The Sandusky River Watershed: Resource Inventory and Management Plan

This Resource Inventory was prepared in partial fulfillment of a grant from the Ohio EPA to the Sandusky River Watershed Coalition to implement the watershed planning program outlined in the Ohio EPA publication "A Guide to Developing Local Watershed Action Plans in Ohio." This Ohio EPA grant primarily covered purchase of educational materials, publication costs, office supplies, and secretarial help for the Coalition. The help of Katie McKibben of the Northwest Division of the Ohio EPA is appreciated. Support for the preparation of this inventory came primarily from a grant from the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) to Ohio State University, Heidelberg College, and Case Western Research University. This USDA grant included the provision of technical support to the Coalition by staff of the Water Quality Laboratory (WQL) at Heidelberg College). This support included provision of geographical information system services to the Coalition by the WQL's Jack Kramer and Nancy Miller, as well as considerable writing time to the lead author. This USDA grant, entitled the Lake Erie Agricultural Systems for Environmental Quality (LEASEQ) project, also produced several of the data summaries used in the Resource Inventory. A major factor in helping to advance progress on the Resource Inventory, and its use in the development of the Sandusky Watershed Action Plan, has been the recent hiring of a Watershed Coordinator for the Sandusky River Watershed Coalition. This position is currently funded by a grant from the Ohio Lake Erie Protection Fund to the Sandusky River Watershed Coalition, through the offices of the WSOS Community Action Commission, Inc., in Fremont, Ohio. By its nature, this inventory includes a compilation of data and information from many sources. These include the Ohio EPA, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, The Ohio State University Extension Service, the Water Quality Laboratory of Heidelberg College, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. EPA. Much of the material is available on the internet and WWW addresses are noted throughout the text. This inventory could not have completed without the voluntary efforts of the members of the Coalition's Steering Committee. These include Becky Duncan, Kurt Erichsen, Russ Gibson, Clark Hutson, Ann Keefe, Ed McConoughey, Scott Miller, Monica Ostrand, and Julie Ward. The development of the Management Plan for the Sandusky River Watershed was supported by Grant #99-04, "Watershed Planning and Implementation for the Sandusky River Watershed," from the Ohio Lake Erie Protection Fund. The Lake Erie Protection Fund also supported the extension of the data bases in the appendix to include 11-digit watersheds draining directly into Sandusky Bay and the printing of additional copies of the Resource Inventory and Management Plan. Numerous partners of the Coalition have contributed time, energy and other resources to the development of the committee action plans. We would like to give special recognition to the committee chairpersons for taking lead responsibility for working with the diverse interests of their committees to produce the items in the action plans. Those individuals are Becky Duncan, Natural Resources Conservation Service; Brad Borer, Tiffin Water Pollution Control Center; David Little, Ohio American Water Co,; David Baker, Heidelberg College; Ann Keefe, Seneca County Soil and Water Conservation Service; and David Wolfe, Wyandot Dolomite.