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Welcome to the Friends of Big Walnut Creek and Rocky Fork and
Blacklick Tributaries website.
The Watersheds served are from below Hoover Dam to the Scioto River Confluence. We hope
you share our enthusiasm for these natural wonders right in our own
back yard. The mission of the Friends of Big
Walnut Creek is to protect and restore Big Walnut Creek and Rocky
Fork and Blacklick Tributaries for the mutual benefit of the human
and natural communities and to enhance stewardship within the
watershed through education, collaboration, monitoring. and
community clean-up efforts.
"An Urban Oasis" picture by Henry Cahalla
Author Henry Crahalla
describes Gahanna's nearby Creekside Park in the latest FOBWC
Newsletter in "An Urban Oasis (The Natural Side of Creekside Park)".
This, updates on the Blacklick Creek Watershed Plan by Kurt Keljo,
Streamside Protection by Bob Bostard and pictures from the Big
Walnut, Rocky Fork and Blacklick Watersheds can be found by
following link below ...
FOBWnewsletter.pdf
Please view this link to: Our
Nine Goals to Improve the Lower Big Walnut Watershed
MORPC’s Rocky Fork Watershed Action Plan Fully
Endorsed by Ohio EPA and Ohio Department of Natural Resources
(Columbus-March 29, 2010) The
Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission’s Rocky Fork Watershed Action
Plan has been officially endorsed by the Ohio EPA and the Ohio
Department of Natural Resources.
The Rocky Fork Creek Watershed
Action Plan is a comprehensive plan that addresses water bodies
within the watershed that are in need of repair and protect areas
that are meeting the Ohio EPA water quality standards. The goal of
the plan is to restore and maintain the physical and biological
integrity of all water bodies within the watershed. This includes
jurisdictional streams and wetlands.
The Rocky Fork Watershed is a
sub-watershed of Big Walnut Creek located in Franklin County, Ohio,
within the townships of Plain, Jefferson, and Harlem; within the
municipalities of New Albany and Gahanna; and within the City of
Columbus, Ohio. The length of the mainstream of Rocky Fork Creek
meanders 13.0 miles from the headwaters in Delaware County, Ohio,
until it reaches the confluence with Big Walnut Creek in urban
Gahanna. This sub-watershed drains approximately 30 square miles.
“Having an endorsed plan means
that stream improvement or protection projects seeking federal or
state grant funding receive higher priority, increasing funding
opportunities,” states David Rutter, MORPC Watershed Coordinator.
Link to
MORPC to view the Approved Plan
For more information contact David Rutter, Watershed Coordinator,
drutter@morpc.org, 614-233-4186 or Kurt Keljo, Watershed
Coordinator,
kkeljo@morpc.org, 614-233-4209. To view the plan, visit
www.morpc.org and select Programs under Energy & Environment.
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New Albany School Treats
Parking Lot Runoff "Naturally" New
Albany's K-1 Elementary School on Swickard Woods Blvd. found
treating parking lot runoff in wetland swales can reduce initial
construction costs and long term maintenance. It can also greatly
improve the quality of the water leaving the site and entering the
nearby streams and waterways.
The New Albany, OH project has become a demonstration model to illustrate to
other school districts the advantages of this contemporary water
management practice.
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Airport Wetland Mitigation Remains in Watershed
If past practices are an indicator, destroyed wetlands are much
more easily mitigated at far away wetland banks. Such is not the
case for a recent wetland mitigation site on Olde Ridenour Road in
Gahanna, Ohio. Thanks to the efforts of the Friends of Big Walnut
Creek and Tributaries, the Columbus International Airport , Parks
and Recreation, Williams Creek and many other concerned groups
and individuals a destroyed wetland rose again in an area that
drains into Big Walnut Creek. Mitigation is
required for impacts to wetlands. According to Vinnie Tremonte of
Williams Creek Consulting who designed the project, "The airport in
their desire to be good stewards of the land, wanted to provide
local in-watershed mitigation. The site was chosen in coordination
with Gahanna Parks and Recreation. The existing grading of the site
was such that there was always standing water in the parking lot
whenever it rained. So the project eliminates a water problem for
the city and provides mitigation for the Airport. The site also
indirectly receives storm water runoff from the development up the
hill that was also contributing to the flooding problem in the
parking lot." Keeping a watershed mitigation
in the local area has obvious advantages to the water quality and
beauty of the local watershed. It's a recent trend that could
continue if these in-watershed sites meet EPA and local
expectations.
These pictures were taken on a foggy morning on
Olde Ridenour Rd in Gahanna, OH ...
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