Sat 5 Dec 2009
Hi all–
I’m cleaning out my files and found this essay (2006) I wrote about how Adena Brook Community began.
Susan
How do you start a watershed group? Here’s what I did, as I best remember. However, the organizing lines are not in any neat pattern: For me to map the process would be to draw a scribble.
I want this story to be a message of encouragement, to show how simple it is to get started, and the importance of passion in sustaining an effort. I believe starting a conservation group begins when you notice what’s going on around you, care about what you see, talk honest and listen to others about it, and then focus on work to make a situation better.
I noticed the ravines. In 2000 my husband and I purchased a wooded lot in Adena Brook that happened to have a house on it. I knew we were lucky to live atop a ravine with many trees and near the stream. It is only a short walk down the street to a hidden park.
On my walks, I noticed majestic old sycamores, red oaks, hackberry, cherry, and ash trees, but I only saw a few saplings. Instead I saw a sea of honeysuckle bushes fragrant with light yellow blossoms. Along the brook edge I heard water but couldn’t see it through the bushes. I saw large boulders deposited from a glacial ascent. I heard chickadees and cardinals, I noticed a toad hop, saw hawk soar, and a Monarch butterfly on a coneflower. I also saw trash: plastic bags, fast-food containers, pieces of Styrofoam, dumped piles of asphalt, bottles, and cans. I wondered if those creatures I saw would tell a happy story if they talked about their neighborhood.
I noticed I lived in a neighborhood with people who did caring acts. Mark Carter puts out a cooler with soft drinks and water for the Rumpke drivers each week. Clara McClung brings a meal to an ill neighbor. Lynne Stamey digs up plants from her garden to give away. Greg Cunningham hangs bird houses in high places for neighbors. Bob and Judy Robinson and Bill and Nan Platt pick up litter on weekly walks. Herman and Helen Hafey sell their garden vegetables on their front porch for nickels and dimes. Barbara Llyod sets tomatoes from her garden at the curb for anyone walking by. Phyllis Beuter makes homemade jams for new neighbors. Jeanne Desy writes poetry for children. Maya Schultz helps her elderly neighbor with yard work. John Blake salts the slippery corner where Glenmont meets High Street. Tom Barton removes snow from the street before we wake after heavy storms.
I noticed that the local newspaper included educational articles about the environment. Soon after our move into the Adena Brook neighborhood, I happened upon an article in The Booster about a group called Friends of the Ravines (FOR). I thought this would be an avenue to learn more about the ravine ecosystem and to meet others. I met Martha Buckelew, then Chair of FOR, Jack Cooley, who would soon be Chair of the Clintonville Area Commission, Andrea Gorzitze, who worked on the Greenways project at Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, and Sherrill Massey who was active on environment boards. I joined FOR’s board and for two years worked with and learned from these people and their events. This experience was invaluable because I began to establish a network of relationships with people knowledgeable about ravine habitats.
I learned of other organizations and met new people. Through FOR I met the first of what is now a growing list of the best friends anyone could have. Erin Miller, then coordinator of Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed (FLOW), helped us name our group: She showed us on maps that the name of the brook that our neighborhood ran through was Adena Brook. Neighbor Stacey Durst suggested we call ourselves a “community.” Laura Young-Mohr from the City of Columbus Department of Utilities gathered a group of watershed leaders organize Central Ohio River Pride, an annual clean-up in May of central Ohio waterways, which gave us our start on monthly clean-ups. Laura introduced me to Bob Seed, coordinator of Keep Columbus Beautiful. Bob provides bags, gloves, and tools for 3 clean-ups a year, and arranges pick-ups by the city of the litter we have collected. Cyane Gresham from the Sierra Club joined us to offer information about watershed issues and grant opportunities. Stephan Douglas from COTA arranged for a trash receptacle to be installed at a busy bus stop. Stephanie Suter from Franklin Water and Soil makes suggestions to improve a grant and reminds us of their annual plant sale. Lisa Bower walked the streets with us to teach us how to identify trees. Greg Schneider, an Adena Brook neighbor and botanist at the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, guided plant walks to teach us about native plants in Central Ohio.
Two FOR events were instrumental in guiding our direction. The first was a slide presentation by Jerry Wager about watershed issues; the other was an impassioned talk about invasive plants by Elayna Grody, Natural Resources Manager with Columbus Recreation and Parks. Jerry lived in the Adena Brook neighborhood, worked at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and had worked with other groups on projects in the ravine. When his son was a student at Clintonville Academy, the students conducted water-monitoring studies, and wrote and installed educational signage in the Park of Roses. Jerry is the original steward of Adena Brook. Even though he now lives in Panama as an organic farmer, he still inspires us with his stories and encourages us by e-mail.
I noticed the extent of the invasive plants in Adena Brook. After Elayna Grody’s talk, I introduced myself and told her I wanted to learn more. She is a one-person department that removes invasive plants in city parks. She was delighted to teach me. We walked the park and listed the most serious invasive plant problems: bush and vine honeysuckles, garlic mustard, Tree of Heaven, and euonymus vines. Elayna also invited us on wildflower rescues—we dug up native plants in areas where roads or easements would replace the plants and replanted then in Adena Brook. Elayna continues to be the visionary inspiration to a thriving and biodiverse Adena Brook woodland.
Martha Buckelew has a dream of establishing ravine groups throughout Central Ohio and she lends any type support necessary. Perhaps her dream was a seed that took root in my thinking to establish an Adena Brook watershed group. One day when neighbor Peg Matthews and her dogs Zoe and Grace passed by, she said, “Did you notice all the litter in the water? After it rains, it’s worse.” I had noticed and we assumed others noticed and cared. We decided we’d see if any other neighbors wanted to get together and talk about how we could clean up the ravine. Peg and I planned a meeting, reserved a room at Whetstone Library, and made a flyer to invite neighbors to get together to talk about and plan our work. Peg and I had co-founded a group.
The result of that first library meeting was our first clean-up. Equipped with knowledge, Elayna agreed to oversee our group and wrote our first annual permit allowing our group to work on park land. Volunteer neighbors meet once each month on the Second Saturday to work for two hours, 9 to 11 AM, March through November. We keep track of our work. We share information on an e-mail list sent to anyone who wants it.
A group of street representatives meets twice a year, once to construct a “things to do” list, and another time to assess the progress we’ve made to accomplish the things on our list. We remain focused on our tasks and try to finish what we start before we add more things to our list. Our meetings are delicious potlucks lasting two hours, one hour to eat, one to plan. We start and end meetings on time. We keep people informed who are not on the e-mail list by a hand-delivered newsletter in the spring. We raise funds when needed to haul and shred invasive plants to avoid problems for others in Central Ohio. We are aware that the best model parks are those who benefit from private donations as well as government funds.
This year we added one new project to our list: Learn about storm water run-off. We want to install the first rain garden on park land in Clintonville. It will lessen the polluting effects of run-off into Adena Brook, and inspire local residents to consider their planting their own rain gardens to reduce storm water run-off. This project is another long-term task.
Adena Brook Community is able to grow because of multiple contributions. Some people pick up litter, some remove invasive plants, some have contacts that bring us better relationships with city, state, and professional personnel, some donate money, some plant tress, some educate us, some provide copy services, some share historical stories to help us remember and preserve, some own businesses that make our neighborhood better. Together we are improving the Adena Brook neighborhood, and creating a better habitat for all.