TOLEDO, Ohio —
Native plants have decorated the median on the Anthony Wayne Trail for more than a decade, but last October the city decided to keep mowing them down.
Ryan Walsh, the Toledo Zoo's director of plant conservation, said the zoo and the city had an agreement to mow after Oct. 31 of each year. But this year, it happened earlier.
"This is going backwards and not forwards," Walsh said.
The zoo has worked with the city to create and maintain the prairie area for almost 11 years. Walsh said a prairie was chosen because they are quick to grow, cheap and provide the most ecosystem services.
"You're getting lots and lots of pollinators that are visiting, and that's providing both food, shelter and in some cases larval food for their offspring," Walsh said.
Walsh said although the plants are mowed down now, the prairie is still there. He said the plants will keep coming back, too, as they have roots 15-20 feet in the ground.
He said he didn't receive a lot of information on why the city decided to keep mowing down the prairie, just an email last October.
Since then, he said there have been several meetings with Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz about the future of the trail.
"They wanted something more manicured," Walsh said. "We were brought into those discussions, however, we didn't feel it was meeting our mission of both sustainability or providing habitat to pollinators."
Walsh said the plans that were shown to him would cost anywhere from $200,000-300,000 and maintenance could cost $30,000-40,000 per year. He said he believes this is fiscally irresponsible, as the prairie has cost the city nothing.
Toledo City Council member Adam Martinez said the mayor's administration wanted change.
"The administration was adamantly against letting it go how it was because of the amount of complaints that were received for the median," Martinez said.
He said he did not personally receive complaints, but he had heard people were upset about the trash that collected there. He said he also heard people thought it looked unkempt.
Engage Toledo has not responded to a request for more information about the complaints.
The city and the zoo met most recently in July but did not reach a compromise.
The city of Toledo on Friday released a statement:
"Protecting our natural resources is a priority of this administration. We have made and continue to make signature investments in restoration and preservation projects across the city.
We began meeting with the Toledo Zoo at the end of last fall to reimagine the median of the Anthony Wayne Trail. The goal was to find a design that used the same native plants to support wildlife, increased the number of trees in the median to provide additional environmental benefits (attached calculations show carbon sequestered, runoff avoided, and rainwater intercepted over one year and over 20 years), and provided 4-season visual interest to create a gateway that remained beautiful all year round.
Through several conversations, we worked collaboratively with the Zoo to put together new design concepts (attached). We are disappointed that they have stepped away from our planning process, but we remain committed to this initial goal and will continue the project we set out to do.
Ultimately, the City of Toledo is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the right of way space, just as we have been for the last decade. We value the Zoo as a community partner who shares our values and hope we can return to a place of collaboration.
We also want to recognize the outpouring of community voices in defense of protecting our natural resources. We hear you and hope you will continue to use your time and energy to support our ongoing environmental initiatives. If you’re interested in staying up to date, you can subscribe to our quarterly Protecting Our Natural Resources newsletter."
Martinez said he believes a compromise is possible and he is willing to work to make it happen.
WTOL 11 requested a mowing scheduled, but the city of Toledo has not yet responded.