Mill Creek OKs contract for wetlands restoration

By Denise Dick

An Ohio EPA grant covers the cost of the work.

BOARDMAN — A portion of a former sod farm is being restored to its original wetlands.

Mill Creek MetroParks commissioners awarded a $247,645 contract to Brookside Construction Inc., Medina, for design and construction of a wetlands on a 44-acre parcel of the former Orvets Sod Farm.

“It’s for restoration of the wetlands,” said Linda Kostka, park spokeswoman.

The contract also includes five years of monitoring by the company.

The project is funded entirely by a grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program, said Justin Rogers, the park’s landscape architect.

“It’s all within the floodplain of Mill Creek, and it was originally a wetlands,” Rogers said.

It’s adjacent to a Category Three wetlands, the highest quality in Ohio, and the parcel will be restored to match that area’s composition in hydrology, plant life, soil and seeding.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods, including during the growing season. Wetlands may support both aquatic and terrestrial species. The prolonged presence of water creates conditions that favor the growth of specially adapted plants and promote the development of characteristic wetland soils.

The Medina company is working with two other companies, Envirotech Construction of Sommerset, Ohio, and Eco-Design and Engineering of Plain City, Ohio, to do the work.

The land had formerly been used for farming and corn propagation.

In 2005 and 2006, the park bought 303 acres east of Tippecanoe Road and north of Western Reserve, the former sod farm, with plans to keep in natural. A combination of grants and donations covered the bulk of that $2.6 million cost.

The parcel being restored as a wetlands fronts Western Reserve Road and includes the entire low-lying area.

“The contract includes monitoring of the wetlands once construction is complete,” Rogers said.

The monitoring is for a five-year term to ensure the wetlands function properly.

denise_dick@vindy.com