Plan for your Day of Sightseeing and History:

Walk the Trail at Scheefs Eastpoint

Bring your binoculars, camera, and hiking boots!

 
Explore the Island

Walk the Trail at Scheeff East Point Preserve

Scheeff East Point Nature Preserve is an 8.8 acre parcel is one of the last remaining natural settings for people to enjoy the Lake Erie Islands. Offering spectacular views of Lake Erie and the surrounding Islands, East Point's rocky shores, shallow water, and upland cover provide habitat for the Lake Erie Watersnake, thousands of migratory songbirds and waterfowl, and a host of shoreline plants. Mrs. Rose Scheeff provided a generous donation toward the purchase of this property. A walking path around the perimeter and small parking area are available on site. The area offers shoreline fishing, excellent birdwatching, and access for kayakers.

The Preserve is owned by the Put-in-Bay Township Park District. It was purchased by the Western Reserve Land Conservancy with the assistance of the Lake Erie islands Chapter of the Black Swamp Conservancy. Purchase funds came from a Section 6 U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant to protect habitat for the Lake Erie water snake, the Clean Ohio Conservation Fund as well as other donations from the Ohio Division of Wildlife, Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, the First Energy Foundation, the Sandusky Eagles Foundation as well as many other private donors including Mrs. Rose Scheeff.

The Preserve is home to The Lake Erie Water Snake, a non-venomous species unique to the Lake Erie Islands region. Its geographic extent includes portions of the Ohio mainland between Catawba and Marblehead, and on the near-shore and offshore islands and waters of the western Lake Erie basin of Ohio and Canada. Loss of the snake's favored rocky shore habitat and human persecution led to its listing as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1999. This listing authorizes protection of the sub-populations found on the western Lake Erie islands and adjacent waters of the United States.

Since its listing, considerable and successful efforts have been made to increase the populations of the Lake Erie water snake. These efforts include the 2003 development of the Lake Erie Water Snake Recovery Plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The goal of the recovery plan was to ensure multiple viable subpopulations of the Lake Erie Water Snake on the U.S. islands so that the snake can be removed from the Federal list of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The rocky shores, shallow waters and upland cover of the Scheeff East Point Preserve make it ideal habitat for the snake. The snake has now been removed from the federal list. The preservation of this property helped make that possible.