TOLEDO, Ohio — Metroparks Toledo is throwing its support behind a plan to bring a historic Lake Erie island into permanent conservation.
The park district’s governing board approved a grant application Wednesday morning that would help the Black Swamp Conservancy purchase a small island on Lake Erie once owned by President Rutherford B. Hayes, the nation’s 19th president and a native Ohioan.
The Conservancy, a Northwest Ohio land trust, has spent years protecting natural areas across the region. The acquisition would add a piece of presidential history to the area’s protected lands, along with whatever natural habitat the island holds.
Hayes, who was born in Delaware, Ohio, and made his home at Spiegel Grove in Fremont, remains one of Ohio’s most celebrated native sons. An island tied to his ownership adds a layer of historical significance to the conservation effort.
If the purchase goes through, the island would join a growing network of parks and preserves that Metroparks Toledo and its partners have built across Lucas County and the western Lake Erie shoreline.