Euclid Creek’s First Stream Restoration Project in Willoughby Hills Funded!
Cleveland, OH – The Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District (CSWCD) has been awarded a $156,462 grant through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Section 319 Grant Program to conduct the Willoughby-Eastlake School of Innovation stream restoration project. Funds will be used to restore a degraded stream behind the School of Innovation in Willoughby Hills in Lake County. This project is in the Euclid Creek Watershed at the headwaters of the East Branch of Euclid Creek, a beautiful, wooded tributary, which is a rarity in our highly developed and degraded urban watershed.
Problems in this stream segment include, bank erosion, channel downcutting, intrusion by invasive plant species, an undersized/failing culvert, and an inability of the stream to access its floodplain. The project will restore and stabilize the two creeks, replace the culvert, and improve the stream, floodplain and streamside habitat. All work will be in collaboration with students from the School of Innovation. Quoting Principal Brian Patrick of the School of Innovation, “The School of Innovation students and staff are eager to assist in the design and development of the creek and surrounding floodplain. We hope to create a unique space our students can becomes stewards of, as well as educators themselves as schools visit and learn from SOI students!”
Partners on this project include the City of Willoughby Hills, CSWCD, First Energy, Friends of Euclid Creek, Lake County Soil & Water Conservation District, Lake County Stormwater Management Department, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, and the Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools. The City of Willoughby Hills, through their Lake County Stormwater Management Program Funds and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District are contributing sizeable in-kind local match funds toward the restoration project.
To find out when the Design-Build Request for Qualifications is issued (anticipated in mid-April), or other project and outreach details, please see the project webpage here, or contact Euclid Creek Watershed Program ManagerClaire Posiusat 216-524-6580 x1004 or cposius@cuyahogaswcd.org.