In 1942 Cedar Bog became the first nature preserve in Ohio purchased
with state funds. Efforts to set this wetland aside began in the
1920s through the efforts of Florence Murdock and her daughter.
Efforts intensified in the mid 1930s with help from Walter Brigham
Evens, Jr., and finally came to fruition in 1941 due to the interests
of Champaign County Common Pleas Judge Owens, Governor John
Bicker, and Dr. Edward S. Thomas of the Ohio Historical Society.
This relatively small parcel is an outstanding example of a
prairie/fen complex known as Cedar Swamp that once covered
7,000 acres of the Mad River Valley. Approximately one quarter
of the plant species in Ohio are found here. Cedar Bog also has a
large number of rare species, two of which, the Small Yellow
Lady's Slipper Orchid and Prairie Valerian, occur in Ohio only at
Cedar Bog or one other site.
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