A Publication of Rural Action UP THE CREEK THE NEWSLETTER

Monday Creek Restoration Project Volume 11 • Number 1 • Summer 2005

Tree planting on a Coal Company reclamation site on April 24, 2004. Pictured are Boy Scouts from Troop 60 (Nelsonville), youth from New Straitsville, and Betsy Gosnell. Photo by Raina Ooten, 2004.

Volunteering with Monday Creek by Betsy Gosnell Five years ago my husband and I “AMD and Art”. I didn’t know what , so I began attending meetings: moved to Southeast from Greater that was, but it sounded like fun and public meetings, where I met Office Cleveland so he could attend school at being new, I wanted to get involved. of Surface Mining (OSM) Interns Hocking College. We settled into the That was my first volunteer experience and Volunteers In Service To America small town of Murray City and the first with Monday Creek and from that mo- (VISTA); town council meetings where thing we noticed was the run-down ment on I was hooked! I met the Mayor, Volunteer Fire De- train depot across from our house. The I learned why the water was orange partment Chief, and staff from Ohio second thing we noticed was the orange and that AMD stood for acid mine Department of Natural Resources, creek running next to the depot. drainage, and that is what caused the and Environ- The following spring, I saw a sign water discoloration and prevented any mental Protection Agency. I learned in the Post Office for volunteers for an thing from living in it. about Monday Creek and what was archaeological dig in the park across I wanted to learn more about water- being done to clean up the water and from our house for some project called sheds and the damage caused by coal what still needed to be done. I learned about seeps, subsidences and gob piles; IN THIS EDITION OF UP THE CREEK I learned about limestone channels, Volunteering with MCRP ...... 1 Former VISTA says thanks ...... 5 watershed management and dosers. From the Coordinator's Desk...... 2 Feasibility report up for review...... 6 I went on trash clean-ups, canoe Partnerships plant red oaks...... 3 Announcements/Events ...... 7 floats, birding hikes and watershed New Straitsville community forest ...... 4 Looking Back...... 8 Continued on page 3 2 Up The Creek Partners Adelmann Lumber American Electric Power Athens, Hocking, and Perry Soil & Water Mike Steinmaus Conservation Districts and canoe at Burr Athens, Hocking, and Perry County oak Reservoir. Commissioners Photo by Raina Hocking College: National Environmental Training Cooperative Ooten, 2004 Buckingham Coal Company Monday Creek Residents USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service ODNR Div. of Mineral Resources Management ODNR Division of Soil & Water Conservation ODNR Division of Wildlife From the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Ohio University - Geography & Geology Dept. Coordinator’s Desk Ohio University - The Institute of Local by Mike Steinmaus, Monday Creek Watershed Coordinator Government Administration and Rural Development (ILGARD) As I write the commentary, I’m on vacation visiting in my Rural Action, Inc. home state of Iowa. In reflecting on the newsletter theme of US Army Corps of Engineers US EPA volunteering, I thought about how the concept of volun- US Forest Service teering time and talents has been a part of my life and the US Geological Survey lives of those around me as I grew up. I remember my Dad US Office of Surface Mining volunteering as the Assistant Cub Scoutmaster (although Editors: Tim Braun, Mike Steinmaus I know he wanted to be involved with camping and hik- Page Design & type: Mary Lautzenheiser ing with older boys). I think of the delicious pies my Mom Photos: Tim Braun, Raina Ooten, baked and the food she served at church bazaars (even Richard Pfeiffer, Mike Steinmaus though she had been on her feet in the grocery store all week). I think of my uncle and fellow farmers who would Contributors: Andrew Bashaw leave their own crops to harvest the grain of a neighbor who Betsy Gosnell was hospitalized. I learned from these examples that the Mark Kessinger value of our lives is not based on what we make in salaries, Mary Lautzenheiser our prestigious titles or our material possessions but rather Raina Ooten from what we give for the well being of our community. Phil Sammons Mike Steinmaus I remember coming home for lunch on a cold January day while attending grade school. My Mom had the TV turned on and a new, young President named Kennedy was saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” A simple idea that many who The Monday Creek Restoration Project is a heard it took to heart—the concept of volunteering. collaborative venture dedicated to reclaiming the Monday Creek watershed. For more infor- This newsletter tells the stories of some of the many mation contact: volunteers who have enhanced Monday Creek Restora- MCRP, PO Box 129, New Straitsville, OH 43766 tion Project. These volunteers have come from various Phone: 740-394-2047 backgrounds, including scientists, biologists, teachers, Rural Action, PO Box 157, Trimble, OH 45782 students and homemakers. In their own way, each has made Phone: 740-767-4938 MCRP website: www.mondaycreek.org a difference — some have changed the water quality of the Listserv: [email protected] creek, making it possible for aquatic life to return; some Email: [email protected]. have changed the lives of young people, who have experi- enced the interconnected web of life; others have changed This publication was financed through a grant communities, building an understanding that in working from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency together we can build a better world. and the Environmental Protection Agency, under the provisions of Section 319(h) of the Clean Water Act. It is published bian- My thanks to all volunteers! nually by Rural Action, our sponsoring agency (www.ruralaction.org). Printed on 100% post consumer recycled paper with soy inks. Summer 2005 3

