You see before you a lovely meadow with a tree shaded stream meandering through it. This meadow hasn't been plowed for over 60 years, and hay is cut there each summer. A vernal pool within it  hosts sandpipers and ducks during spring and fall migration. Turn left and you cross Bee Run flowing down from the north under the road through a culvert. It is hidden among fifty year--old trees. Among these trees is the remnant of a dam that once was used for a soda ash mill according to the tale told by old timers.

Even before moving to Claridon Township fifty years ago I thought this was the prettiest corner in Marion County. Since then I have passed this corner almost daily, and I'm still convinced that it is.  

   This is the area around Bee Run as it nears the Olentangy River (Whetstone River to those of us who live along its course) after running through Scott and Claridon Townships. Two recent surveys near its mouth have shown a pristine waterway with species that cannot live in overly polluted or oxygen poor waterways such as darters, crayfish, minnows, and the larva of stone flies, damsel flies and dragon flies. 

   Representatives of both the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Environmental Council  have visited this stretch of Bee Run as it peacefully meanders through this meadow.  Fifteen species of minnows were found in the stream. Another group recently tramped along Bee Run near its mouth including the landowner and myself, and representatives of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (Division of Soil & Water Conservation), the Ohio State University Extension Service, and the Upper Olentangy Watershed Alliance. These groups came to Bee Run because of the two to one vote in August of the Marion County Commissioners to approve the "cleaning of the Bee Run Ditch."  Several landowners at that meeting protested the channeling of Bee Run for various reasons.

   However, the Ohio Ditch Law of 1953 (ORC 6131, 6133, 6135, and 6137) permits widening, deepening, straightening, altering, filling, walling, or change in course, and removal of log--jams and debris upon petition of an adjoining landowner. This law is outdated because the actions it encourages have been shown to destroy the ecosystem within small streams like Bee Run that make up 80% of the nation's stream network. The special physical and biological characteristics of intact small streams and wetlands provide natural flood control, recharges groundwater, traps sediments and pollution from fertilizers, recycles nutrients, creates and maintains biological diversity, and sustains the biological productivity of downstream rivers, lakes and estuaries. Headwater streams such as Bee Run also provide a rich resource base that contributes to the productivity of both local food webs and those farther downstream. By channeling a stream the ecology is imperiled by human-induced changes such as that planned for Bee Run. Instead of controlling flooding the increased volume of water promotes flooding. The altered channel will be less effective at recharging groundwater, trapping sediment, and recycling nutrients. 

   Is it fair that landowners upstream can petition for action that affects landowners downstream without their consent? Is it right to destroy a natural stream that is now functioning in maintaining the ecology of its watershed? Is it right that landowners are to be taxed against their will to destroy a stream that is now functioning as nature intended? As an individual landowner who has experienced the beauty of Bee Run, and seen its positive effect on local ecology, I have serious concerns regarding the decision to channel this waterway, making it a ditch instead of a stream.  

   In view of studies showing that the wasteful practice of "cleaning" streams is detrimental to the environment, the Ohio Legislature should repeal the outdated Ohio Ditch Law of 1953 and enact environmentally friendly legislation to maintain our natural waterways. In the meantime, Bee Run is imperiled. Can it be can be saved by the actions of landowners unwilling to be taxed for work they do not want, and of those of us who realize the value of a natural stream?

1 .   The Ohio Environmental Council based in Columbus, Ohio is a watchdog for our environment. They are aware of the impending destruction of the ecology of Bee Run. Their newsletter WATCH, Fall 2003 issue, offers some hope in the following article.
  
The OEC Helps Local Groups Oppose Bad State Laws

Bee Run in Marion County is a lovely country creek. So why would someone want to rip out all of the trees along it? One reason: Because Ohio law lets them!    It may seem ridiculous, but under Ohio's "drainage laws" one landowner along the creek can not only ask the county to do it in the name of "improved drainage", but also can make their neighbors pay for the destruction. 

   The OEC thinks this is flat-out wrong. So we were there recently to testify at the local public hearing on the project. But our work doesn't end there. All summer we've been working with a wide coalition of local and state groups to develop legislation that will fix the laws. By highlighting bad local projects and working with scientists and lawyers to develop environmentally friendly alternatives, the OEC is going to the heart of this problem. And it is a huge problem. According to several studies, including one by the Ohio EPA, changing the natural course of rivers and streams is the leading cause of water pollution in Ohio rivers and streams. These projects denude protective streamside vegetation destroy wildlife habitat, and degrade water quality. 

   Whether rural streams or urban wetlands, the OEC helps citizens fight bad projects at the local level and works with our members and our network of experts at the state level toward the day when these destructive, old-fashioned projects will be history.

Trella H. Romine
1536 Whetstone River Road North
Caledonia, OH 43314
trella@earthlink.net