New bat condo built at Aeraland Recreational Area

ARCADIA — Visitors will notice a new addition the next time they spend time at Aeraland Recreation Area. In addition to a lake, picnic shelter, hiking trails and soccer fields, a bat condo that's designed to hold up to 10,000 mother bats and their young was erected there in the fall. The rural county park is located on Washington Township Road 243 near Arcadia. Brandon Burrow, an electrical engineer at Marathon Petroleum Corp., led construction of the new wooden structure, aided by employees and community members. "Maybe Hancock County is the new safe haven (for bats) for northwest Ohio," he said. How it started It all started when Burrow and his three children, ages 11, 9 and 6, saw bats flying across their backyard. He said the kids wanted to know where the flying mammals live. They did some research that revealed bats are endangered in this area and don't have homes. So the family decided to build small bat houses for family members. "It was an excuse to get them out in the garage and woodwork with me," Burrow explained. Woodworking is one of his favorite hobbies. Burrow grew up in Toledo and became interested in woodworking in his late teens while working with his dad, who is a tool and die maker. "I've always worked with my hands and fixed anything I can," he said. He met his future wife, Jennifer, in 2007. By coincidence, her father makes furniture, is a home remodeler and carpenter by trade so he's been able to help his son-in-law expand his woodworking skills. Later, during a visit to Riverbend Recreation Area, the family wondered why they'd never seen any bat houses there. Burrow reached out to the Hancock Park District and offered to build some for the park. He worked with his boss, and MPC provided a $1,000 grant for the project. With those funds, Burrow was able to build 25 bat houses in 2021. The houses were installed at various parks in Hancock County including Litzenberg Memorial Woods, Oakwoods Nature Preserve and Riverbend, he said. "I think after delivering 25 of them, they were happy and they were like, wow, this is more than we expected," said Burrow. The project took 75 hours of his time and 150 hours of having friends come over on a weekend or an evening and help. A question of size A few months went by, and in late 2022, Chad Carroll, HPD naturalist, asked Burrow about building a larger bat condo. "I looked at it seriously for like two minutes, and I was like, we're going to need $10,000 and maybe 400 hours," Burrow said. Carroll had seen a similar structure in Danville, Ohio and thought the park district could use something like that. Burrow said they initially thought about building the condo at Riverbend but couldn't get the permit approved due to flood waters in the area. Their second choice was Aeraland, he said. The park district worked with MPC for a grant, and Burrow revised plans provided on the Pennsylvania Game Commission website. "The problem is their plan has basically four poles in the ground and then they built this thing 22 feet off the ground. And being safety oriented, I thought that was a challenging plan," he said. Instead, they decided to build the condo on the ground and then figure out how to lift it 14 feet and put it on the poles. "So I had a few big challenges in the beginning, and one was I can build anything, but I don't have the equipment to set those poles," he said. Burrow was able to partner with Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative to donate and set four utility poles for the project. Alvada Construction also signed on to provide equipment and volunteers to lift and set the condo in place. The plan involved Burrow, who will be 39 this month, doing much of the prep work at home in his driveway. It all comes together Construction started in mid-August 2023 and the condo was built in stages. When completed, the house measured 8-foot by 8-feet wide and 8.5-feet high. Inside are more than 100 ¼-inch plywood sheets that provide roosting places. Small openings on the sides and vents allow the bats to enter. The bottom is closed, and the structure is made to retain heat, he said. The condo will act as a maternity roost for species such as the little brown bat. Burrow said it could take five to eight years to fully populate the building. Hopefully the condo will help the dwindling number of bats increase, he said. And more bats also means less mosquitos. "I'm no bat expert. It was first about getting the kids to do something with me, woodworking. And then it became caring for a part of God's creation that a lot of people don't care for legitimately," he said. It also gave Burrow a chance to talk more about volunteering with his children. In all, 400 volunteer hours went into the project which included 100 hours from Hancock-Wood, Alvada Construction and HPD. MPC employees volunteered 90 hours, and Burrows worked 150 hours on the condo which was finished by early October. "We might see some (bats) next year, but how cool would it be to go out there with my adult children and still be in Hancock County and be like, hey let's go look at this thing that we built together," he said. There is $4,000 left since Burrow didn't have to buy poles or rent equipment. He said there's already been talk about building something for a chimney swift, which is an endangered bird that inhabits structures like hollowed out trees or chimneys. "You can build one of those for $600-$800. And I was like, hey, if you want me to build it, I can't just build one. I'm not that kind of guy," he laughed. "If you want me to build five, I'll build five. I like big projects and making a huge impact."