VOLUNTEERING Continued from page 1 Partnerships help plant tours. I met a lot of people and made new friends. And the best part of all red oaks in reclamation project was we all believed in the same thing: By Phil Sammon that the water needed to be cleaned Wayne National Forest up so life could return to Monday The Monday Creek Restoration Proj- Volunteer, organized volunteers from Creek. I think Margaret Mead said it ect and Wayne National Forest staff Perry County high schools and the best: “Never doubt that a small group put the finishing touches on a - long watershed group to work with Forest of thoughtful concerned citizens can standing partnership project April 24, Service personnel in the effort. change the world. Indeed it is the only by planting more than 1,200 trees in More than two dozen people came thing that ever has.” Jobs Hollow near McCuneville, Ohio, together during the cloudy mid-morn- Through my interactions with on the northern edge of the Forest. ing, dibble bars in hand, to accomplish Monday Creek, I learned about a The Wayne’s Watershed Team won the plantings across three to four acres partner group called Rural Action and a Regional Foresters award for the wa- on two different sites. Working in became a VISTA volunteer with them. tershed partnership project in 2004. teams and individually, Forest Service I first worked in welfare to work, help- The planting started off as a Cen- personnel and the MCRP volunteers ing low-income folks gain skills for tennial Challenge Project Fund pro- set out to plant a borrow area and a gob employment. I then became a VISTA posal just two months ago to plant a pile as part of an abandoned mine lands Leader and acted as a liaison between Centennial Forest with the Monday project. The borrow area had previously the staff and VISTAs. I worked with Creek Restoration Project and school been cleared of vegetation, and the top- Rural Action’s other programs too: students. But when fund money went soil had been used to reclaim parts of Earth Day with the Environmental to other projects, the Monday Creek the abandoned mine area. The work- Learning Program; Landowner’s Con- group stepped forward to handle the ers planted the seedlings, mostly red ference with the Forestry Program; an whole project and coordinate the vol- oak with some white pine, in about 3 herb harvest at the National Center for unteers to complete the tree planting. hours, moving quickly across the land- the Preservation of Medicinal Herbs Mitch Farley from the Ohio De- scape to beat the approaching rains. and planned the Earth Ball and An- partment of Natural Resources worked The MCRP and the Forest’s Wa- nual Dinner. I took the minutes at with Gary Willison, Wayne National tershed Team have plans to plant numerous meetings and coordinated Forest’s Watershed Group team leader other project areas in the future during the welfare to work staff in all office and MCRP’s Mike Steinmaus to get seasonally appropriate times as part of needs. I attended volunteer events and the trees. Tim Braun, MCRP VISTA their overall partnership plan. county fairs, local festivals and career days at local schools to recruit and edu- cate about VISTA service and to talk Volunteer paints blaze about the work Rural Action and its during a Buckeye Trail programs were doing. maintenance day. Throughout it all, I continued to Photo by Richard Pfeiffer, be actively involved with the Friends 2005. of Monday Creek- going to meetings, cleaning up trash with the Boy Scouts and getting our public group to adopt a stretch of the Buckeye Trail which passes through our watershed. Having these opportunities helped me to feel more a part of the com- munity, not just the community where I lived or worked, but the watershed community as a whole. Driving by the creek these days, I take pride in know- ing that I am one of the many who are helping make the dream of cleaning up Monday Creek into a reality. 4 Up The Creek New Straitsville Community Forest Project By Andrew Bashaw, Former AmeriCorps*VISTA Leader After months of planning, the Village of New Straitsville gained a walk- ing trail and nearly 75 new trees in the downtown green space this past New Straitsville gained a spring. The New Straitsville Im- walking trail and new trees in provement Committee and Village its downtown green space. Council, along with many commu- nity volunteers, partnered with Rural Left: Paul Nutter and Andrew Action Sustainable Forestry and an Bashaw plant trees. AmeriCorps*NCCC team in the latest effort to beautify the village’s commu- Below: Volunteers finish the nity space. walking trail. Several meetings were held in advance to educate people in the Little Photos by Tim Braun, 2005 Cities of Black Diamonds micro-re- gion about the care and planting of trees, volunteer management, and the purpose of the National Tree Trust Roots Grant, which helped to buy the trees and equipment along with a sizeable donation by the community of New Straitsville. Hocking Valley Concrete and Five Springs Farm also provided significant discounts for ma- terials and trees. Rural Action Sustain- able Forestry hosted the NCCC team to complete a variety of tasks, includ- ing community green space projects in Corning and . The trail now stretches from his- toric Robinson’s Cave to State Route 595, meandering along a stream and weed-free. This project’s success is through the playground area on the in large part due to the helpfulness bed of the old railroad. Trees were of local volunteers, including Ron planted with an emphasis on native Eaton, Paul Nutter, Bill Lanning and varieties, spring flowers and fall colors. Don McGathey (to name a few), who Our May stream cleanup On April 9th, an overwhelming turn- showed up with tools and time to lend was a success. We removed out of volunteers enabled us to plant a hand and continue improving the three tires, a bike, bedsprings all of the trees and finish up the trail. village. Bill Lanning actually brought and about 20 bags of trash Volunteers represented the community more than tools. He works with youth from the stream. of New Straitsville, Monday Creek throughout Perry County and brought Photo by Tim Braun, 2005 Restoration Project, the Rural Action about a dozen helpers with him who AmeriCorps*VISTA program, Rural helped spread gravel for the trail and Action Staff and AmeriCorps*NCCC, worked to make the area around the and included many local teens. playground look nice. Monday Creek Looking back on the work com- Restoration Project would like to pleted in April, nearly all of the trees thank Bill, his volunteers, and all of have survived (despite a poor site for the community members for their planting) due to the care of volunteers, help on this project and many others and the quarter-mile trail remains throughout the year. Summer 2005 5 Former VISTA says Thanks By Raina Ooten, Watershed Coordinator, Leading Creek

