Special mention goes to our major donors, including:
• Ohio EPA • The George Gund Foundation
• The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District • Dominion Resources
• The Burning River Foundation • ArcelorMittal
• Goodtime Cruise Lines • PolyOne • Goodyear Tire & Rubber

Additional thanks go to Whole Foods, the Sewer Pipe Users Group,
the Ohio Environmental Council, McMahon DeGulis LLP, who underwrote the printing of our holiday cards (on recycled and recyclable stock, of course,) and to everyone who shopped at CafePress for their Year of the River merchandise.

And to our stakeholder partners, and the Plain Dealer and Akron
Beacon Journal for telling our story so well this year, we thank you
and wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Earlier this month the Ohio Lake Erie Commission and the Ohio Water Resources Council awarded six Balanced Growth Strategy grants to local watershed projects across the state, one of which will support the BGI plan for Furnace Run. The $57,400 Furnace Run grant was one of only two in the Lake Erie Watershed.

The grants advance the Lake Erie Balanced Growth component to Ohio's Lake Erie Protection & Restoration Plan by promoting voluntary planning for priority areas for future growth and conservation at the local level. 

"These grants support Lake Erie basin watershed planning, and improve local economic development and conservation, through the application of Balanced Growth practices," said ODNR Director and Ohio Lake Erie Commission Chairman Sean Logan.

Priority consideration was given to local watershed planning partnership groups comprised of local governments in each watershed, as well as planning agencies, councils of governments, non-profit organizations and other locally chosen stakeholders. The two-year funding is provided by the Ohio Water Development Authority and the Lake Erie Protection Fund.

Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski added, "The benefits of balanced growth are enormous. The grants will help communities coordinate water, wastewater, transportation and other infrastructure planning while protecting and restoring Ohio's watersheds. Korleski also chairs the Ohio Water Resources Council.

The first site will create a 3,000-foot-long strip of new larval fish habitat along the riverbank on the eastern edge of the Scranton Peninsula and seven acres of terrestrial riparian wildlife habitat. The project will add public access to the river's edge in a restored natural setting, and be one of the few places where the river and the Towpath Trail run so close together. This project is a collaboration among the CIty of Cleveland, the Ohio Canal Corridor, the RAP, Cuyahoga County Engineer, the Trust for Public Land and the Cleveland Metroparks.

Site number 2 is part of the Old River Channel, where more than 100,000 cubic yards of toxic sediment are to be removed and critical fish habitat restored. Existing steel bulkheads will be refurbished or replaced. Habitat restored near the former American Ship Building site will provide important lake marsh nursery habitat.

Site 3 is Irishtown Bend. Working with the City of Cleveland and the U. S. Corps of Engineers, CRCPO has been helping to bring together stakeholders to tackle the problem of the hillside slumping into the river. CRCPO and parters, the Corps and OhioEPA, see the stabilization of this area as a great opportunity to restore approximately 3,000 linear feet of riparian and aquatic habitat for migrating fish.
The last sites, 4a and 4b, are located, respectively, beneath the Main Avenue bridge on the Flats west bank, and at the hillside adjacent to the new I-90 Bridge on the west bank. Both sites offer opportunities to develop innovative approaches for attenuating storm water runoff from the bridges while also creating pocket marsh areas along the river's edge. In both places, natural areas would be integrated with trails currently in design and planning.

The "Habitat for Hard Places" initiative, and the re-naturalization of this most urban river segment will, we hope, offer a model for other RAPs as well as other heavily urbanized rivers. Contact CRCPO Executive Director JIm White for more information. (216.241.2414 x307 or whitej@cuyahogariverrap.org)

They started Friday the 13th with a visit to the flats, a short "meet the Cuyahoga" lesson, a tour with Kelly Lange of the Historic Warehouse District Development Corp., an update on plans for Canal Basin Park and managed to collect two full bags of litter along the way (the "service" part of the visit.)

READ the latest on the river:

Third oil spill on Cuyahoga River investigated
Posted by Michael Scott/Plain Dealer Reporter July 09, 2009 20:48PM

Ohio EPA, Northeast Ohio Sewer District disagree about source of oil that killed gulls
Posted by Michael Scott/Plain Dealer Reporter July 01, 2009 21:38PM

Investigators blaming oil spill from sewer pipe for gull kill on Cuyahoga River (see video)
Posted by Michael Scott/Plain Dealer Reporter June 26, 2009 12:41PM

"Groups working to get Cuyahoga River off pollution list" posted 5/9/09

"Cuyahoga River fish get a helping hand" posted 5/10/09

Click here for a calendar of activities.

The folks at the Portage Park District want you to know that their office will be closed until January 10th due to budget constraints.
Contact:The Portage Park District, 128 North Prospect Street, Ravenna, OH 44266 - 330-297-7728. Email Park Director Christine Craycroft, or Program Coordinator Dawn Alber, or Administrative Assistant/Volunteer Coordinator Susan Blair and visit on the web at www.portageparkdistrict.org.

PRIORITIZING WETLAND RESTORATION POTENTIAL
in the TRIBUTARIES of the CUYAHOGA RIVER AREA OF CONCERN (AOC) (PDF download 3.5M)

This is the introduction and overview. Detailed information for each tributary watershed will be posted as individual chapters in the weeks to come.

The goal of this project is A ranking model has been developed to assist in identifying the “top wetland sites” in each tributary watershed of the Cuyahoga River AOC. By identifying wetland sites, this project will help expedite and focus efforts to meet mitigation needs, as well as make the best use of other public or private funding sources.