$550,000 Given For Black River Cleanup In Lorain County

AVON-AVON LAKE, OH - From Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur: Today, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) announced a $550,000 supplemental U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) award to the Lorain County Board of Commissioners to improve water quality in the Black River Area of Concern on Lake Erie. The funds were made possible through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).

“These funds will help Lorain continue existing efforts to clean up the Black River and create new economic opportunities along on an important coastal waterway,“ said Kaptur. “This investment also highlights the importance of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and why we fought so hard, in a bipartisan way, to ensure this critical program was fully funded.”

Kaptur serves on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee which controls spending for the U.S. EPA and other agencies.

More about the award and the GLRI from U.S. EPA:

The Black River AOC is on the binational list of toxic hotspots that have been targeted for cleanup under the U.S.-Canadian Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The funding is a supplemental award to an existing grant of $600,000, increasing the total amount to just over $1 million.

The Lorain County Board of Commissioners will use this additional funding to restore two critical areas of degradation and impairment in the Willow Creek watershed, which flows to the Black River. Funding will also support work to restore an additional 800 feet of Fortune Ditch, a major tributary of Willow Creek. Additionally, 1.5 acres of riparian wetland habitat will be restored at the Margaret Peak Nature Preserve, a former family farm in Eaton Township donated to the township 12 years ago by its late namesake. The nature preserve is home to 170 species of birds, two ponds, five acres of wetlands and 10 acres of forest.

To date, Lorain County, in partnership with Eaton Township, has used the original funding to restore approximately 800 feet of Willow Creek and plant hundreds of live stakes and wetland plants around and along Fortune Ditch. At the nature preserve, approximately 21 acres of active agricultural field will be revegetated with native grasses and wildflowers. Overall, funding is expected to establish 1,400 continuous feet of high-quality stream and riparian habitat within the preserve.

Since 2010, GLRI funding totaling $23.5 million – including $16 million from EPA - has funded 20 projects to remediate and restore the Black River AOC. The GLRI was launched in 2010 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes. EPA has funded more than 900 projects to address GLRI’s highest priorities: cleaning up highly-contaminated ‘Areas of Concern’; reducing nutrient runoff; combating invasive species and restoring habitat.

For more information about the Black River Area of Concern, visit: https://www.epa.gov/black-river-aoc

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