Auroraadvocate.com - Kaleidoscope: Ex-coal land home to amazing wildlife

by Ken Lahmers

Editor

Want to see exotic, rare and endangered animal species wandering around in their natural habitat, but don't want to travel halfway around the world?

In just under three hours, you can drive to The Wilds in the southwest corner of Muskingum County. It's one of the largest and most innovative wildlife conservation centers in the world.

It's 20 miles southwest of Cambridge and south of the small town of Cumberland, and is part of American Electric Power's 35,000-acre ReCreation Lands.

Taking advantage of a rare weekday off from work July 3, I left the afternoon of July 2 for a day-and-a-half trip to Muskingum, Perry, Morgan and Guernsey counties.

I stayed near Zanesville overnight, and after meandering around the city and countryside ended up at The Wilds, which was the highlight of the trip.

About two years ago on a trip to see the Big Muskie dragline bucket -- the world's largest -- in Morgan County and some other places, News Leader editor Eric Marotta and I went past The Wilds.

It was getting late on that fall 2007 day, so we didn't stop to take the tour, but I knew then that I had to return some day. And boy, am I glad I did!

Children and adults alike seem to be captivated by the animals and the beauty of The Wilds, where the Big Muskie once worked uncovering millions of tons of coal.

AEP has sunk millions of dollars into its efforts to reclaim the land which was strip-mined from the 1940s to 1980s. And it has done a fantastic job of it.

VISITORS WILL notice the reclamation efforts as they drive on Zion Ridge and International roads on their way to and from The Wilds.

The ReCreation Lands are said to contain more than 300 lakes and ponds.

The Wilds resembles a prairie, with grasslands intermingling with ponds, wetlands and new-growth trees. AEP has planted 63 million trees on the ReCreation Lands since mining ceased.

Arriving in The Wilds parking lot, visitors are transported by bus up a steep grade to the Johnson Visitor Center, which is on the highest point of the refuge.

The view from up there is absolutely breathtaking.

Visitors can either choose to ride in an air-conditioned, enclosed bus or an open-air bus, which costs a little more. I chose the latter to take full advantage of photography opportunities.

People waited patiently in line for the last open-air tour of the day at 4 p.m. as the tour guide was 15 minutes late getting back from taking the previous group.

Catching the last tour of the day proved advantageous, as the normally 2 1/2-hour trip ended up being three hours since the guide was in no hurry to bring us back.

The buses roll over winding roads and through various fenced in "pastures" containing different species of animals. They pass through remote-controlled sliding or swinging gates from one pasture to another.

Early on, we could see American bison grazing on a ridge far away. Later, we came close to zebras, wild horses, elands, various species of antelope and deer and Bactrian (two hump) camels.

THE LATTER were molting, or shedding their coats, and were pretty ugly. In their pasture we could see tufts of hair on tree branches they had rubbed against.

All of those animals were impressive, but the biggest on the tour were still to come -- giraffes and Asian and white rhinos.

As the driver/guide motored down a road, someone in the back of the bus yelled "back up!" Through the trees, we spotted a giraffe with its head towering 15 to 16 feet from the ground.

Although the driver said he wasn't allowed to back up, he accommodated the riders. Soon, the giraffe ambled across the road about 30 feet behind us. A second followed a minute or two later, while a third remained in the woods.

The two giraffes that crossed the road stood there a while eyeballing the bus with their ears sticking up and then continued into the trees on the other side.

The encounter with the rhinos was not as close, as they chose to lay on a hillside and not approach the bus like some of the other animals did.

But since they are so big -- the guide said they can grow to 6,000 pounds -- we got a decent look at them.

During the tour, the bus stopped twice -- at Lake Trail and the Mid-Sized Carnivore Conservation Center -- where we spent about 20 minutes each.

The trail led to Spillman Lake, the largest (35 acres) at The Wilds, where food to feed catfish could be bought. Various flora and fauna lined the trail.

Spillman Lake originally was a creek that was formed into a lake with digging help from the Big Muskie.

THE CARNIVORE center contained smaller pastures housing cheetahs and two species of wild dogs. The cheetahs and African wild dogs were inactive during our visit, but the crowd enjoyed watching one dhole run around.

Other wildlife visible on the tour were red-winged blackbirds, bob-o-links, red-crowned cranes and trumpeter swans.

In addition to the daytime safaris, sunset tours are offered by reservation on Fridays and Saturdays. They begin with a buffet dinner in the Overlook Cafe and gift shop near the Johnson Visitor Center.

Two areas which visitors can stop by at no charge are a butterfly habitat and birding station. Nomad Ridge opened in July, allowing families to rent a yurt to stay overnight.

The remainder of the ReCreation Lands lay to the south of The Wilds and are open to the public free of charge for hunting, fishing, hiking, bicycling, boating, camping and bird watching.

AEP's Central Ohio Coal Co. first mined the area in 1947. It has yielded 110 million tons of coal. More than 2 billion cubic yards of earth has been moved.

Since 1981, AEP has received more than 45 land management and habitat awards for its reclamation efforts. The area has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors.

In the early days of stripmining, much land was left an ugly mess, with 50-foot or more high walls, spoil piles and acid runoff creating orange water in creeks.

Stricter laws after the 1950s have resulted in some amazing reclamation efforts, and The Wilds and ReCreation Lands are good examples of that.

E-mail:

klahmers@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155