Water Quality Matters; Make Your Voice Heard
For more than 13 years, the Ohio EPA has labeled Lang Creek as impaired for recreational use. Now you may ask yourself, “What does that mean to me? I don’t play in Lang Creek!” And you may be right, but I’m willing to bet it impacts you in more ways than you realize.
For our purposes, let’s define Lang Creek and its surrounding watershed area as the area that includes Town Creek and downtown Ashland, Jamison Creek, the main stream of Lang Creek, and all of the little tributaries that feed into those creeks.
The Lang Creek Watershed is part of the Jerome Fork of the Mohican River.
I’m willing to bet your childhood involved some of the same simple joys as mine: playing in the creek, collecting rocks and exploring the woods. If you have youngsters who live and play in the Lang Creek watershed, Ohio EPA’s report says those waters do not meet their standards for recreational use - and that makes simple joys like splashing through the creekbed potentially unsafe.
Why are our waters impaired? Ohio EPA classifies our waters as impaired due to bacteria. So what kind of bacteria are we talking about? The most likely sources of bacteria in this watershed are failing septic systems and manure. If you’re like me, right now, you’re thinking, “Yuck!”
Town Creek at Brookside Park is part of the Lang Creek Watershed.
But if you don’t have kids playing in the creeks, you may wonder how that matters to you. The answer is, it matters to your pocketbook and the economic health of our county.
Just take a look at the map: Lang Creek and it’s tributaries make up the headwaters of the Jerome Fork of the Mohican River. Follow the Jerome Fork south to Mohicanville where it joins the Muddy Fork of the Mohican River to create the Lake Fork of the Mohican River. Can you guess where I’m going with this?
Signs along Wally Road proclaim this stretch of the Mohican River as Ohio’s the Camp and Canoe Capital of Ohio and one of Ohio’s largest outdoor recreational complex with canoe liveries, cabins, horseback riding, go carts and more.
This creates a thriving tourism industry that is a huge economic driver, injecting vital economic resources into our county through more than 10 campgrounds with over 2,500 campsites, six canoe liveries offering over 1,000 canoes, rafts and kayaks, and more than 200 local rooms for lodging. We cannot risk the health of these recreational waters by continuing to allow impaired waters to make their way downstream to threaten the health of this recreational and tourist-centered economy.
So whether your a fan of preserving our county’s natural resources or an economic pragmatist, I think we can all agree that protecting and preserving the water quality of Lang Creek impacts us all.
That’s why Ashland Soil and Water Conservation district urges you to participate in the final Lang Creek Watershed Planning Meeting for developing a 9-Element Plan to identify critical areas and specific partners and projects that can have a meaningful impact on water quality in our county. Our final meeting will take place April 10 at 1 p.m. at the Ashland SWCD office.
Water quality matters to each of us. Now is the time to step forward and make your voice heard.
For more information, contact Ashland SWCD at 419-289-7645 or online at www.AshlandSWCD.com