Ohio environmentalists waiting to see if a Monroe County wild fire set in motion a huge fish kill

With the debate regarding hydraulic fracturing (Fracking) far from over in Ohio, opponents of the practice may have been handed a pretty big “I told you so.”

Or maybe not, as state wildlife officials join with their environmental brethren continue to collect evidence and other information related to the fire/fish and wildlife kill that happened over the last weekend in June.

  

What is known is that in the aftermath of a Monroe County wildfire that encapsulated a well pad where fracking occurs, an enormous fish and wildlife kill was found in nearby Opossum Creek.

It is believed – at least by some environmentalists anyway – that the kill is directly related to the fracking employed at the site, says Nathan Johnson, the Ohio Environmental Council’s staff attorney.

Johnson says as well that the incident stretches for about two miles along Opossum Creek.

“This may be unprecedented; perhaps even being the biggest Ohio fish kill related to the oil and gas industry,” Johnson said.

Yet Johnson does say that drawing a line from Point A (the wildfire) to Point B (the fish kill) and then to Point C (a well hole employing fracking fluid) is a bit “speculative.”

Thus the Council is still awaiting word from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources “as to the particulars” of the accident.

Even so, says Johnson who calls this incident an “environmental crisis,” the Ohio EPA” has classified this waterway as one of the cleanest and healthiest streams in the state.”

Johnson does say that a well-related problem threatening a nearby stream is not without precedence, too. In May a Morgan County well blow-out threatened a nearby stream.

And for this reason alone the Ohio legislature needs to become more and better engaged in modifying the state’s laws regarding drilling to make them more ecologically friendly and also help prevent any accidental or deliberate fracking discharges into any waterway, Johnson says.

“Extending the legal stream buffer is an urgent no-brainer for Ohio’s environment,” Johnson says.

This story will be updated as further information becomes available. That update could include the numbers dead fish and wildlife found, the exact nature of the relationship (if any) between the fire and the fish kill.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who  covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 100 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.

Lake Erie Commission grants to boost Northeast Ohio aquatic protection

Donators with an eye toward helping Lake Erie will likely applaud the latest grant awards presented by the Sandusky-based Lake Erie Commission.

The Commission’s Lake Erie Protection Fund recently was tapped in order to help contribute to a pair of worthwhile efforts in Northeast Ohio intended to bolster watershed enhancements including one designated for a popular steelhead fishing stream.

Since its genesis about 20 years ago about $11.5 million has gone to support more than 300 local conservation and environmental protection projects.

And not one cent has come from the Ohio General Fund, either. All monies were (still are, in fact) generated through the sales of two specialty motor vehicle license plates along with direct donations. 

All of which, by the way, are not tax-deductible.

The first license plate motif depicts the Marblehead Lighthouse on Catawba Island in Lake Erie’s Western Basin. This depiction is the oldest of Ohio’s various specialty license plates, too.

Meanwhile, the second, newer of the two license plate designs features a life preserver.

Regardless of which design a motor vehicle opts to choose, the money generated from each goes to support the Commission and its grant-awarding program, says Rian Salee, the program’s grant administrator.

“Revenues from the sales of the Marblehead license plates have declined due in part to the increasing number of such plates,” Salee said. “So we came up with an alternative; an option that people can choose from.”

For every additional $25 that a Marblehead Lighthouse or life saver set of plates is sold for, $15 goes to support the Commission’s grant program. The remaining $10 is earmarked for the Bureau of Motor Vehicle’s administrative costs, Salee says as well.

“We are always looking for ways to try and enhance our outreach for the direct benefit of Lake Erie protection,” Salee said.

For the most recent grant awarding cycle the Commission presented $13,370 for stream enhancement along Euclid Creek which exits into Lake Erie at Cleveland Metroparks’ Wildwood unit. This stream is seasonally very popular and productive for steelhead anglers and the enhancement will help maintain the creek’s water quality.

Another grant is worth $35,000 and awarded to Cleveland State University. The intent here is to provide technical help to local communities as well as the making of materials and conducting of workshops to better enable landowners and public entities understand watershed environmental issues.

For further information about the Lake Erie Commission, its Lake Erie Protection Plan, and the agency’s grant-awarding program as well as its annual calendar photography contest, visit it at http://lakeerie.ohio.gov/.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who  covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 100 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.

