As I write the second in my two-part update about wonderful developments in Portage Park District, I admit that during a recent tour of Kame Esker Bog Park in Brimfield Township, I wondered about Kame and Esker.
Christine Craycroft, executive director of Portage Park District, graciously explained during a recent foundation board of trustees event that the name refers to the remains of a glacial event during the last Ice Age when the glaciers moved south from Canada, bringing with them huge deposits of sand and gravel the glaciers had scraped off the surface of Canada.
“That is why Portage County is so rich in sand and gravel,” Craycroft said.
Kames, she said, are mounds of glacial sands and gravel deposits, and eskers are ridges of sand and gravel deposits formed as the glaciers melted and retreated 10,000 years ago.
Kame Esker Bog Park is 215 acres of gorgeous land with undulations of kames and eskers. The property straddles the Kent/Brimfield Township border, located between Howe Road and Cooperrider-Kent Bog in the city of Kent.
Kame Esker Bog Park is set to open in Summer 2026. I think it will become one of the most popular parks in the Portage Park District.
It will have a 60-car parking lot, flush restrooms, a water fountain, an information kiosk, a nature play area for youngsters, a small open-air shelter funded with a $50,000 donation from the Portage Park District Foundation, and a larger open-air picnic shelter with an adjacent lawn.
A highlight in Kame Esker Bog Park is a former glacial lake that has evolved into a Boreal peat bog, a rare ecosystem in Ohio with a unique biodiversity. The bog vegetation changes colors as it responds to Ohio’s changing seasons.
The 45-acre Cooperrider Kent Bog to the north is owned and protected by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The Portage Park District’s acquisition included the southern two thirds of the bog, which is also now permanently protected and dedicated as a State Nature Preserve.
A 1.3-mile trail meanders through Kame Esker’s evergreen and deciduous trees and runs alongside the southwest side of the bog. A 0.4-mile paved walk that is handicapped accessible will bring pedestrians in view of Plum Creek and wetlands.
Portage Park District purchased the 215 acres from Carter Lumber for $1.7 million, all paid with outside grant money from the Clean Ohio Greenspace program and the Water Resource Restoration Sponsor program. The acreage is full of beautiful mature evergreen trees planted by the then owners some 40 years ago. The 1.3-mile trail takes one along the bog and then north through hills. It veers close to but does not join Cooperrider Bog because Cooperrider will not permit leashed dogs whereas Kame Esker Bog Park does.
Kame Esker Bog Park is going to be a great place to observe nature or teach it to youngsters, to picnic, or simply to enjoy a good walk. It will be one of those parks that makes the hiker or picnicker realize that Ohio has its own special beauty. It is going to be one of the gems of the Portage Park District.
Portage Park District effort to protect Crystal Lake
Crystal Lake, south of Ravenna in Rootstown Township, is a beautiful 30-acre glacial lake that for many years provided surface and groundwater to the people of Ravenna. The lake and surrounding forest and wetlands are split in ownership between the City of Ravenna, The Nature Conservancy and private owners. It is considered one of the highest quality natural lakes in the State of Ohio. It is home to rare, threatened and endangered species. Springs underground still offer some of the purest water found anywhere in Portage County.
The City of Ravena, nearly 50 years ago, after a fire destroyed Ravenna’s Crystal Lake water purification plant, opted to build a surface water purification plant at Lake Hodgson, also in Rootstown Township.
Enter the Portage Park District, which has purchase agreements for 35 acres of private property around and including part of Crystal Lake. The District is applying for grant money to buy the 35 acres it will devote to protecting Crystal Lake.
Construction of State Route 5 cut off access to the lake decades ago, so the Portage Park District is negotiating an agreement with the City of Ravenna to use their access from South Prospect Street. Park District plans include Natural Resources Management working with the City of Ravenna, The Nature Conservancy, and potentially the Ohio Department of Transportation to alleviate stormwater runoff from the highway.
My advice? Take a good walk and enjoy our beautiful Portage County parks!
David E. Dix is a former publisher of The Record-Courier.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Kame Esker Bog Park in Brimfield to be gem in Portage district
Reporting by David E. Dix / Record-Courier
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