Spectrum News: Researchers place logs to protect Ohio's streams

The creek flows into Mill Creek and eventually the Ohio River. Biologists and a team of volunteers placed logs in strategic places to facilitate the creation of drought-resistant pools that can support wildlife in the hottest summer months. The logs also could help slow the flow of water during heavy storms, which can threaten to wash fish and other aquatic life far downstream.

Adam Lehmann, a stream specialist with the Hamilton County Conservation District, told Spectrum News that flood-mitigation efforts used streams to divert water quickly to the detriment of aquatic wildlife.

“The watershed is covered by 50% concrete and impervious surfaces, so when it rains it all just comes straight down here,” he said. “It’s a ubiquitous problem in urban and suburban areas.”

Researchers will study the creek over the next year to see if volunteers' hard work placing the logs was effective at creating aquatic habitat.

Watch the Spectrum News story.

Featured image at top: Volunteers help place heavy timber in Cooper Creek in places where the logs will not easily get washed downstream during storms. UC biologists will monitor the creek to see if the timber has the desired effect of creating wildlife habitat for fish and other aquatic life. Photo/Michael Booth