 

UPDATED with both Donnelly & Pellgrini quotes. Lake, Cuyahoga counties each to get their (Wildlife Division) man

Without a full-time presence in either Lake or Cuyahoga County for several months, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has assigned two of its 16 soon-to-graduate cadets to the respective county jurisdictions.

Under policies laid out long ago the Wildlife Division assigns to each of the state’s 88 counties a commissioned wildlife officer.

Though while such a policy makes perfect logistical and management sense the state frequently experiences openings. The reason for this is due to retirements, promotions or simply because a person no longer desires to remain a state wildlife officer.

And both Lake and Cuyahoga counties are known to burn out officers, who exit them because each are urban in nature and thus exposes the agents to round-the-clock people problems even more so at times than wildlife issues.

Consequently, when the latest Wildlife Division academy graduates July 3, 22-year-old Ryan J. Donnelly will make the drive to Cuyahoga County while 23-year-old Marino A. Pellgrini will high-tail it to Lake County.

In all, Ohio has 10 counties in which vacancies exist.

Donnelly hails from Albany, Ohio in Athens County. He graduated in 2012 with an associate degree in Natural Resources Law Enforcement from Hocking College, also in Athens County.

Previously Donnelly interned with the Wildlife Division as well as the Ohio Highway Patrol.

He also is the son of Tom Donnelly who was at one time the state wildlife officer assigned to Ashtabula County and most recently the law enforcement supervisor for the Wildlife Division’s District Four (Southwest Ohio) Office before retiring about one year ago.

“I was only about nine months old when we left Ashtabula County so I really don’t remember anything about the area,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly says he’s well aware of the dynamics associated with Cuyahoga County; its large size, the fact that its northern edge is defined by massive – and massively popular - Lake Erie, and the very fact that Cuyahoga County being urbanized means a significant network of roads that defy memorization.

“I know there’s going to be a lot to do,” he said.

The important thing now, says Donnelly, is to get his boots on the ground and work with his training officer, a veteran Wildlife Division office.

 Pellegrini’s resume shows he is a native of Canfield in Mahoning County. He graduated last year from Youngstown State University with an associate degree in criminal Justice.

He has no previous employment experience with the Natural Resources Department.

No matter, as Pellegrini says Lake County was his first choice when the cadets were asked where they wanted to anchor their respective flags.

“Well, my family still lives in the Youngstown area so I’ll be close to them,.” Pellegrini said. “I’ve fished Lake Erie before out of Fairport and it’s a tremendous resource.”

Pellegini is going to become much more familiar with Fairport Harbor too and not just the straight-shot road leading to the public boat launch.

The new state wildlife officer has picked Fairport Harbor  as to where he will live.

 That particular detail has some additional merit since the Wildlife Division’s assistant chief Tom Rowan grew up in Fairport Harbor even as the agency has established its Central Basin fisheries station in the community.

Among the first big steps Pellegini says he’ll be taking is getting to know the county’s lay of the land, introducing himself not only to the area’s sportsmen and conservation groups but also to the county’s various law enforcement agencies and officers.

“I want to establish good relationships with everyone,” he said. “I really am looking forward to starting and getting to know the county and everything about it.”

As Wildlife Division cadets, Donnelly and  Pellegrini earned about $16.83 per hour. As first-time commissioned wildlife officers each man will earn around $21 per hour.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who  covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 100 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.

UPDATED: Lake Metroparks gets all gushy over Lake Erie Bluffs park/handicapped access

Paul Palagyi just loves Lake Metroparks’ newest baby.

So much so that with the flare of a cooing father that whips out a smartphone and starts to scroll through one digital snapshot of the kids after another, Palagyi is more than just eager to say why his kid is the best.

That kid being the parks system’s 600-acre Lake Erie Bluffs in Perry Township, a still child in diapers if you will with agency staff nursing all sorts of added features with an eye to seeing the youngster stand on its own two feet.

Yet if one were to ask Palagyi if he loves this latest park unit/baby more than its older siblings with the likes of Penitentiary Glen Reservation, Girdled Road Reservation, Hidden Valley Park or Veteran’s Park you’d not only a get the parks system’s executive director to shake his head vigorously back of forth as symbol of “no” you’d see just as many snapshots of these units, too.

Yep, Palagyi is one proud parks system papa. Then again, so are all of the agency’s personnel as well.

