Thank you to Malcolm Pirnie volunteers and Adena Brook neighbors!

Saturday was our 7th Earth Day effort to remove garlic mustard from Overbrook Ravine Park. Last year we removed 2 tons of it and this year we had to look for it! Earth Day is also our annual native tree planting. Our focus was encouraging neighbors to plant native trees in their ravine-adjacent yards. All volunteers were invited to take native trees home to plant on their properties. What a beautiful and successful morning!

EARTH DAY WORK SUMMARY
Number of volunteers: 53
Hours worked: 2
Garlic mustard pulled: 38 bags
Trash: 6
Euonymous removed: 10′ x 5′ x 3′ mound
Honeysuckle cut: 30′ x 5′ x 3′ mound
Native trees planted in Overbrook Ravine Park: 65
Trees distributed to volunteers to be planted in yards: 400

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THESE VOLUNTEERS (listed on sign up sheet)!
Bob and Judy Robinson
Stephanie and Ryan Phillips
Nancy Jesser
Derek Hansford and Ann Florentine
Becky Camfield
Justin Lutz
Ken Burkhard
Jim Dury
Agnes Dury
Will Reiss
Lucas Jordan
Susan Meyer
Leslie Partridge
Lorraine and Eric Cathala
Bill and Nan Platt
Walter Reins
Diana Webster
Keith and Molly Fisher
Ellen Hoover
Chas Krider
Scott Pearson
Bob Shingledecker
Karen Chernesky
Tyler Steele
Garet Miller
Phil McCutcheon
Kathy Brunner
Chad Kettlewell
Cindy Jacobsen
Georgia Blum
Steve Herminghausen
David Leppert
Kurt Monnier
Kathy Steinman (and 5 young children)
Mark and Carina Carter
Sandy and Carlos Ricardo
Kenn Cahill
Karen Snyder
Bruce and Cathy Walker
Susan Michael Barrett

THANK YOU JIM ROBERTS, WATERSHED ORGANIC LAWN CARE
Jim donates his business services to maintain the grass around the Adena Brook Rain Garden at High and Overbrook. This is the second year of his service! His contact number: 774-0532.

THANK YOU WALTER REINS, REINS TREE AND LANDSCAPE SERVICES
Walter volunteers on our second Saturday clean ups! Thank you for your expertise about the native trees we planted and for sharing other information about tree maintenance and preservation. His contact number: 778-4949.

THANK YOU ADENA BROOK NEIGHBOR GEORGE DAVIS
George hauled the concrete pieces, fence pieces we found in the ravine. For hazardous waste hauling (for a small fee), call George at 634-8713.

We had a good turnout this past weekend with about 30-40 volunteers helping to collect and bag a lot of trash and garlic mustard and pull out euonymus and honeysuckle. We planted or distributed to volunteers for planting in the area a lot seedlings including hornbeam, redbud, and pin oak. Thank you to everyone who helped out this weekend.

ADENA BROOK COMMUNITY EARTH DAY CLEAN UP – SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2009, 9 – 11 AM
This month we will meet on the THIRD Saturday, not the second. April is one of our biggest clean ups of the year and some of the most important work we will do this season. Our focus: pull garlic mustard, cut honeysuckle, and plant trees. We need every hand, even if you only have a half hour to give. If you want to plant trees, bring a shovel. Supplies will be located at Overbrook and High, Overbrook and Indianola, Overbrook and Cooke Road, Overbrook and Yaronia. Volunteers from Malcolm Pirnie will join us.

Our clean up is in collaboration with Green Columbus’ annual event called “Picture This.” This is the third annual event organized by Green Columbus. According to Tad Dritz, Director of Green Columbus, the name was selected “to encourage central Ohioans to picture how much can be accomplished in one day of volunteer projects across the Columbus metro area.” The planned event is actually a two day affair with April 18 for volunteer worksites and April 19 for a celebration at Goodale Park, in the Short North. Read more about Green Columbus here: http://greencbus.org/site/

FREE NATIVE TREES
Another reason to come to the Earth Day clean up: we have a selection of native trees to give to Adena Brook neighbors and volunteers on April 18. In response to the damage of the two big wind storms–we lost many trees. Help us sustain our woodland neighborhood by planting a native tree! Trees will be located at High and Overbrook.

# of Volunteers: 26
Hours worked: 2
Work: litter removal
Bags: 55 (some people put bags in their home bins, the rest of the bags were piled in two locations)

It was such fun seeing old friends and meeting new neighbors. These neighbors volunteered (I may have missed a few):

Georgia and Steve Blum-Herminghausen
Ellen Hoover
Jennifer Hauenstein and her daughters
Susan Meyer
Bill Platt – thank you for taking photos
Greg Schneider – offered to guide us on a plant walk this spring!
Diana Stacey
Diana Webster
Susan Michael Barrett

Plus:

Thank you Robert Seed, Keep Columbus Beautiful, for trash bag supplies for the season!

