Project Profile: Restore Woodlands to Improve Visitor Experience

The forest surrounding Paint Creek at Seip Earthworks.

NPS / A. Vrioni

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Recreation | FY23 $50,000

The National Park Service will protect a key area for visitation as well as the cultural landscape associated with Hopewell era earthwork at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. The proposed project is designed to restore 33 acres of forest in the park area known as Mound City and Seip Earthworks.

Why? Removal of invasive honeysuckle in the park will provide improvements to forest understory and enhance the visitor experience immediately adjacent to Hopewell era earthworks, while opening views of and access to the Scioto River. These riparian woodlands along with the forested hill slopes in the region provide important opportunities for visitors to experience forests in an otherwise predominantly agricultural landscape.

What Else? The park attracts visitors to observe the extensive earthworks of the Hopewell mound building era (2,000 ybp), which provides over four miles of hiking trails. In addition, this project will be completed in collaboration with park partner Conservation Corps Iowa.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – Ecosystem Restoration

This project was made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – Ecosystem Restoration, signed on November 15, 2021. It is a historic investment in the restoration and protection of the environment.