You might not know his name but, Dan Melcher had an enormous effect on the City of Aurora. He was a long-time member and past president of Audubon Society of Greater Cleveland and a member and Vice Chairman of the Planning Commission. He was an environmental advocate. A great deal of the present Aurora zoning code was affected by his presence on the commission during the rewrite. He was instrumental in the land conservation efforts in Aurora and obtained the 40-acre Molnar Sanctuary on Page Rd for Audubon.
The two other Audubon sanctuaries, the E. Pioneer Sanctuary and the Novak Sanctuary on Townline Rd. both were maintained, in a great part to his efforts, and the completed Education Center at the Novak Sanctuary was his project too.
Dan fought for greenspace preservation in Aurora and saved many 100s of acres from development. Without his efforts, Aurora would be a different place today. Dan died Sunday February 23.
We had our differences over the years, but he would still say hello to me. Today, by coincidence my kids wanted to go for a walk at the Pioneer Trail sanctuary, they were loud and boisterous, rolling down the snow covered hills and generally having a great time. Not exactly birdwatching, the way Dan would have preferred. But they laid on their backs in the snow for a long while, silently looking up at the beautiful snow-covered trees, and they heard the birds slowly begin to twitter and chirp and they heard a woodpecker.
My daughter’s friend got up, after a bit of snow hit her face, and said “that interrupted my beautiful moment!”
Hopefully those beautiful moments of our kids lives will encourage them to preserve and enjoy the outdoors. Dan is gone, and somebody else will have to carry on the fight. Maybe these kids will.
Get out and enjoy the greenspace, the parks and the trails of Aurora.
Dan Melcher will be missed by many. I first met Dan when working together to stop the shopping center project years ago. He spent so much of his time and energy on nature. Aurora will need to find someone to watch out for our town as much as Dan did.
Dan was a huge help to the OLPH Boy Scout Troop (265). He allowed us to camp on several of the Audobon properties in exchange for trail building and other Eagle Scout projects. The boys learned about his love for the preservation of these properties and at teh same time got practical experience carring out projects. Dan will be missed – thank you Dan!