened to the public.

For the Darby Creek Association, which has its roots in the dam battle, the opening was a time for celebration. Once slated for inundation, over 1,400 acres of critical Darby flood plain and valley edge will now be preserved forever. DCA’s role in seeing this happen will endure as one of the organization’s finest achievements.

DCA president Terry Stewart attended the opening. A trail through fallow fields and woods welcomed visitors to explore central Ohio’s finest stream. The park includes extensive bottomland along a scenic portion of Big Darby. Many fields will be converted to natural prairie, while others will revert to forest.

The park features several small wetlands, which in August were already teeming with migrating shorebirds. Other natural features include some remarkably large trees, several Darby tributaries, and extensive freshwater mussel beds. Future plans for the park include the addition of equestrian trails, a nature center, and perhaps even a small herd of bison.

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to visit the park soon. You’ll want to see what it looked like in the beginning—before the changes begin.