Author: sawmaster

Ohio has a rich history of business innovation and technological advancement. Ohio has long been a state that facilitates and promotes invention and innovation. Consequently, as the States economic landscape becomes increasingly global and diverse, our state government must respond to that diversity by crafting better methods for appropriately regulating entities that conduct business in the state.

Download as a PDF

Trumbull Creek Wetlands Mitigation Bank
September 1, 2007

The purpose of a wetlands mitigation bank is clear: to create wetlands to compensate for similar areas that are being disrupted elsewhere by residential or commercial development, infrastructure construction or other uses. But if the purpose of a bank is clear, how best to create one is less so. As more information becomes available, the standards by which a successful wetlands restoration is judged are changing, making the … read more >

Download as a PDF

Let’s look at two wetland projects. One, the Sandy Ridge Reservation in North Ridgeville, will serve as our gold standard. The other, at Lake Abram in southern Cuyahoga County, is a work in progress with high aspirations. Federal law requires wetlands used for public or private development to be replaced by wetlands in another area.

The prime beneficiary of this land-swap arrangement in Northeast Ohio is Sandy Ridge, one of the state’s finest birding destinations. In the 17 years since its 310 acres of farmland were restored to wetland, Sandy Ridge has become a vital stop for migrating shorebirds, waterfowl, waders and songbirds, and a host for nesting bald eagles, sandhill cranes, rails and woodpeckers.

Download as a PDF

The Wetland Research Park was named in honor of the late Wilma H. Schiermeier, an Ohio State University alumnus who was concerned about clean air and water. Schiermeier dedicated in excess of $1.5 million through her estate to the complex to ensure the park’s continued research and vitality. Schiermeier, who passed away in 2004, was Hamilton County’s representative to the Ohio Farm Bureau and served as the board’s secretary from 1993-2003. She was posthumously awarded the Hamilton County Farm Bureau “Outstanding Service to Agriculture Award.” Vince Messerly, president of the Ohio Wetlands Foundation, said his organization recognizes William J. Mitsch, a professor of natural resources and environmental science at Ohio State and director of the Olentangy River Wetlands Research Park, as a national leader in wetland science and study.

Ohio’s most recently restored wetland, a 33-acre site at the Hebron State Fish Hatchery in Licking County, is the product of an unlikely alliance of seemingly opposed interests – the Ohio Home Builders Association, the Ohio Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – and a process called mitigation banking.

Download as a PDF

After the initial shock wore off, most of the birders I know got a good laugh out of the news a couple of weeks ago that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency considered the Sandy Ridge Reservation a massive mistake.

Before writing the story, my colleague at The Plain Dealer, environmental writer John Kuehner, asked me what I thought of Sandy Ridge. I told him it was one of the jewels of the Lorain County parks system and a convenient destination for hundreds of Northeast Ohio birders.

Download as a PDF