Metroparks Toledo, officially the Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area, is a public park district consisting of parks, nature preserves, a botanical garden, trail network and historic battlefield in Lucas County, Ohio. Founded during the Great Depression and initially built using labor from federal New Deal programs, the present park district includes 12,700 acre across 19 metroparks and nearly 200 miles of trails throughout the Toledo area. The largest park, Oak Openings Preserve Metropark, is a centerpiece of the Oak Openings Region and features ecologically significant oak savanna landscapes and globally rare plant communities. Pearson Metropark contains one of the last remaining stands of the Great Black Swamp. The district includes historically and culturally significant sites, including the Fallen Timbers Battlefield, surviving Miami and Erie Canal infrastructure at Side Cut and Providence Metroparks, and a variety of shelters and buildings built by the federal Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps. Wildwood Preserve Metropark features one of the last remaining public, free-admission gardens designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman at the former manor house estate of Champion spark plug magnate Robert Stranahan.

Governance

Metroparks Toledo is governed by a five-member volunteer board of commissioners appointed by the Lucas County probate court judge. The park district administrative offices are located at Wildwood Preserve Metropark. The system is funded by three tax levies, the state local government fund, grants and donations. In 2022, the district employed 164 full-time and part-time employees.

Metroparks

The district comprises 19 metroparks. Two additional properties, Fort Miamis in Maumee and the Brookwood Area in Toledo, are part of the district, but are not defined as metroparks.

Land holdings

Metroparks Toledo owns 167 acre of farmland in Toledo near Inverness Club for future development as a metropark. Metroparks officials said the future park will be the "typical Metroparks experience" with meadows and a sledding hill. The district additionally owns approximately 1,900 acre, called the Oak Openings Corridor, in western Lucas County and Swan Creek Township, Fulton County. Four Maumee River islands (Marengo, Audubon, Blue Grass and Granger) totaling 257 acre are owned by Metroparks Toledo. Granger Island features a private cabin available for rent.

Regional trails

Metroparks Toledo manages all or portions of several paved, regional rail trails.