OEC - Water

McDonald Creek

McDonald Creek, a tributary of the Scioto River near Buckeye Egg Farm in Marion County, was ditched in early 2003. The Wyandot Indians named many central Ohio streams and rivers including the Scioto, which in their native tongue "Sei-ou-to" meant "the stream with many legs."

McDonald Creek was known to the Wyandots as "Muskrat Water." While muskrats can still be found in the area, the channelization and removal of the trees and shrubs along the banks of the stream make it inhospitable for many types of fish and acquatic wildlife.

Pike Run

Allen County Commissioners will determine the fate of Pike Run (right) when it decides whether or not to approve a controversial ditch project which would remove trees along 15 feet of the streambanks. The Commissioners had previously approved a petition ditch project for a neighboring tributary to the Ottawa River, Dug Run, in the late 1990's (below). At one time, over a dozen
	ditch projects were being proposed for streams flowing through the county. Meanwhile the Ottawa River fails to meet minimum Clean Water Act standards, party due to habitat alteration typically caused by ditching and channelization projects.

South Fork of the Great Miami

A private ditch project removed trees and vegetation from the stream banks of the South Fork of the Great Miami in Logan County (left). The trees and brush were then piled along the stream bank to be burned. Approximately one mile upstream from the ditch project is the site of the "Stream Care and Tree Planting Project" (below) sponsored by the Indian Lake Watershed Project, Ohio DNR, Ohio EPA, Logan SWCD, NRCS, and OSU Extension. The South Fork of the Great Miami flows into Indian Lake in Logan County

Bowl Run

Aggressive mowing of Bowl Run, a tributary to the Licking River in Licking County, resulted in a fish kill in June 2003. Grass clippings decayed, robbing the water of dissolved oxygen which fish and other aquatic wildlife need to survive. County engineers maintain 50 miles of waterways in the county-including Bowl Run-as ditches by removing streamside vegetation and regularly mowing grass along the stream.

While legal, this practice conflicts with conservation initiatives aimed at improving water quality by establishing and protecting vegetative buffer strips and streamside forests along waterways.