The state bought the bog in 1985 after the Starks died. Caretaker Chris Craycroft lives in the original farmhouse. Cooperrider likes to remind people that the Kent Bog was the first natural area purchased with funds from the Ohio Income Tax Check-off Program. Taxpayers due refunds may designate a contribution to the fund. Plaques have been installed at the bog to explain what's what.
Several benches are available.
As the climate warmed following glaciation, these northern species slowly were displaced by more southern vegetation. Kettle hole bog lakes gradually filled with peat, especially sphagnum peat. The last vestige of open lake probably disappeared just prior to European settlement. The trees at Kent Bog apparently comprise the largest, southernmost, nearly pure stand of tamaracks in the continental United States. There are an estimated 2,000 or more mature tamarack trees and thousands of seedlings.