Landowners bordering major Lawrence County creeks now can battle log jams and farmland erosion – courtesy of state cleanup dollars.

Wednesday, March 22, 2000

Landowners bordering major Lawrence County creeks now can battle log jams and farmland erosion – courtesy of state cleanup dollars.

In November, the Ohio General Assembly made $5 million available to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for log jam removal programs in each county.

Thirty-five of the 88 state counties in the program, including Lawrence County, will receive about $143,000 each, said Donnie Myers, Lawrence Soil and Water Conservation District technician.

Myers will direct the local funding assistance – up to $1,000 per landowner – which will improve the ability of streams like Pine Creek and Symmes Creek to drain the county’s water runoff.

"For instance, on (Ohio) 243 there are some logs that have the creek completely blocked and the sediment has built up behind it," Myers said.

Landowners can use the state money to remove such jams, opening up the streams, he said.

"The sediment will move with the flow of water if there’s nothing to get it blocked," he added. "So, this helps keep creeks from flooding homes and farmland and keeps erosion down."

Lucian Carter of Chesapeake, the first to sign up, said the program is sorely needed in Lawrence County, especially along his part of Symmes Creek.

"I’ve probably lost between 15 and 25 feet of area on the creek over the years because of erosion," Carter said.

The creek holds at least two large log jams near his farm.

"I think if we could keep the creeks clean, we could save our land," Carter said.

"Had it been clean, the land I lost could have been saved to begin with," he said. "We certainly appreciate anything they can do for us."

Soil and Water has coordinated log jam removal programs in the past, but this is the first year for such large-scale funding, Myers said.

"We hope to run this for three years and we will be cutting leaning trees, something we haven’t done before," he said.

That plan has given hope to many Lawrence Countians who worry about dead or falling trees along the creek banks, county commissioner Paul Herrell said.

Leaning trees can fall, block a creek and then the stream cuts into the bottomland, said Herrell, who lives beside Symmes Creek at Aid.

"It will make a difference in high water on this creek," he said. "And Symmes Creek has been full for three days because it’s stopped up."

To qualify for the log jam removal program, landowners or legal operators of the land must border a creek that appears as a solid blue line on the U.S. Geographical Survey topographic map of Lawrence County.

Owners or operators must secure all required permits and make an application with Soil and Water, Myers said.

"Then we go out and look at the site and estimate the cost," he said.

Landowners are responsible for work to be done prior to any payments.

Costs are estimated per log jam and per tree removed from the stream bank. Work can be done by the landowner or contracted out, Myers said.

For more information, or an application, contact Soil and Water at 867-4737.