Rog has worked seasonally as the naturalist at Findley State Park for about 12 years. During that time, the old commissary was transformed gradually through a lot of hard work by ourselves and volunteers and mostly through donations with little funding into a thriving nature center visited by thousands each year.
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| Rog and park volunteers, hard at work. |
Early in the morning last weekend we received a call from the park that the building was on fire. Once he arrived it was clear the building was a total loss, along with everything inside. The fire was attributed to a faulty surge protector which caused a heat lamp to ignite. The walls are concrete, so basically the building contained the flames so that the heat and smoke built up immensely, literally melting many of the contents.
Unfortunately, also lost in the fire were fish, turtles and all of our snakes. Cornelius, at 15 years old, had been a park staple since the opening of the center and was incredibly docile and gentle even for the many kids and toddlers that handled him over the years. He even refused to take a snap at Kaelyn when she bit his tail as a puppy. Of course, he was struggling a bit this summer and had not been eating with his normal summertime vigor. He may very well have been in his last days anyway since this year's breeding to Samantha resulted in no viable eggs. Samantha, though lovely, never held quite the same charm for me, she was a bit unpredictable and would not tolerate programs or crowds very well. Ironically, Arthur, who was our retained baby from last year, escaped from his cage about 2 weeks before the fire, so he is gone as well. One lone Russian box turtle is barely hanging in there with 3rd degree burns, luckily he found temporary placement with someone with vast turtle knowledge and the time to keep up with his schedule of antibiotic treatment and force feedings.
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| Samantha |
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| Cornelius being passed around at the reptile program. Of course, it goes without saying the girls are always braver than the boys. I don't know this child and don't want to be sued in case anyone was wondering about the blacked out face... |
Per state policy, the buildings are not insured, but all those involved have pledged their assistance to rebuild. The tough part is, how do you put a value on animal skulls, sticks, rocks, leaves, feathers, etc that took 12 years to collect? And how do you valuate a full cow skeleton wired together in true dinosaur fashion? Countless field guides and textbooks carefully collected, park memorabilia, taxidermy mounts (they look like a horror film at this point), furs, traps, murals, computers, projectors for the outdoor ampitheater...there is much work to be done and many funds to be raised.
Luckily, the community of Wellington has a great deal of appreciation for the park that sits in their backyard. And the park itself has a dedicated group of "Friends of Findley" that work tirelessly with the community to back park projects such as the recently completed shelterhouse in the campground. Anything salvageable has been removed, a massive clean up and roof repair is next and the general consensus is to rebuild bigger and better than before. It will all be donation based, so all fundraising efforts are still in the planning phase. I will assist by updating in the future for any scheduled events. I'm also hoping to build and donate a small scale diorama of the park. I don't have to worry about ruining the surprise since Rog hasn't forcibly read this blog since last winter. So if anyone has any topographical maps of the area it would be much appreciated.
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| Unfortunately, Smoky didn't do much to protect this place. Even in times of ruin I can appreciate the irony and humor in that... |
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