Denise Brenner – 1 bag
“Thanks for the incentive to get me out to pick up litter on my portion of Cooke Rd! I’ve been meaning to do so for a few weeks. I worked for about 40 minutes and threw a very full bag of litter in my bin.”

Ken Burkhard and Bob Shingledecker – 4 bags
“Bob and I picked up trash along Overbrook between Cooke and High Street. We tried to do this at least once a month this winter. We have had an inordinate amount of trash along our property bordering Cooke and Overbrooke and we think possibly it comes from the garbage trucks as they empty trash east of us on Cooke Road. I don’t know if some folks do not use garbage bags in their cans or not, but if they don’t that would explain all the excess garbage blowing down the hill. We have noticed the overload appears around pickup day or the day after.

Kenn Cahill- 5 bags
Kenn worked on Cooke Road. In one place he found a lot of lottery tickets and wished he had dollars instead of tickets. Then he found $2 which he donated to Adena Brook with a wish for a great season!

Mark and Carina Carter – 10 bags
Mark and Carina Carter committed to another year of maintenance work at the corner of Indianola and Overbrook Drive. They mow, edge, and pick up litter beginning now and work regularly through fall. Mark and Carina, can you hear us giving you a grateful ovation? Many, many thanks.

Derek Hansford and Ann Florentine – 4 bags
“Ann and I picked up trash from 9-11 this morning on Overbrook around Yaronia (from a little past the new bridge to the old bridge near the housing development). We got 4 full bags of trash.”

Walter Reins – Walter Reins Tree and Landscape Services, LLC
Thank you Walter for volunteering this month to pick up litter! He will volunteer next month also. Walter has stickers ready for purchase to place on your lawn debris bags for weekly pick up. Call him at 614-778-4949.

Will Reiss – Thank you Will, Bishop Watterson educator and his students, Martin McCarthy, Kaela Becker, and Rob Bolone, who continue to volunteer every month! Barbara Sauter, administrator at Bishop Watterson, asked students to pick up litter around the school this week.

Judy and Bob Robinson – 4 bags
“Bob and I worked with Carina at the Indianola/Overbrook intersection. We also cleaned up the Chiropractor’s property up against the fence and around the dumpsters where there is a lot of honeysuckle. I picked up litter near Keith’s Sunoco and the Professional Building.”

Karen Snyder – I picked up a thousand butts along Indianola, trash, etc. 1 bag of butts — small, but many stoop overs.

ADENA BROOK COMMUNITY

Biodiversity, Clean water, Safe, Litter-free

2009 List of Tasks – DRAFT

Our mission is to protect the water supply and preserve the native plants and animals that represent the diversity of life in Adena Brook and the Overbrook Ravine Park by protecting the land and water they need to survive

1. Work monthly March through November.

Remove plants invasive to Adena Brook Ravine, plant trees, maintain Adena Brook Rain Garden, pick up litter during Second Saturday Clean – ups 9:00 AM – 11 AM. There is one exception to the second Saturday date; we’ll work on the third Saturday in April because it’s the Earth Day celebration.

March 14

Winter Litter Removal – March we focus on litter removal. Cooke Road, Indianola, High Street, and the Adena Brook woodland. Partner with Police Officer Riley/CPD to slow traffic on Cooke Rd.

April 18 – Earth Day Celebration (Note: This is the THIRD SATURDAY of the month)

Partner with Green Columbus (volunteer support).

Three tasks: Plant trees, rain garden maintenance, and garlic mustard removal.

May 9

Garlic mustard removal

Litter

June 13 – City of Columbus Riverpride

Annual Family Brook Clean-up Day + Metro Arts

Note time change: 10 – 11 AM. Pizza afterward. RSVP.

July 11

Honeysuckle removal

Litter

August 8

Honeysuckle removal

Litter

September 12

De-girdle trees of invasive vines

Litter

October 10

Honeysuckle removal.

Litter

November 14

Honeysuckle removal.

De-girdle trees

Litter

2. Install another Rain Garden on a residential property in the Adena Brook neighborhood.

3. Plant native trees.

Annual Native Tree Project – order trees from Franklin Soil and Water Conservation – Annual Sale. Plant on 4/18/09.

Plant trees on April 18th along Glenmont Avenue, in Overbrook Ravine Park. Donate a redbud tree to Glenmont Avenue neighbors as part of tree sale. Include an info sheet about planting as well as a list of native to Adena Brook tree species. Trees in Central Ohio took a severe hit due to Hurricane Ike.

4. Learn more about Adena Brook ravine issues and share information with neighbors.

Tree preservation

Impact of new City of Columbus lawn debris pick-up schedule, composting ideas, businesses that provide composting service.

Stormwater abatement: work with Mark Timbrook to gather flood issue information (from Canyon Drive) related to CIP 749 work as a first step toward possible rain garden installation by the city.

How is the City of Columbus Recreation and Parks different from Metro Parks?

