MohicanView Cabin

Matt Moneymaker to appear at Pleasant Hill Lake Park’s Bigfoot Event This Fall

Perrysville, OH (March 1, 2022)— A new event at Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District’s (MWCD) Pleasant Hill Lake Park is coming this fall! Seekers of Bigfoot (aka sasquatch, Grassman, Yeti, etc.) should mark their calendars for September 9 - 11, 2022 to attend Bigfoot Basecamp Weekend. Matt Moneymaker, Founder and President of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) and co-host of "Finding Bigfoot'' on Animal Planet Channel will host a VIP dinner and Townhall event.

“The weekend will kick off with a VIP dinner and presentation by Moneymaker on Friday, September 9, along with a guided Bigfoot hike and movie under the stars” says Louis Andres, Program Specialist at Pleasant Hill Lake Park. “Saturday’s activities will include a Community Townhall with Moneymaker, guided pontoon tours, and survival skills activities, to name a few. A nighttime thermal drone search will also be broadcast Saturday night to survey for large mammal targets -- coyotes, deer, sasquatches, etc. -- assisted by ground spotters with handheld thermal imagers.”

Ohio ranks 5th in United States with over 318 BFRO reported sightings. Locally, Ashland County has nine reported sightings and Richland County has four reported encounters. The most recent sightings were in Ashland County at Mohican State Park on June 18, 2021, and another Class A sighting occurring at Pleasant Hill Lake Park primitive camp area on August 18, 2020, according to the BFRO page.

The weekend will feature family-friendly events, food trucks, and a Movie at the Lake. Additionally, the primitive camping area, which is now closed to the public, will be open for an exclusive camping experience during the event. Advance reservations are required for the primitive camping and some of the scheduled events and can be purchased online at MWCD.org/Bigfoot.

About BRFO

The BFRO site is the only collection of bigfoot reports from across North America that have been investigated by researchers to determine credibility. The BFRO has a large network of experienced volunteer investigators across the U.S. and Canada who use various methods to determine the credibility of reports. They spend a great deal of time and effort sorting through and investigating sighting reports to determine which are credible enough to display to the public. None of the modern reports in the BFRO's online database are made public without investigation.

About Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District

The MWCD, a political subdivision of the state, was organized in 1933 to develop and implement a plan to reduce flooding and conserve water for beneficial public uses in the Muskingum River Watershed, the largest wholly contained watershed in Ohio. Since their construction, the 16 reservoirs and dams in the MWCD region have been credited for saving over $7 billion worth of potential property damage from flooding, according to the federal government, as well as providing popular recreational opportunities that bolster the region’s economy. A significant portion of the reservoirs are managed by the MWCD and the dams are managed for flood-risk management by the federal U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). For more information about the MWCD, visit www.mwcd.org and follow the MWCD on Facebook and Twitter.

Lucky to have a cabin that backs up to the beautiful Mohican Forest. If you look at the trees on hikes, you can see the pines perfectly lined up as they were planted decades ago.

Did you know?
The Mohican Forest Park began in 1928 with 850-acres surrounding the Clearfork Mohican River Gorge, under the direction of the Ohio Division of Forestry. The area was chosen because of natural, geologic, biologic, and historic features such as specific plant species, glacial impact on the area, and how the changing course of the river carved the Gorge. Following their slogan, "Protection-Use-Renewal", the division set aside the Mohican land for developed access and preservation with surrounding fields and pastures reforested with pine and hardwoods by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The Mohican Forest complex once again expanded in 1947 when the state of Ohio acquired 270 additional acres for the dedication of a "Living Memorial" to Ohio's Veterans - known as the Memorial State Forest, and included a Shrine to honor Ohio's fallen soldiers. In 1987 the ODNR Division of Natural Areas and Preserves established the 28-acre Clearfork Natural Area, consisting of a cluster of majestic, native White Pine and Hemlock. In 1967 the National Park Service designated the Clear Fork Gorge as a registered, national landmark, and the Mohican Memorial State Forest now consists of more than 4,500 acres of forested land. The Mohican Memorial State Forest is free to explore and open to the public daily. *Early photo of author and conservationist, Louis Bromfield standing at the Clearfork Gorge Overlook (Photo courtesy of Malabar Farm). *Historical content courtesy of the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum in Loudonville, Ohio.

"The workforce that produced southern Ashland County's parkland and lakes was created in response to the Great Depression. Labor for these projects were performed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, developed in 1933 by the federal government to create jobs for unemployed men.

At Mohican, efforts to establish a state park and preserve the area's natural beauty had been underway five years when CCC Camp Mohican was established near Perrysville. The first wave of CCC laborers arrived in 1933 and went to work on roads, trails, shelters, picnic and campground areas, water wells, fire breaks, fencing and combating pests that threatened forest health.

The project started with 850 acres, most of it mature forest. Ultimately, 4,500 acres were acquired for Mohican Memorial State Forest, 1,300 acres for Mohican State Park and 28 acres for Clear Fork Gorge State Nature Preserve.

CCC projects included the removal of a truss bridge across Clear Fork of the Mohican River near what would become Pleasant Hill Dam. The bridge was moved downstream to what later would become Mohican State Park. It later was replaced with the iconic covered bridge near the trailhead to Big Lyons Falls, one of the park's most popular landmarks" (Irv Oslin, 2015).

To learn more about the Civilian Conservation Corps and the paramount legacy they've left behind , read Irv Oslin's 2015 article at https://irvoslin.wordpress.com/tag/mohican-state-park/. *Photo of the "Boys of the CCC" courtesy of Cleo Redd Fisher Museum in Loudonville, Ohio.