County parks' reservations top 200 for the summer

By Brooks Taylor, Mt. Pleasant News

Henry County Conservation?s Department already has received 210 reservations for cabins and camping space amounting to $15,000 in revenue, John Pullis, county conservation director, told Henry County supervisors Thursday morning.

Many of the county?s reservations are now handled online through the My County Parks website but walk-up reservations also are honored. ?We can gain a lot of good information from that site,? Pullis said, referring to My County Parks.

One of those information pieces was a surprise for Pullis. He said that the South Shore campground was the most popular, according to reservations. ?I never would have thought that South Shore would be the most popular but it has almost 50 percent occupancy.?

In addition to using the website for reservations, the conservation department also posts all of its programs by the naturalists on the site and takes reservations for those. Pullis said all of the naturalists? summer camps are full and a significant number of campers are from out of the county.

The engineering report on Waterworks Park has been completed by Warner Engineering Associates of Mt. Pleasant. The conservation department plans on a slight move of the campground to higher ground to alleviate flooding. According to the engineering study, the park would gain an additional two to three feet in height with the move.

Mt. Pleasant Lumber is also working on the design for new cabins at Oakland Mills and the design should be completed in a couple of weeks, Pullis told the supervisors.

In other agenda items during the conservation board?s monthly meeting June 12, board members opted not to pursue acquiring the city park in Mt. Union. Some Mt. Union residents attended the May conservation board meeting, asking the board to consider it because the park will be on the sale block of community property June 27. The auction will be at 10 a.m. at the Henry County Courthouse and hosted by the supervisors.

Pullis said the board received a similar request several years ago from Trenton residents regarding the city park and opted not to get involved.

Conservation boards offices will be on a rotational schedule beginning July 1. Kat Zeglen will serve as president of the board in fiscal year 2018, and Tony Brown will serve as vice president.

Finally, Pullis told the board that there were 1,353 participants in programs offered by the county naturalists in May.