Commentary by Cindy Benedict
I’ve always been so impressed by the beauty of Noblesville parks. I’ve heard multiple residents and visitors comment that Forest Park is probably the best park in all of Hamilton County. We have a great parks and recreation staff that manages everything, but they also rely on volunteers to keep everything ship-shape and to help provide amenities that aren’t available on tight budgets.
Hague Road Nature Haven, the 94-acre park by the intersection of Ind. 38 and Hague Road, received some of those improvements recently thanks to two groups of volunteers. For the third year in a row, a group of 10 alumni from Wabash College donated their time on a Saturday to help beautify the Nature Haven. In previous years, the group cleared trails and removed debris. This year, the group installed two wooden swings and two benches along the trails.
Abby Swift and Kayla Effinger, from Girls Scout Troop No. 1132, also helped at the Nature Haven. Swift and Effinger’s project included placing signage for trail markers, a site map and information at the Nature Haven. In addition, they prepared an online scavenger hunt that is available at www.NoblesvilleParks.org (go to Parks and Hague Road Nature Haven). The girls created and completed this project as part of their Girl Scout Silver Award. These efforts are a huge help as the park develops into a premier educational center for nature studies.
For his Eagle Scout project, Jack Gorsuch created impressive bat houses that are scattered at three park locations. In Indiana, bats pose almost no threats to humans, are primarily nocturnal and are amazing bug zappers. They provide a natural solution to insect management as they eat as many as 600 insects in an hour. In addition, Jack generously donated $953.88 to the Noblesville Parks Foundation following the completion of his project.
As I’ve commented before, volunteers make any community better and Noblesville volunteers are in a class by themselves. Thank you to the Wabash College alumni, Swift, Effinger and Gorsuch for dedicating their time and talents to the Noblesville parks. If you want to learn more about Hague Road Nature Haven or any of the parks department’s properties, visit HYPERLINK “http://www.NoblesvilleParks.org” www.NoblesvilleParks.org. If you’d like to volunteer for Noblesville Parks and Recreation, you can contact Assistant Director Mike Hoffmeister at [email protected].
Cindy Benedict is the community engagement manager for the City of Noblesville. She may be reached at 770-2007 or HYPERLINK “mailto:[email protected]” [email protected].
