Opinion
Aliina Lange, Nicole L., Emily Tanchevski, and I attended a project kickoff with our partners at the ODNR Division of Parks and Watercraft: Heather Bokman, Sustainability Coordinator; Tracey Coe, Clean Marinas Coordinator; and Mark Allen, Statewide Trails Administrator. At the kickoff, we were introduced to the problem of high impacts
Arts & Lifestyle
Humans have an instinct to explore, often in a very tactile way, and seek out emotional connections to our environment (Komar, 2019). The question is, how do we fulfill that need without damaging that environment and impacting the wildlife that depend on it? This conjecture is inspired by Veronica Ryan&
Science & Tech
This conjecture consists of different signs that could be placed at state parks to discourage littering and encourage visitors to stay on official trails. While creating the signs, I tried to employ the techniques discussed in the paper by Rice et al. on graphic design in park signs (2023), including:
Business
This conjecture was inspired by the un-motivating and lacking in appeal Bigbelly trash bins (Rinde, 2023), and the fact that animals (shorebirds in particular) will mistake trash for food (National Geographic Education, 2016). The Hungry, Hungry Trash Bins are meant to encourage people to throw away their trash by making
Special Interest
This conjecture is inspired by the York County Conservation District's guide to 'leave no trace' practices. A phone-booth style station would provide a spot to inspect your clothes and gear for any hitchhiking bugs, seeds, or plant parts. Three mirrors in the booth would allow for
Special Interest
After personal experience on local trails and survey results from ODNR park managers indicating that dog waste is a big problem in parks, I started looking for articles that might explain why dog owners leave their dog's poop behind. Excerpts from Blenderman et al. (2017) The purpose of
Numbers
ODNR Park Manager Survey VisualizationODNR Park Manager Survey Visualization.pdf210 KBdownload-circle Limitations The results of this survey may not be representative of the park manager population because the sampling was voluntary response and not random. The survey was emailed to 59 ODNR park managers, 28 of which responded (47% of
Special Interest
On Thursday, September 18, 2025 Nicole Li and I visited the Alum Creek State Park Beach. We arrived at about 10am and left at around noon. We observed: one woman alone, smoking cigarettes; a family of two adults and four children; two adults sitting in beach chairs; 4 boats on
Special Interest
On September 12, 2025 Nicole Li and I visited Glacier Ridge Metro Park. All along the trail, there were dog poop stations with bag dispensers and a small bin to put bagged waste in. We noticed only about 3 pieces of trash and one instance of dog waste on the
Special Interest
On September 12, Nicole Li and I visited Highbanks Metro Park in Lewis Center, Ohio. Trash and Litter The trails were remarkably trash/litter-free. We noticed 18 pieces of trash on the trail we went on, excluding the parking lot areas. Most of the trash was recyclable, and found just
Special Interest
After pilot testing a co-design brainstorming activity, I decided to use the activity on myself to generate ideas that address or encapsulate high-impact recreation at state parks. Some of the ideas I generated in this activity were useful or inspirational to me when creating more developed conjectures. Clothing/gear cleaning
Special Interest
On September 11, 2025 I went with my group on a Naturalist-guided night-time hike on an Alum Creek State Park trail. We were provided with UV flashlights to look for fluorescent wildlife and fungi. On the hike, we were all surprised at how much trash we found. We saw some