Ohio grew around the Black Swamp

Editor's note: This story appeared in a June special section to commemorate local history for America 250. The Black Swamp, a vast area of swampy land that covered much of Ohio, including portions of Erie County, is gone forever. But there have been attempts in recent years to restore some of it, reviving wetlands that are considered a key to the health of Lake Erie. Historians say the Black Swamp covered much of northwest Ohio, northeast Indiana and southwest Michigan for thousands of years. Formed after an ice age ended and glaciers withdrew north thousands of years ago, the Black Swamp lasted until the 19th century, when white settlers drained much of the water to obtain farmland. It's estimated that Ohio has lost more than 90% of its wetlands, and most of those wetlands were in the Black Swamp. Once filled with animals such as buffalo and mountain lions and occupied by Native American tribes, the Black Swamp in Ohio was west of Sandusky, extending from portions of Erie County west to the Toledo area and beyond, covering much of Ottawa, Sandusky, Lucas and Wood counties and also other counties in northwest Ohio. As the United States extended its power into the Great Lakes area — Ohio became a state in 1803 — settlers coveted the land close to Lake Erie, including the Great Black Swamp area. They used ditches and tiles to drain away much of the water so that the land became dry enough to be farmed. And as federal power grew in the area, local native American tribes were forced to leave. Some were relocated to what is now the state of Oklahoma and which in the 19th century was known as Indian Territory, a place to settle native Americans who had been removed from other areas. The native Americans who lived in the Sandusky and Port Clinton area included the Ottawa and Wyandot tribes. (The Wyandot also were known as the Huron). The name of the city of Sandusky comes from a Wyandot word for water. The Wyandot, also known as the Wyandotte, are still around. The Wyandotte Nation, a tribe recognized by the federal government, is located in Wyandotte, Oklahoma, in the northeast corner of the state. The current tribal enrollment is 7,356 members. The tribe's website says, "There are two other bands of Wyandot people, the Wyandot of Anderdon Nation located in Michigan, and the Wyandot Nation of Kansas. We are the same people separated by fate, the passing of time and choices made by our ancestors." The tribe operates four casinos in Oklahoma and Kansas and it welcomes visitors to a cultural center and museum in Wyandotte, Oklahoma. While the Great Black Swamp isn't coming back, there has been growing recognition that wetlands play an important role in the environment. Besides serving as hosts for a wide variety of plants and animals, they function as natural filters, removing much of the chemicals that help feed harmful algal blooms. As a result, Gov. Mike DeWine's administration has made a major effort to restore wetlands along the Lake Erie coast. In the Sandusky area, wetlands restoration projects paid for by federal and state grants have taken place in a number of locations. They include a project at Moxley Wildlife Area, a state wildlife area of about 400 acres located 3 miles northwest of Sandusky, between Ohio 2 and Sandusky Bay, just north of McCartney Road. It's owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Other projects include the Cedar Point Causeway Wetlands, a 30-acre project on the west side of the Cedar Point Causeway carried out by the city of Sandusky, and work at Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area near Raccoon Creek, on U.S. 6 between Sandusky and Fremont. The Black Swamp Conservancy nonprofit land trust, located in Perrysburg, owns land and holds conservation land easements in 12 northwest Ohio counties and in Monroe County, Michigan, including woods, wetlands and family farms. Its properties in Ottawa County include Meadowbrook Marsh Preserve in Marblehead, West Harbor Preserve, Port Clinton Lakefront Preserve (a shoreline marsh) and Middle Bass Island East Point Preserve.