Watershed Resources

What is a watershed?

A watershed is an area of land that drains into a body of water, such as a pond, stream, river, lake, or ocean. Small watersheds can be part of larger watersheds. Water travels through a watershed either over the surface (precipitation, rainfall and melted snow) or by seeping into the soil (infiltration) over several land uses such as farms, forests, lawns, streets, etc. Surface runoff and infiltration in a watershed affect water quality. Pollution is collected along the water path, regardless of surface or sub-surface routes. What we do in the watershed can have consequences downstream, such as erosion, flooding, and poor water quality. There are many ways we can protect our watersheds. Remember, water drains off of rooftops, driveways, parking lots, roads (impervious surfaces), lawns, farm fields, etc.

Waters from Fairfield County continue to the Ohio River, the Mississippi River, and ultimately into the Gulf of Mexico. Rainwater that falls on more than half of the U.S. drains there. See an interactive map of the United States watersheds at https://river-runner.samlearner.com/ to locate larger watersheds outside of Fairfield County.

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What is a water cycle?

USGS has a kid-friendly water cycle diagram at http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle-kids.html with versions available for beginner, intermediate and advanced students.

Where does your water shed?

We all live in a watershed. Check out our interactive map (below) of the watersheds in Fairfield County. You can search by address and then click on the map, or zoom into the map and click on an area of interest to determine which watershed it is located in.

Interactive Map

A map with multiple images of different locations.

Practices and ways you can protect your watershed:

Riparian buffer/filter strip areas (trees and grasses) along stream bank corridors reduce bank erosion and filter pollutants.
Grassed waterways in water patterns susceptible to erosion; turf-type fescue recommended
Agricultural conservation tillage and no-till
Contour strip cropping
Cover crops
Livestock exclusion (fencing or creating alternative watering sources)
Wetlands
Stormwater retention/detention ponds
Construction site the best management practices (BMPs), including timber harvest projects (straw bales, silt fences, filter fabrics, etc.). See Our Storm Water Pollution Solutions (MS-4 outreach for builders and contractors).
Use the right rate, type and timing of fertilizer on a lawn/farm field that truly needs it. Have you tested your soil to see what it needs or, more importantly, doesn’t need? See soil testing for information.
Use the right aquatic-friendly chemicals near water sources. See the Chemical Control of Aquatic Plants document for a list of products that are labeled for aquatic use.
Pick-Up-Poop (PUP): prevent pet wastes from getting into streams and ditches (Do we need to link to the program info?)
Fix leaking automotive fluids—oil and antifreeze, —and don’t dump them. Clean up any spills up with absorbent materials. Recycling locations are available.
Don’t dump yard waste/leaves in drainage ditches or in the street. Lawn clippings can be left in the yard to aid in fertilization. Compost leaves. Leave a vegetated area by your stream edge. Don’t spray road ditches; bare soil erodes. Seed and mulch any bare areas that develop.
Dispose of household hazardous waste and paint properly.
Utilize rain barrels and rain gardens to reduce localized flooding and your use of groundwater resources.
Inspect and maintain the septic system regularly.
Drain the swimming pool properly (wait until chlorine levels are not detected)
Choose environmentally friendly household products.
Use PVC for tile outlets;corrugated tile that dangles over a stream bank causes erosion. Rock pads below tile outlets where they drip can prevent bank erosion.
Remove fallen trees quickly to avoid backup or a logjam that erodes banks when water makes its way around them.

Watershed Resources:

Stream Management Q&A: What Permit Where? This information was developed to help answer some more commonly asked questions about managing property along a stream/river. It also includes contact information for local agencies for further information, along with a diagram of who regulates what areas in the landscape.

All the Water in the World

Salt Water – 97.2%
Glaciers and Icecaps – 2%
Fresh Water – 2.63%
Surface Water: 0.0091%
Atmosphere: 0.001%
Ground Water: 0.62%
Water available for human consumption: 0.00003%

Buckeye Lake Efforts

Residents of the Buckeye Lake Watershed... We are trying to partner responsible waterfowl hunters with cooperating landowners in an effort to reduce the Canada goose population around Buckeye Lake. If you have a property that you would be willing to allow goose hunting on, please contact the FSWCD at (740) 653-8154.

The Buckeye Lake Nutrient Reduction Project has come to an end. Click here to see the final Report and project overview.

Links:

Hunter's Run Conservancy District

Hunter’s Run – formed in 1952 (as a result of the 1948 flood in Lancaster)
Constructed between 1954-1961
Hunter’s Run structures control 50% of the runoff that goes through Lancaster.

A map of the river with red dots showing where dams are.

8 flood retarding dams
20 sediment control structures
1.7 miles of channel modification
22 bridges
8 miles of road

Please Note: The Conservancy Districts are a separate entity from the Soil and Water Conservation District

Map of Installed Structures in the North Hocking Watershed

Map of Installed Structures in the Upper Hocking Watershed

https://www.huntersruncd.org

https://www.facebook.com/Huntersruncd

Rush Creek Conservancy District

Rush Creek – formed in 1961
Constructed between 1967 and1984

A map of the county 's roads and highways.

