| "We wanted to look at the problems in the watershed and develop solutions to those problems." | |
| John Mathews, Ohio Division of Soil and Water Conservation |
|
Creeks and streams that flow through our nation's coastal cities and suburbs often carry pollutants and sediment that can impact an entire watershed. A program in Ohio is utilizing county Soil and Water Conservation Districts to take a resource approach to improving urban waterways that ultimately impact Lake Erie.
The Urban Streams Program was developed in 1997 after the Lake Erie Coastal Strategic Management Plan listed urbanization as the "most rapidly increasing threat" to the watershed, says John Mathews, stormwater specialist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Soil and Water Conservation. The program provides grant funding to seven coastal Soil and Water Conservation Districts to create either a full- or part-time position to "initiate projects aimed at restoring, improving, or protecting urban streams and waterways."
Mathews notes, "We wanted to start something that focused on urban streams because they get the least amount of attention, but that's where most people live, and where most of the impacts are hardest to undo."
Each county program submits a proposal to address its specific resources, Mathews says. Once it receives funding, the county can then employ an urban stream specialist that has the specific skills necessary to address the needs of the local resources. For instance, he notes one county has hired "more of an education person," while another has hired someone with a background in monitoring streams and geographic information systems (GIS) skills. "There's a lot of variety in the people, but there's a lot of variety in the Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the communities they're working with."
The five-year grants provide full funding the first year, declining by $2,750 each year. Mathews says after the sixth year, the state provides 50 percent of the funds necessary to maintain the position.
The idea for the program, he explains, was to shift from a "program-based approach to a resources-based approach to water resources in the coastal area. Programs tend to take on a life of their own, and rarely do you go back and reevaluate if it's still helping the resource. We wanted to look at the problems in the watershed and develop solutions to those problems. If it's urbanization, maybe one of the problems is encroachment of development, and we need to work on riparian ordinances in that area. If it's sediment, we might want to work on construction site inspections." He says his challenge to the urban stream specialists is always to evaluate "whether the thing you're spending time on is really improving the resource."
Mathews describes the program as a "success." He notes that the program is being expanded to two noncoastal counties, and that one county "began the program on their own because they thought it was a good idea."
He adds, "This is not something that was getting hit by existing programs. It's gotten people into areas where we didn't have anybody before."
For more information on Ohio's Urban Streams Program, contact John Mathews at (614) 265-6685 or John.Mathews@dnr.state.oh.us.
