Scenic Rivers Year In Review

The Scenic Rivers Program facilitates the statewide protection of 14 designated wild, scenic, and recreational river systems. This includes 24 different stream segments totaling 800 river miles. The Scenic Rivers Program is also responsible for 2,314 acres of protected "scenic river lands" and 3,650 acres protected under conservation easements.

Among some of the notable accomplishments during 2011 within Scenic Rivers Program:

• The Division of Watercraft completed a Scenic Rivers Program strategic plan and integrated it into its overall Watercraft Strategic Plan.
• A watershed management plan for the Ashtabula State Scenic River was completed. This plan was funded by a NOAA grant administered through the ODNR Office of Coastal Zone Management.
• A number of major projects will continue into 2012, including multiple dam removals, dam repairs, bridge replacement, slope stabilization, and utility line impact issues.
• An insert in the Bureau of Motor Vehicles license plate renewal mailings in 2012 will feature the Scenic Rivers specialty license plates. Approximately 3 million inserts will be sent with motor vehicle renewal notices highlighting the two license plates available and the projects they support.
• Rivers Unlimited is facilitating an effort to complete a Wild, Scenic, and Recreational River Study for the Mad River. Rivers Unlimited is proposing to manage the completion of the study working under Scenic River Program guidelines.
• Purchase of a 219-acre property along the Little Darby Creek State and National Scenic River in Madison County was completed. The property was purchased for $875,000 through a Water Resource Restoration Sponsorship Program (WRRSP) grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Water Development Authority.
• The Scenic Rivers Program completed the protection of 94 acres through a conservation easement along the West Fork of the Little Beaver Creek Wild and Scenic River in Columbiana County.
• Stream Quality Monitoring volunteers helped teach workshops and collect scenic river data. Data collected provides baseline river health information. In 2011, more than 4,900 participants monitored 136 sites on Ohio’s designated scenic rivers including 599 stream quality monitoring samples which were collected at least three times a year.