Northeast Ohio not only collected the lion’s share of the
Lake Erie Protection Fund’s latest quarterly grant money it feasted on the
entire menu.
The Fund is administered by the multi-state agency and
private outreach individual - Ohio Lake Erie Commission. Fund monies are
derived from the sale of vanity state license plates embossed with the image of
the Marblehead lighthouse or else a life preserver.
Persons also make direct tax-deductible contributions to
the grant program.
The most recent grant recipients were the Chagrin River
Watershed Partners - $6,770 to update the Lake County Stormwater Utility Fee
Credit Manual as well as research the potential implementation of a fee credit
program. The Commission sees this manual’s development as eventually assisting other
local governments seeking to help find funding for aging infrastructure.
The Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization -
$14,890 to establish a portfolio of land-based restoration within the Cuyahoga
River Navigation Channel. It is this project’s objective to help with the
enhancement and improvement of the river’s fish habitat system.
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History - $15,000 (the
grant program’s largest allowable amount) to help restore at least 10 acres in
Lake County’s Mentor Marsh, located mostly within Mentor and consisting of 900
acres of wetland and currently under stress by the invasive plant, phragmites.
All grants are competitively based and are designed to
aid in the protection and restoration of Lake Erie, and all approved projects
must meet a 25-percent match in order to be eligible for the state’s 75-percent
share.
Likewise, grants must fall within the purview of the
state’s 2013 Lake Erie Restoration and Protection Plan.
Since its inception some twenty-one years ago the program
has awarded over $12 million in grants and involving no fewer than 360
projects. These projects have ranged from fisheries, watershed planning,
non-point pollution abatement, wetlands restoration, exotic aquatic (nuisance) species, the lake’s algae bloom and
other important subjects related to the welfare of Lake Erie.
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.
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