QR codes highlight work done in Black River watershed

EATON TWP.— Visitors to several nature preserves in Lorain County can keep an eye out for QR codes for more information on wildlife and restoration efforts. The new website and accompanying codes link visitors to LoCoBROH.com — or "Lorain County Black River Ohio" — and provide details on the work done in the Black River watershed, said Lyn Ickes, Lorain County stormwater outreach and maintenance manager, on Tuesday morning ahead of a tour of the Margaret Peak Nature Preserve. The Margaret Peak Nature Preserve and Fortune Ditch in Eaton Township have the first of the QR codes, greeting visitors with its Lorain County-shaped sticker at the preserve's first sign, followed by 13 others scattered on poles throughout the site. Scanning the code brings up information about flowers visitors may see in bloom — including Black-eyed Susans, goldenrod and New England aster — or wildlife cataloged in the area. She said when getting ready for the tour Tuesday morning she saw two green herons in the area — the small, skittish cousin of the great blue heron. Lorain Storm Water Manager Kathryn Golden said there are a total of 19 codes throughout the county, including at Black River Landing, the Heron Rookery, Martin's Run wetland complex and Parker Marine Inc. in Sheffield. The QR codes and posts were paid for with portions of federal restoration grants, and highlight the work done to remediate the environmental impacts on the Black River watershed due to heavy industry in Lorain and farming in Eaton Township. The Margaret Peak Nature Preserve was a longstanding farm off Butternut Ridge Road deeded to the township in the early 2000s. Returning the area to a wetland from what was once a soybean field has helped improve water quality in the Willow Creek watershed, and helps reduce flooding in the area, Ickes said. Efforts also included a prairie pollinator field behind the wetlands on the site, Ickes said. Willow Creek eventually flows into the Black River and out to Lake Erie. Restoration of the preserve included helping turn the straight, silt-filled Fortune Ditch into a meandering creek. "This particular project was engineered within an inch of its life … there are structures that allow for the floods waters to go into the wetlands and flow out," she said. "The number of birds and species that were never in this creek are astounding — we have muskrats, we have snails, we have darters." Chip Wendt, water resource specialist with Coldwater Consulting, said the stream flows into the floodplains of the wetlands, with catch basins to regulate how fast water recedes back to Fortune Ditch. The area also has ridgelines left behind by former banks of Lake Erie — the same as the ridges that now house North Ridge Road, Sugar Ridge Road and other thoroughfares in the area, he said. Ickes said the QR codes are meant to give visitors a better idea of what they're looking at when visiting different restoration sites. Much of the remediation was paid for via federal grants, including funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. For more information on Black River remediation and restoration efforts, or work done at Margaret Peak Nature Preserve, visit locobroh.com. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.