West Nile Virus and ways residents can reduce WNV threat in our neighborhood.

5. Keep Storm Drains clear of litter, debris, leaves, and snow accumulation. Encourage neighbors to clear the drains on a monthly basis, perhaps on second Saturdays.

Steve Herminghausen – 2 drains at Glenmont/High Street

Jeff Beuter – drain at corner of Wynding/Glenmont

Mark and Carina Carter – drain at Wynding and Yaronia

Susan Michael Barrett – drain at Wynding and Glenmont, 2 drains just west of Wynding on Glenmont.

Cindy Westbrook – drain at Wynding and Yaronia

Heather Tranquillo – 2 drains at Glenmont and Glenmont Place

Susan Michael Barrett/Mark and Carina Carter –drains at Indianola and Overbrook Drive

John Blake, Kirsten Harris and Brian Evans – 2 drains at Sharon and Glenmont/High Street

6. Adopt a Nesting House Project (Greg Cunningham)

Install two nesting houses in the area behind the Adena Brook Rain Garden.

7. Register all Adena Brook Community Mentors so they can post on the website (Steve Herminghausen, Ellen Hoover)

8. Invite neighbors to register their properties is these programs:

City of Columbus GREENSPOT

National Wildlife Federation Backyard Conservation Program

9. Maintain communication with City staff to learn about, inform neighbors of CIPs in our neighborhood.

Projects 610749            Canyon/Glenmont Stormwater System Improvements; Columbia Gas meter and line relocations and replacements.

10. Invite continued student and teacher volunteerism from Adena Brook neighborhood schools.

Graham School – Todd Burger, teacher

Bishop Watterson High School – Will Reiss

Ongoing litter removal provides cleaner and safer (statistics prove) neighborhoods AND cleaner rivers. Keeping the highways free of litter results in a cleaner woodland and brook.

Educator Will Reiss and his students work to maintain the Adena Brook Rain Garden and adopted the area adjacent to this rain garden for ongoing invasive plant removal.

Graham School students removed litter on a regular basis from Indianola near their school and removed invasive garlic mustard on Overbrook off Indianola. Todd Burger’s class also installed a rain garden in the front yard of Graham School.

Ask Clintonville Academy to adopt an area for garlic mustard removal.

Thank you for sending us the two images of the Adena Earthwork (I’ll call it Fort Reserve, using the name given on the Indian Springs plot, or more simply the earthwork). I have superimposed the plots to more accurately place Fort Reserve (see image above). There are slight discrepancies in the two plots, particularly with the location of the unbuilt portion of Yaronia Drive South. Based on these plots, the Ravinia article (Fall 2003/Winter 2004 issue), and some local information, I’d like to make the following comments and observations:

1. The Wynding Drive subdivision (all houses on Wynding Dr) is named The Fort Reserve Subdivision, after the earthwork.

2. The Indian Springs plot shows a proposed street named Wyandotte Drive (between unbuilt Tionda Drive and Yaronia Drive South). Could this be a possible explanation why Wynding Drive is spelled with a ‘y’ — a variation of Wyandotte?

3. The Indian Springs plot shows the earthwork a bit north and slightly east of the colored circle on the GIS plot.

4. From the Ravinia description: The earthwork consisted of a 400 foot diameter circular embankment with a contiguous inner ditch in 1953 the embankment was only 2 feet high and about 17 feet wide. Within the embankment were two mounds.  The first, near the SSE edge of the earthwork was 6 feet high and 60 feet in diameter. The second, near the NNE edge of the earthwork contained a burial site and a circle of post holes about 40 feet in diameter.

5. From my examination of the Ravinia diagram, I believe that the northern mound was about 60 feet in diameter and the southern mound was smaller, about 30 feet in diameter.

6. The superimposed plots show the embankment center located a few feet north of where the driveway of 4017 meets Wynding Drive (I’ll use house numbers to avoid confusion; all addresses are on Wynding Drive).

7. The center of the southern mound is on the SE corner of 3999, about 15 feet from the curb line.

8. The center of the northern mound is in the front yard of 4032, about  6 feet east of the large boulder on the curb.

9. The opening of the earthwork appears to be located in the back yard of 4029 and slightly north to 4039. This concerns me, since the terrain drops off very steeply in this yard 20 to 30 feet into the ravine. I assume that the earthwork would be located entirely on the high ground (on nearly level terrain).  For this reason, I wonder if the true location of the earthwork might be 15 to 30 feet east of the plotted location. This would place the opening on more level ground (near the rear walls of 4029 and 4039).

10. The terrain covered by the earthwork is now extremely level (varying by only a foot or two). Much of the leveling could be recent, resulting from grading during the construction in the mid-1950′s. For example, a mature red oak tree in front of 4029 grows from a 2 foot deep tree well, suggesting that the front yard was raised by that amount.

I am interested in any comments you may have.

Tom Tucker

Amy Dutt just sent this map that shows the location of the Indian Burial Mound on Wynding.