Sustainable
environments initiative
Mike Steinmaus, Director of Watershed Restoration Projects
Many
watersheds in the Appalachian Ohio region have been damaged by
acid mine drainage from abandoned deep mines and waste left by
mining operations in the early twentieth century. This damage has
limited the diversity of plant and animal species and left some
streams entire devoid of aquatic life.
For the past four years
Rural Action has worked on watershed restoration, guided by the
following principles: Watershed residents must be involved in both
the planning and the clean-up activities so that they will feel
connected to the clean-up project. Collaboration and partnership
with federal, state, and community agencies is vital to the process
and the outcome of the environmental projects.
Sunday Creek Watershed Group:
The Sunday Creek Watershed is 139 square miles or 88,775 acres and
encompasses parts of Perry, Athens, and Morgan Counties. Sunday Creek
measures 27 miles long and starts flowing north of Corning and flows
south through Chauncey where it enters into the Hocking River. Seventy-eight
percent of the watershed is wooded, 38 percent has been deep-mined
for coal, and 15 percent is owned by the Wayne National Forest. In
2001, the Sunday Creek Watershed Group (SCWG) established an office
at 69 High Street in Glouster.
Monthly Presentations & Potlucks: SCWG's 2001 monthly educational
meeting topics included Astronomy by Tom O'Grady and the Burr Oak
Water Treatment Plant by Roger McCauley. Other presenters over
the year were Jerry Iles from OSU
Extension; Dave Light, a graduate student from Ohio University; Jim
Hart from Perry County Recycling and Litter Prevention; Jeff Ditty
from the Athens County Health Department; Jennifer Windus from ODNR.
Illegal Trash Dump Clean-up: A $10,630 EPA grant from a $350,000
settlement with the Rumpke Landfill in Hamilton County was awarded
to Sunday Creek last fall. In two days in October, community volunteers
picked up four tons of garbage, old tires and abandoned appliances
for disposal. Clean-ups will continue in 2002. A detailed article
appeared in the Spring 2002 Rural Report and in the Sunday Creek
newsletter in fall of 2001.
Outreach Activities: The staff attended both the Corning and Haydenville
Chautauguas with a new display about the Sunday Creek Watershed,
met with professors from Muskingum Tech about our intern program
and held a tree planting on Galen Maxwell's property in Drakes, where
they planted 1,000 trees. SCWG has also worked with local elementary,
middle, high schools and post secondary schools to educate students
about the watershed. Among those projects was a water quality class
in conjunction with an environmental studies class at Miller High
School and work with three home-schooled students. In April, SCWG
conducted a watershed tour for the Army Corps of Engineers and another
for members and residents of the watershed.
Monday Creek Restoration Project:
Reaching from southern Perry County through northern Athens County
where it meets the Hocking River, approximately 40 percent of the
Monday Creek Watershed lies within the Wayne National Forest. After
nearly five years of many areas of Monday Creek are substantially
cleaner, and fish have returned to parts of the creek where none
have been able to live for more than 60 years. The Friends of Monday
Creek community group meets regularly and community volunteers participate
in activities such as water sampling, tree-planting and stream bank
stabilization.
Rock Run Subwater Reclamation: In 2001, Rural Action signed agreements
with the Office of Surface Mining and the U.S. Forest Service to
improve water quality through reclamation projects in three areas
in the Rock Run tributary. The work was carried out in the fall and
Mike Steinmaus, Coordinator of MCRP, provided project inspection,
with assistance from Mitch Farley (ODNR-MRM), Max Luehrs (OSM) and
Bob Kerber (RWE). This was the first project managed by the staff
of MCRP. A detailed article appeared in the most recent issue of
Up the Creek.
The Murray City Acid Mine Drainage and Art
Project: One of two in the country funded jointly by the
National Endowment of the Arts and the Office of Surface Mining,
this project brought
a nationally-recognized landscape architect and artist into the
area to work with local residents to design a park that will include
features
that will actually improve water quality.
Federal Valley Watershed Group:
The Federal Valley Watershed runs from Stewart in Athens County to
Union Township in Morgan County. It is the land between Strouds Run
and Cutler, between Burr Oak and Chesterhill. As of the end of 2001,
the Federal Valley Watershed was waiting for release of funds to
begin work on the watershed management plan written and submitted
last year. (Those funds were released in March of 2002).
A team of five summer VISTAs worked with Ed Green and a high school
intern to complete a comprehensive study of the creek. Federal Valley
Watershed also worked with four township trustee boards and six individual
landowners. They planted 3000 trees and worked with 75 volunteers
who donated more than 500 hours to the project.
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