In 1998, with the help of an anonymous donor, Ashland University purchased 38 acres of wetland six miles south of campus on US-42. In 2004, an additional 260 acres was purchased with the support of a grant from the Clean Ohio Conservation Fund, with a matching grant from the Richland County Foundation. The Black Fork Wetlands is the largest of Ashland University’s five environmental preserves.

Access to the Black Fork Wetlands Preserve was helped enormously by the development of parking and boardwalk access to the area by OH-42, just inside the Richland County line. This was Phase I of the Black Fork Wetlands Environmental Studies Center and included an observation tower, a deck big enough for larger groups, and 400 feet of boardwalka into a marsh adjacent to the Black Fork of the Mohican River. School groups and teacher-training groups have kept this site busy ever since.