Scientists studying how wetlands can help Lake Erie

SANDUSKY — Scientists in Ohio are studying how construction and restoration of wetlands can help enhance clean water in Ohio, including the effort to reduce harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. The first annual report of the ongoing study will be issued in winter, although it will still be too early to answer many of the questions scientists have, said Janice Kerns, one of the scientists leading the effort. "This initial report will primarily include the level of effort conducted to set up monitoring across the various H2Ohio wetland sites," said Kerns, who also serves as reserve manager for the Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve in Huron. It's also a state nature preserve. Wetlands construction is one of the key components of the H2Ohio, the DeWine administration's name for its clean water efforts, which are focusing on reducing the runoff of phosphorus into Lake Erie to reduce the size of the annual summer harmful algal blooms. It's believed that the wetlands function as natural filters that remove nutrients from water before the water flows into Lake Erie. Projects are being carried out in many locations. For example, this year the City of Sandusky began construction of the Cedar Point Causeway Wetlands, a 30-acre project on the west side of the causeway. During a June 30 event at Stone Laboratory that included this year's harmful algal bloom forecast — scientists think the 2022 bloom will be smaller than usual — Chris Winslow, director of Stone Laboratory and the Ohio Sea Grant program, outlined the purposes of the planned study. Wetlands have many benefits, including serving as a haven for fish and wildlife. But the study has a narrow focus on how the wetlands effort can help deal with excessive phosphorus. Winslow said the study hopes to answer two questions: • Are wetlands a cost-effective way to mitigate the loads of nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, that feed harmful algal blooms in bodies of water in Ohio? • How can the state effectively manage wetlands restoration projects? Winslow listed ten different methods the state is using to try to reduce nutrient loads in the lake. Aside from wetlands construction, most of those methods are aimed at moving Ohio farmers toward practices that reduce runoff of nutrients without affecting crop yield. Those farming practices include soil testing to check on fertilizer application, using variable-rate fertilization to apply only what's needed to specific units of land, putting fertilizer below the surface to reduce runoff, mixing manure into the soil to keep it in place, conservation crop rotation to reduce erosion and enrich the soil, and planting cover crops after the harvest to reduce erosion. Other steps Ohio is taking include construction projects to manage water drainage by slowing down runoff so nutrients can go back into the soil instead of in the lake, two-stage ditch construction to slow down water flow, and planting trees, shrubs or grass at the edge of fields to slow down runoff and capture nutrients. Every year, the wetlands program of the Erie Soil and Water Conservation District carries out a water quality study for local streams, including Pipe Creek, Mills Creek and Old Woman Creek. Those reports generally have shown better water quality for Old Woman Creek, a rating that's attributed to the filtering effect of Old Woman Creek's wetlands. According to Breann Hohman, assistant director of the conservation district, Old Woman Creek State Nature Preserve provides $40,000 a year to help cover the cost of the watershed program. Old Woman Creek, however, as an existing wetlands won't be a part of the new study, Kerns said. Instead, Old Woman Creek is helping to carry out the monitoring program, she said.