BLANCHE KATHERINE NOVAK - 149 ACRES

Main Feature:

Excellent bird watching opportunities in a variety of habitats: beech-maple forest, wetland complex and successional fields.

Visitors to the Blanche Katherine Novak State Nature Preserve can expect diversity. The former farm is bisected by Townline Road. Mowed fields lining the road serve as home to bobolink, swallows, warblers, flycatchers and bluebirds.

Trail heads at the east part of the fields lead to loop trails through a second -growth forest, rich with songbirds, fox and deer. The west trail is a farm road winding through mature beech-maple forest and lowlands, ending at the edge of a large wetlands complex.

A vast assortment of wildlife inhabits this mix of habitats, including warblers, woodpeckers, thrush, waterfowl, raptors, beaver, small mammals, deer and an occasional coyote.

Location:

Located on Townline Road at the eastern edge of Aurora in Portage County, about 1 mile north of Route 82. Parking is by the oil storage tanks on the east side of the Townline Road. The sanctuary is owned and managed by the Audubon Society of Greater Cleveland. For more information, contact the Audubon Society at 216-861-5093.