Unless you hunt with a bow, the newest park in the Trumbull County Metroparks is off limits.
Metroparks bought the 40 acres of what is now known as the Trock Forest Nature Preserve, at South
Albright McKay Road and Everett East Road in Brookfield, with a grant from the Clean Ohio Fund and a
donation from the previous land owners, Thomas and Jennifer Trock.
Metroparks installed a parking lot, with separate grant funds, but a chain and padlock blocks anyone from
entering the lot.
promoUse of the park is prohibited “because there are no designated trails,” said Metroparks Executive Director
Zachary Svette. “We can’t allow just regular park users in there.”
The park has liability concerns over someone getting hurt or lost on the land, which is wild and includes
uneven ground, streams and old fence, he said.
When might there be trails? That will depend on whether Metroparks can get a tax levy passed, Svette
said. A levy failed in November, and park officials are likely not to try again until November 2022.
“If we had a park levy, a lot of our properties would be open,” Svette said. “Just because we don’t have a
park levy and the amount we get from our county commissioners has been on the relatively low side, we
can’t do a lot of that stuff.”
The park is getting $95,000 from the Trumbull County commissioners this year for operations, which
covers Svette’s salary and maintenance costs for the district’s parks that are open, he said.
“On our current budget, we can’t bring on anything new right now, so we are hoping to get our levy
passed so we can open up those types of facilities,” Svette said