PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Shawnee State Park officially opened a renamed trail Sunday honoring Dr. E. Lucy Braun, one of the most influential botanists and ecologists in American history, with a ceremony and guided hike through the woods she once studied.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources welcomed visitors, community members and nature enthusiasts to the park for the dedication of the Dr. E. Lucy Braun Lookout Trail, according to the department. Guests gathered at the shelter house on Mackletree Road for opening remarks before walking the upgraded 2-mile loop trail, which now features interpretive signs on Braun’s work in the region, the department said.
“Dr. Braun helped reveal the story written in these forests,” Shawnee State Park naturalist Jenny Richards said in a statement. “Her research shaped our understanding of Ohio’s ecosystems, and this trail gives visitors a chance to walk in her footsteps and discover the diversity she worked so hard to document.”
Braun, a pioneering scientist known for her groundbreaking studies of deciduous forests, frequently brought students to Shawnee to examine its biodiversity, and her analysis of forest composition and plant communities remains foundational in modern conservation science, according to the department. The trail also adds new signs highlighting the work of Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1545, whose labor in the 1930s helped open the region to visitors and laid the groundwork for later scientific study, the department said.
Shawnee State Park, a 1,095-acre landscape once used as hunting grounds by the Shawnee people, sits inside the 68,000-acre Shawnee State Forest, an area known as Ohio’s “Little Smokies” that also hosted a drone show this summer at Shawnee Lodge honoring 9/11 and the nation’s 250th anniversary, according to the department. The park offers miles of trails, small lakes, access to the Ohio River, and lodging ranging from rustic camping to cabins and a resort lodge, the department said.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
