While most of the Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area is in Wayne County, there are two sections of the wildlife area in Holmes County you can access from OH-83. Going south on OH-83 from Wooster turn right (west) onto County Line Road and go .5 mile. There is a small parking area on the south side of the road where you may park to walk and explore this section of the wildlife area.

The other hotspot location in Holmes County is Butler Spring.

The 5,671-acre Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area is situated in northeastern Ohio in portions of Wayne and Holmes counties. The area extends north from Holmesville to three miles south of Wooster and lies between OH-83 on the east and OH-226 on the west.

The area is in a shallow, U-shaped glacial outwash valley. The elevation varies from 840 feet at the floor of Killbuck Creek near Holmesville to nearly 1,000 feet on hillsides parallel to the valley floor. About 56 percent of the acquisition unit consists of marshes and swamps that are flooded during some portion of the year. This complex is Ohio’s largest remaining marshland outside of the Lake Erie region.

The purchase of land for Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area began in 1969. Additional land is being acquired as funds become available. The wildlife management plan provides for maintenance and protection of the existing woodlands, the establishment of regular crop rotations, the improvement of open fields for wildlife nesting by controlled burning and selective spraying, and the establishment of food patches for general wildlife use. Permanent wildlife cover has been provided by planting thousands of trees and shrubs. Wright’s Marsh, a 350-acre diked wetland off OH-226, was restored in partnership with Ducks Unlimited. Dikes and water control structures are being developed to increase and improve the wetland habitats in the area.