If you happen to be travelling by Fox Den Golf Course on Call Road in Stow and see a helicopter flying over, and the helicopter is transporting trees, you’re not seeing things! A private company, Energy Transfer, has an easement on the Fox Den property that runs north to south through the course. There are approximately fifty-four trees on the easement through the course that need to be cleared.
Energy Transfer, using their tree clearing subcontractor Midwest, will begin dropping the trees on Friday, March 24 throughout the course. On March 27 & 28, the company will transport the cut trees by helicopter to a staging area across Call Road, near the Fox Den driving range. The helicopter is being used for transport, rather than heavy trucks and equipment, to incur as little damage as possible to the golf course. The trees will then be chipped on-site and hauled away.
Fox Den Golf Course will be closed both days that the helicopter is operating – March 27 & 28. Motorists may be affected by intermittent road closures and minor delays as Energy Transfer transports trees across Call Road. This is expected to occur routinely throughout the day on March 27 and 28, between the hours of 7:30am and 7:00pm. It would be best to avoid the area, if possible.
In the more than 17 years that the City of Stow has owned the course, this type of easement clearing has never been done. To remediate, Fox Den will plant more than 50 new trees in the area where the old trees will be removed.