Since opening in 2018 at the former Weatherwax Golf Course at 5101 Circle Parkway, MetroParks has done extensive restoration work on the sprawling Madison Twp. property with the goal of “preservation, restoration and creation.”
“What’s good for the environment is good for you,” said Katie Ely-Wood, communications manager at MetroParks. “Any time that we take a formerly manicured space and return it back to what you might have found 300 years ago, before it was all disrupted, it’s naturally going to be a healthier environment.”
Birding, fishing, hiking and paddling on the park’s ponds are popular activities in the park.
Meadow Ridge and nearby Sebald MetroPark also have the only public horse trails in Butler County.
An archery range was added in 2024 in partnership with Young Guns Archery in Germantown. A local Eagle Scout helped create the targets.
Credit: Bryn Dippold
Credit: Bryn Dippold
Restoration has included reshaping 40 acres of former golf course features like greens, tees, mounds and sand traps and sowing the land with native prairie seed.
Two additional prairies were constructed, totaling 29 acres. Forty-one acres of turf fairways have been treated with herbicide and planted with seven different native grasses.
“(This) creates a habitat for different animals and insects to come in,” Carpenter said.
This process alone took two years.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Three river bank restoration projects were completed by stabilizing stream banks, creating natural curves and establishing native plants.
Invasive plant control, an ongoing issue, is partially focused on honeysuckle, which grows wild and thick and is not native to Ohio.
“Just because it’s green doesn’t mean it’s good,” Carpenter said.
Honeysuckle umbrellas the ground so native grasses and plants cannot get sunlight. Fifteen acres of the invasive plant were removed and replaced with native trees.
Even more, 4,000 oak, maple, red bud, beech and hickory trees have been planted by MetroParks as part of reforestation efforts, which promotes wildlife like deer, turkeys and rabbits to return to the area.
Credit: Bryn Dippold
Credit: Bryn Dippold
MetroParks purchased the former 36-hole Weatherwax Golf Course in 2016 from the Trust for Public Lands. It was owned and operated by the city of Middletown from 1969 until 2014 when it was sold for $1.6 million to Myron Bowling, a Hamilton Auctioneer.
He leased the golf course for two years until it was purchased by the Trust for Public Lands in 2016, who worked with MetroParks to acquire the property.
The area opened in 2018 as the Meadow Ridge area of Elk Creek MetroPark, though Meadow Ridge is now its own park adjacent to Sebald MetroPark.
State grants made it possible to preserve this space for public access and future passive recreational use, according to MetroParks’ website.
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