TOLEDO, Ohio —
A groundbreaking event was held Tuesday to mark the beginning of an almost two-year restoration project.
The Maumee River has the largest watershed in the Great Lakes Basin and was labeled an area of concern by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Part of the H2Ohio initiative, the restoration project will be the largest in the Maumee River. The $13.5 million project was funded through state and federal funds. The U.S. EPA awarded the state of Ohio $5.4 million, and the other $8.1 million is from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Mary Mertz, the director of the ODNR, was in attendance and said this was one of the most exciting projects the ODNR is working on.
"That work, we anticipate will build some natural infrastructure, some wetlands, around the island that will help reduce the flow of sediment and the flow of phosphorous," Mertz said.
Clark Island and Delaware and Horseshoe Islands have experienced a lot of erosion over the past century. Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said Clark Island has lost 95.3% of itself in the last century.
"This will grow the footprint of what used to be," Kapszukiewicz said.
Along with restoring island land mass, the projects aim to improve habitats for fish and small organisms that live on the river bottom called benthos. With improvements in aquatic ecosystems, there is hope that the phosphorous will be picked up by native plants before it reaches Lake Erie and feeds harmful algal blooms.
The causeway, the first step in the timeline, was built with reused stone from recent I-75 projects to allow construction crews to reach the islands. The project is set to finish in fall 2025.
More information and updates can be found on the Toledo Port website.
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