Clark Island restoration among four local H2Ohio projects

May 7—Four of the DeWine administration's H2Ohio projects are in the city of Toledo, including one which encompasses 190 acres and two Maumee River islands near Walbridge Park.

They are among nearly five dozen statewide being funded by the program to help the Lake Erie or Ohio River watersheds, with many others in northwest Ohio.

The projects are planned as long-term efforts to help improve statewide water quality, mostly through wetlands rehabilitation and expansion.

The four are:

—Clark Island and Horseshoe Island, which are north and south of Walbridge Park, respectively.

—Duck Creek, which is primarily in East Toledo and along its Oregon border.

—Cullen Park, which is along the Maumee in Point Place.

—Grassy Island, which also is along the Maumee in Point Place.

The hope for rebuilding Clark Island is still largely conceptual. A fraction of its original 40 acres remain, but the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority recently accepted a $620,000 H2Ohio grant for design and engineering.

That and other state-funded wetlands projects are being managed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

"Clark Island has eroded considerably, particularly with the higher water levels and heavy rain. Only about 10 percent of the original island is left," said Scudder Mackey, chief of the Ohio DNR Office of Coastal Management. "Clark Island now is a very small sliver of land."

Any money for natural enhancements aimed at rebuilding that island and adjacent areas would come from future H2Ohio funding cycles, he said.

"That's why it's important we identify and lock in future long-term funding for the [H2Ohio] program," said Joe Cappel, the port authority's vice president of business development.

Clark Island is the focus of a 190-acre study area that also includes Horseshoe Island.

Officials hope the engineering analysis shows both could be built into larger wetland sites and become more efficient at filtering out farm sediment flowing in the Maumee toward western Lake Erie, Mr. Mackey said.

"That would provide better water quality and nutrient trapping," he said. "We want that to behave more like a natural system."

Mr. Cappel agreed.

"It would be designing a project to capture nutrients and promote habitat," he said.

The Duck Creek project is near the Cleveland-Cliffs hot-briquetted iron plant, which processes iron for consumption by electric-arc steel mills.

Plans are underway there to spend $1.8 million on removing phragmites reeds and other invasive plants, as well as agricultural runoff and soil contaminated by industrial pollution from decades ago. Some 2,200 feet will be modified back to a more natural water flow, according to Mr. Mackey, who said Duck Creek has been a "highly altered stream" over the years.

"This is the first of several potential wetlands," he said of the planned restoration work. "There are tools we can use to redesign natural channels. That helps improve water quality."

At Cullen Park, about $4.2 million of restoration work is planned in 2022. That project's design, also based mostly around wetlands restoration, is about 90 percent finished.

Engineering plans for rebuilding Grassy Island someday are about 60 percent finished now, and should be completed this summer, Mr. Mackey said.

He said there has been about $700,000 invested into the Grassy Island project so far. Like Clark Island, any construction money would come from a future H2Ohio funding cycle or possibly a federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant.

"The partnership we have with the Port of Toledo and the city of Toledo is very good," Mr. Mackey said. "We're on the same page with these projects. We expect significant value with these projects."

That includes better public access, better water quality, and better fishing and birding opportunities, he said.

According to cullenbaywetlands.com, the Cullen Park and Grassy Island projects are "focused on improving water quality in the Maumee River and Lake Erie by reestablishing the wetlands that historically existed in this area."

"These ecosystems naturally help reduce phosphorus and other nutrients in the water through aquatic vegetation and deeper zones that process, absorb and remove contaminants from the water," the website states.

Both Mr. Mackey and Mr. Cappel said they are optimistic about the future of H2Ohio projects in Toledo and elsewhere.

"Collectively, all of these projects are going to make a big difference," Mr. Cappel said. "It's exciting and fun to be part of it."

First Published May 7, 2021, 11:00am