A Virtual Tour of Middletown’s Green Spaces

By Paige Auxier —

Recently, Miami University Professor Janelle Allen led a presentation on the exquisite green spaces surrounding Miami’s Middletown campus. The event was the first of several set to occur each month this semester as part of the Regional’s “What’s In Our Backyard Series.”

Professor Allen prefaced her presentation by making a case for the quality of the campus’s location, by outlining the unique merits of abiding in areas like Middletown, with extensive green space. To further highlight the prevalence of trees in Middletown, she also relayed that the area has earned and maintained the title of “Tree Campus” and “Tree City” for several decades, which is bestowed by the Arbor Day Foundation to places with vast forest spaces that are maintained through preservation efforts coordinated by local government officials and community members.

Additionally, Allen provided a list of benefits that the presence of nearby green spaces can afford a surrounding community or environment. One of her main points, for example, was the positive effects that a visit to a forested area can have on an individual’s mental and physical health due to their aesthetic beauty.  She also discussed the opportunities they present for engagement in physical activity via trail systems, and the presence of phytochemicals, which are emitted by trees and scientifically proven to benefit well-being. Outside of this, though, she noted that green spaces are important for the general environment, as they contribute to improving air and water quality, and they can also serve as ideal spaces for community events and activities, as well as for research.

After introducing these points, Allen delved into the main segment of her presentation, which was dedicated to taking the audience on a virtual tour of the green spaces on and surrounding the Middletown campus. Due to the current weather, she was unable to document these areas with actual photographs or videos; however, she made do by sharing the information available about them online. At the end of her presentation, she graciously shared the links to her sources in the chat of the Zoom call, for any attendees interested in looking further into the spaces she spoke about.

She started by explaining the features of the trails directly on campus by screen, sharing a trail map of the area that can be found on the university’s website. In doing this, she contextualized for the audience where different points on the map were located, what the different map symbols indicated, where on the paths one might run across points of higher elevation, the length and difficulty of each trail, as well as what species of trees might be found in particular areas.

After this, she shifted her focus to the trails, parks, and trees adjacent to campus, honing in extensively on three in particular: Bull’s Run Nature Sanctuary and Arboretum, Goldman Park, and Dowling Park. She then followed this up by listing seven additional hiking spaces in lesser detail. For each of the aforementioned parks, she described characteristics such as their size and accommodations, in an attempt to demonstrate to viewers that within the Middletown area, a wide variety of green spaces exist and are often accessible for anyone.

Overall, it seemed she was trying to get across to the audience that members of the Middletown community, both students or residents, have unique opportunities to benefit from visiting the green spaces near them. She stressed that public appreciation for these areas is imperative to their continued maintenance, since this will demonstrate their importance to the elected officials responsible for coordinating efforts to preserve them.

At the conclusion of her presentation, she urged audience members to venture out and explore Middletown’s green spaces when the weather allows it—and beyond that, to spread the word about them to their friends and family to increase rates of visitation. She also made sure to share information about the second segment of the series, which is set to occur on March 6th at 4 PM. Similar to the first, it will be open and available online via Zoom or in-person at the Gardner Harvey Library for those interested in learning more about the beautiful natural spaces on and adjacent to the Regional campuses. Further information about the event can be found on the university’s website.