“We haven’t pulled anyone off any other project or park in order to work here,” Palagyi said.

The “here” is the work-in-progress on-going at Lake Erie Bluffs. Situated with its back door running closely parallel with a set of railroad tracks, the park’s front door is an almost two-mile-long stretch of lake front, east to west.

Lake Erie Bluffs is accessed via pair of south-to-north paved streets: Lane Road on the west and Clark Road on the east. In between is found clay bluffs pointing 40 feet above  Lake Erie, open meadows, reverting farmland, dense forest wetlands, a lively colony of spindly and fast-growing alders; in short a glorious hodgepodge of habitats that service an equally vibrant array of plant and wildlife species.

Getting to see that biodiversity is what the parks system is now engaged in, Palagyi says, with trails being cut, poured on with gravel their texture butter-knifed to a smoothness that won’t trip up visitors.

And for handicapped visitors such as myself (who also happen to be Lake County taxpayers, a not inconsequential commodity) the getting there is becoming easier. The reason being that Lake Metroparks has bought electric-powered, five-person golf carts that are better advertised as being people movers.

Over the course of the year Lake Metroparks intends to use these vehicles to transport the handicapped and the elderly into and around any number of the agency’s holdings. Driven by a staff member the guests will get an eyeful and an earful of the parks where the people-mover carts are being used.

For now the up-and-coming cart program is built around a reservation system with the vehicles also having a dual purpose when not being employed to chauffer the handicapped and the elderly around the parks system’s family of reservations, Palagyi says.

“We’ll use them at special events like the wine festival,” he said.

Or those handicapped or elderly individuals with their own means of conveyance are certainly welcome, especially since by federal statute they are allowed, Palagyi.

“I doubt, though, someone showing up with a Segway would qualify, though,” Palagyi said. “If they can use a Segway they’re probably not handicapped.”

Perhaps not though by whatever means a person does decide to explore Lake Erie Bluffs they won’t be disappointed, as a recent nickel-tour of the unit revealed.

Having visited the park twice before when amenities included nothing more than a bush behind a tree and a barely discernible old tractor path, Lake Erie Bluffs has just about reached the stage where it no longer needs training wheels.

The parks system is well on its way to developing a spider web of interconnecting trails that are pushing toward the five-mile mark, Palagyi says.

“We may even build up to seven miles of trails,” Palaygi says.

And at the edge of the Lane Road parking lot are scattered several picnic tables and a wooden deck that offers a frequent  view of cruising American bald eagles by day and a to-die-for diorama of a blazing colorful sun dipping beneath the western lip of Lake Erie.

“When everything is accomplished the trails here will offer the best park walk in the system,” 

Palagyi said. “I really do believe Lake Erie Bluffs is going to experience huge visitation and usage, especially in the summer and fall.”

Don’t forget spring, too, since the park has already become a popular, seasonal way station for migrating song birds.

And just to ensure that people will linger longer at Lake Erie Bluffs – including all of those folks riding shotgun in a people-moving five-passenger electric golf cart – the parks system is hardly running out of to-do ideas.

Beyond the planning stage is the securing of a multi-seasonal shelter that will feature a pair of fireplaces, shelter-wide doors that can shut out lake-effect winds and other perks.

“We’re going to landscape it so that the shelter will feature a really nice view of the lake,” Palagyi said.

A series of wood stakes punched into a roughed-out area of the meadow adjacent to the Lane Road parking lot delineates where the shelter-to-be will rise from the earth.

What’s more the parks system is mulling whether a pair of additional shelters located elsewhere will help this kid reach maturity in about four years.

Other items are being developed; among them being a primitive campsite and an observation tower, and who knows what all next.

But, then again, what doting parent doesn’t have the grandest of dreams for any of his or her kids?

Thing is, Lake Metroparks is doing more than just dreaming about the possibilities at Lake Erie Bluffs. It is spending the necessary dollars and quality time there, but without ignoring the rest of the parks system’s older siblings, of course.

"It may be the most significant undertaking and not only for Lake County but for the region and the Great Lakes," said park board member Dennis E. Eckart. "This is one to point to for future generations."

For further information about Lake Metroparks’ Lake Erie Bluffs, visit the agency’s web site at www.lakemetroparks.com.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

 Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who  covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 100 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.