Lowellville receives $5,000 Ohio EPA environmental education grant

Staff report

LOWELLVILLE

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $5,000 environmental education grant to Lowellville to fund a “Mahoning River on Display” project.

The Ohio EPA distributed $36,589 to nine projects throughout the state with this grant.

Joann Esenwein, a grant writer for Lowellville, said the city plans to use this money within the next year to place a sign near the Lowellville dam to educate people on the history of the dam and the Mahoning River. She said any extra money not used on the sign will be used to place educational fliers on the Mahoning River in the Lowellville schools, local businesses and city hall.

“The signage will basically give the history of the Lowellville dam and express why it’s important to keep the river clean,” Esenwein said.

She said Lowellville Mayor Jim Iudiciani has not yet determined a location for the sign.

Iudiciani said this sign is a small part of the village’s project to clean up the river and remove the dam. The village has had plans to remove the dam for more than a year.

Esenwein said she can foresee physical progress with the dam-removal project in early 2015.