Nature of the Area
A. W. Marion State Park, located in Pickaway County, can
attribute its natural wonders to glaciation that occurred more than
12,000 years ago • As glaciers advanced over more than
two-thirds of Ohio, vast amounts of rock and soil (or till) were
deposited over the landscape • This till had a direct effect
on the natural vegetation that occurs at A. W. Marion • The
surface of the park is fairly level and the soil very fertile
The area is diverse with woodlands, plains and prairie •
Ohio's prairies, products of an ancient dry climate, are really
small versions of the more extensive grasslands in the western
United States • This eastern portion extends into Ohio and is
part of the prairie-forest border or tension zone • Within
this zone, the grasslands increased in size during droughts, only
to be reinvaded by forests during wet periods • Before
settlement began, scrub oak barrens, dense thickets formed by this
shrub, were common in the region but have since been cleared for
raising crops
The nearby floodplains of the Scioto River are adorned with a
variety of wildflowers • Wildlife indigenous to the area
includes fox squirrel, ring-necked pheasant, a variety of
songbirds, red fox and white-tailed deer.
Placed by a member of the
