Synergy for a Healthy Campus Watershed
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Date
2019-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Office of Outreach and Engagement
Abstract
Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed (FLOW) will highlight the connections that have been made with different partners at Ohio State and explain how the web of partners has strengthened improvements in water quality, as well as genuine learning and service for students.
Description
The Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed (FLOW) has been around for 21 years working on our watershed inventory and watershed action plan, but it wasn’t until we started reaching out to our valuable resources in the watershed (like Ohio State) that we started making significant strides in improving the health of the watershed. Thanks to collaboration with on campus partners like PARE, FABE, ENR, EHS, and student groups like Pay-it-Forward and the Undergraduate Student Government, FLOW has been able to strengthen our outreach and education on ecologically-based land management. For example, a Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering (FABE) capstone team years ago helped FLOW as we developed our Land Management Initiative for the 10 golf courses in our watershed. The students developed brochures, invited golf course superintendents, and created a PowerPoint presentation on the value of reducing mowing of play areas, increasing infiltration to improve groundwater, and how to decrease bank erosion by planting riparian areas along stream and ponds that are out of play. A Civil Engineering Capstone Class evaluated an unusual 1970s stormwater basin for a water quality retrofit. The information on design and prospective cost as well as the ecological value of the water quality improvements was compelling for our municipal partners. This past school year, a FABE capstone team assessed the ecological value of the 6.5-acre Ohio State parcel at Carmack Woods. The three main objectives for this team were to find and delineate all wetlands within the site, design a restoration plan involving the removal of understory invasives and replacement with native tree species, and quantifying the ecosystem services of the site by determining the total carbon sequestration and storm water retention (before and after restoration). With the help of more than 100 volunteers providing almost 1,000 volunteer hours of labor, the students successfully removed invasive honeysuckle from approximately 1.1 acres and planted 550 native trees and shrubs. In addition to the technical support from students, faculty and staff, the watershed has also benefited from the volunteer services of students with help in picking up litter, removing invasives and planting trees) to increase the canopy cover on campus and throughout the watershed. The presentation will highlight multiple examples of the synergy between Ohio State and FLOW with the hope of reaching even more potential partners at Ohio State.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Laura Fay, secretary of FLOW Board and chair of FLOW Science Committee, Ohio EPA and Ohio Department of Natural Resources, lfay9785@columbus.rr.com (Corresponding Author)
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Laura Fay, secretary of FLOW Board and chair of FLOW Science Committee, Ohio EPA and Ohio Department of Natural Resources, lfay9785@columbus.rr.com (Corresponding Author)
Keywords
partnerships, water quality, community enrichment, synergy, service learning
Citation
Engaged Scholars, v. 7 (2019).