19 flood retarding & sediment dams
2.1 miles of levee
17 miles of improved channel

Contact: David Snider (maintenance) at (740) 605-6878

Flood Frequency	Acres Flooded without Structures	Acres Flooded with Structures	Percent Reduction of Flooded Area
100 – year (5.6”)	8,604	6,564	24
10 – year (3.7”)	7,775	5,516	29
2 –year (3.2”)	4,092	531	87

Rushcreek Conservancy Map of Dams

Sycamore Creek

In 2022, local agencies, conservation organizations, educators, and residents gathered to further a “Sycamore Creek Partnership” to improve public engagement and education on stream health of Sycamore Creek in Violet Township and the City of Pickerington. The informal group of teachers and curriculum coordinators at Pickerington Local School District, Coyote Run, Bill and Joyce Hague Foundation, Fairfield County Park District, OSU Extension Fairfield County, concerned citizens, and our own Fairfield Soil and Water Conservation District (FSWCD) staff decided to move quickly and not wait to engage the community. Please like and share the “Sycamore Creek Report-Walnut Creek Watershed” on Facebook!

The first actionable item was the installation of a USGS LoCAS river gauge on Sycamore Creek to understand how the stream is responding to heavy rain events and dry weather times. This is a collaboration between the EPA MS4-permitted communities of Pickerington, Violet Township, Liberty Township, and ODOT, with assistance from FSWCD and local citizens who contributed to its funding.

In the fall of 2022, the FSWCD helped coordinate over 60 Pickerington Central and North AP environmental science students and teachers for instream observations of Sycamore Creek. Thanks to Coyote Run for welcoming these students to the world of conservation right in their backyard. Thanks also to the educational team of Adam Salberg and Adam Philpott, who led the group in increasing awareness of our human impact on our streams.

A little further upstream, two residents also wanted to gain knowledge of the section of the stream on their land. “There’s nothing more fun and exciting than to learn about the tiny critters in our local stream,” according to Cathy Jerbic, who collaborated to inventory a stretch of Sycamore Creek on her property in northern Violet Township. Cookie O’Neal got in as well and felt that “as citizens, we can contribute to this community effort to protect a precious natural resource—water.”

In the spring of 2023, Pickerington North student Collin Searfoss helped gather information to help increase awareness of Sycamore Creek and provided some thoughts on the global need for conservation and how the Sycamore Creek Watershed is a tangible local example the student and community as a whole. Collins’s thoughts are below.

The Sycamore Creek Watershed spans through parts of the City of Pickerington, Fairfield, and Licking Counties. This land is important to all that live on it, animals and humans alike.

What is Conservation

Land conservation is the protection and management of land resources. This includes physical land resources, water resources, and animal and plant species.

Animal Species in Sycamore Creek

Sycamore Creek Watershed is home to hundreds of species of animals on land, in the air, and in the water. While Sycamore Creek is pretty small, it is still home to several common species, such as crawdads, various species of frogs, and small fish. These areas also attract many species of birds, most commonly around areas with water, including wood and mallard ducks. While there are not many records of specific species found in and around Sycamore Creek, there is a dedicated group of watches at Pickerington Ponds. Pickerington Ponds is outside the Sycamore Creek watershed, but the species found there are representatives of the species in this area.

Importance of Conservation

Conserving land is important because it maintains the environment for the future, which is beneficial to both humans and wildlife. ne of the most important of these is our natural resources. Water is the key to all life on earth, and without a stable source, all living things on earth would die. Conservation efforts to improve these natural water resources are just one of the many elements responsible for keeping our environment stable. There are already signs that point toward environmental collapse, which is why conservation is more important now than ever before. One of these signs is the loss of species diversity; species are going extinct faster now than they ever have before. Each species in a specific ecosystem serves a purpose that keeps the ecosystem functioning. With the loss of one or more parts of this system, the ecosystem itself could collapse. Another major sign of ecosystem collapse is the global climate. 2022 was tied for the 5th warmest year on record since 1880, and the last decade has been the warmest officially documented. The earth has been relatively stable for many years, so why is it warming so much? Could the answer be that it is humans? If we are part of the cause, then we can also work to fix it.

Life Without Conservation

Without active conservation efforts, the global ecosystem will begin to decay. Eventually, the global ecosystem will collapse, resulting in less food and more frequent and worse natural disasters. Resources will begin to run out, and without these resources, human populations can’t be sustained. Life on earth will slowly die off, including humans.

Threats to Conservation

The main threats to conservation are pollution in all its forms, from development to agriculture, the change of ecological processes, the spread of invasive species, and changes in our climate.

Pollution is the introduction of destructive materials into the environment. These can be natural or produced by humans. Examples include litter, greenhouse gases, and pesticides.
Development refers to the creation of structures such as houses, stores, and schools.
Agriculture is the cultivation of land for producing crops and livestock.
Ecological processes are the interaction between the living and nonliving matter in an ecosystem. These include cycles such as the water and energy cycles.
An invasive species is a species that has been introduced to a new ecosystem, generally by humans. These species, then, commonly grow out of control and cause damage to the ecosystem.
Climate change is a long-term effect on our planet, mainly from excess carbon dioxide emissions, which have slowly raised the temperature of the earth and changed the weather patterns.