More Wetlands, Please!

Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, which protects over 8000 acres of land in the Big and Little Darby Creek watershed, and 13 miles along the Big Darby Creek, is adding more wetland habitat. This is great news for the watershed, but also for the birds that call the area home for part or all of the year.

The project will remove a levee that was built by previous owners. Prior to being owned by Metro Parks, the area was owned by a sportsman’s club. The levee prevented water from entering the 40 acre field. With the removal of the levee, the hydrology will return to a more natural state. The project site is adjacent to the Big Darby Creek, and will create a floodplain wetland. This wetland will provide nutrient and sediment reduction and habitat creation in a watershed threatened by increased agricultural tiling, stormwater runoff, and sedimentation. The project size is 20-25 acres. Native plants will also be added to the floodplain wetland as part of the restoration. Construction has already begun on the wetland, and should be completed by the end of the year.

The Darby Creek wetland project is part of the larger H2Ohio initiative, which has provided 14,521 acres of wetland and ecosystem restoration in the state. Wetlands not only help to filter out sediment, nitrogen, and pesticides, but are also important areas for birds. More than one-third of the federally threatened and endangered bird species live in wetlands, and half use wetlands at some point in their life. Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks has over 3,700 acres of wetlands in the 28,500 acre park district, many of which are restored areas.