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Mailing Address: 2045 Morse Road, Building F-1 Columbus, OH 43229-6693 (614) 265-6453
For general information about the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, e-mail your questions here.
Select a Preserve Acadia Cliffs Adams Lake Prairie Audubon Islands Aurora Sanctuary Bigelow Cemetery Prairie Blackhand Gorge Boord Brown's Lake Bog Burton Wetlands Caesar Creek Gorge Carmean Woods Cedar Bog Chaparral Prairie Clear Creek Clear Fork Gorge Clifton Gorge Collier Compass Plant Prairie Conkle's Hollow Conneaut Swamp Cranberry Bog Crooked Run Culberson Woods Davey Woods Davis Memorial Desonier Drew Woods Dupont Marsh Eagle Creek Erie Sand Barrens Fowler Woods Gahanna Woods Goll Woods Goode Prairie Greenville Falls Gross Woods Hach-Otis Halls Creek Woods Headlands Dunes Herrick Fen Hueston Woods Hutchins (Highbanks) Irwin Prairie Jackson Bog Johnson Ridge Johnson Woods Kendrick Woods Kent (Cooperrider) Bog Kessler Swamp Kiser Lake Wetlands Kitty Todd Knox Woods Kyle Woods Lake Katharine Lakeside Daisy Lawrence Woods Marsh Wetlands Mentor Marsh Milford Center Prairie Morris Woods North Pond North Shore Alvar Novak Old Woman Creek Olsen (Augusta-Anne) Pickerington Ponds Portage Lakes Wetland Riddle Rockbridge Sears Woods Seymour Woods Shallenberger Sharon Woods Gorge Sheepskin Hollow Sheldon Marsh Siegenthaler-Esker Smith Cemetery Prairie Springville Marsh Stage's Pond Swamp Cottonwood Thomas (Sharon Woods) Tinker's Creek Triangle Lake Bog Tucker (Blacklick) Tummonds Wahkeena Whipple Zimmerman Prairie
Main Feature:
Scenic shale bluffs along the Olentangy State Scenic River.
Hutchins Preserve is situated on 100-foot high bluffs overlooking the Olentangy State Scenic River in Delaware County. These massive cliffs are comprised mostly of devonian-age Ohio black shale along with some Olentangy shale.
An oak-hickory woodlands community dominates the drier ridgetops giving way to beech-maple further away from the bluffs. The preserve features 45 tree, 22 shrub and 144 herbaceous species.
A large semi-circular earthwork attributed to the Late Woodland people (Cole culture) and designated as a National Historic Landmark is located within the preserve.
The preserve is owned and managed by the Coumbus/Franklin County metropolitan parks system.
Location:
Located in Franklin/Delaware counties on U.S. Route 23, 4 miles north of Worthington within Highbanks Metropark. A 2-1/2 mile trail traverses the preserve.
Metroparks site
RELATED INFORMATION
Nature Preserve Map
Preserve Rules & Regulations
Handicapped Accessible Preserves
Permit Only Preserves
Preserves Open to the Public
Application For An Access Permit
Access Permit Form (pdf)