“If there is magic on the planet, it is con- to work with the tained in the water.”—Loren Eiseley children of the area Water has always fascinated me, as it during tree plantings does so many. In my childhood, I would and litter clean ups. I often play for hours by a stream watch- also planned and con- ing and listening to the babbling life. ducted public meet- When I discovered that so much of the ings to involve and planet’s water was polluted from human inform citizens, and I activity, I was appalled and determined to conducted monitoring do something about it. During college, I and reconnaissance at learned of the watershed-based approach current and past recla- to restoration and protection of water re- mation projects. sources and searched for a way to join in. My time with Finally, the opportunity presented itself Monday Creek Res- in the form of a summer internship with toration Project gave the Raccoon Creek Watershed, where me the confidence and skills to move Above: Raina Ooten. Canoeing at I was familiarized with water sampling forward. Recently, I was fortunate to Burr Oak Reservoir. Photo by Mike methods and acid mine drainage reme- become the Watershed Coordina- Steinmaus, 2004. diation techniques. tor for nearby Leading Creek. Since That taste of the field increased my joining the team in Pomeroy, I’ve been passion for the work, so I became an busy planning some of our first water make positive changes in my sur- AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer with quality projects to reduce sediment roundings. To the residents of the MCRP. From November 2003 to No- and acid mine drainage. Monday Creek Watershed, I also vember 2004 I lived and worked in the My thanks go out to the great say thank you. Everyone was so sup- Monday Creek Watershed in a position people at the Monday Creek and Rac- portive and kind to me for that year that let me work in all aspects of water- coon Creek watershed groups. Their when I was the newcomer in town. shed management. The outreach and guidance and expertise helped me go New Straitsville will always inspire education program gave me the chance on to a career that I enjoy where I can a feeling of nostalgia in me.

Note from Tim Braun, AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer at MCRP: “Here is a picture of minnows and a crayfish that we caught in Monday Creek near Oreville. We also found minnows near Rock Run on Monday Creek—an area where we had not seen min- nows previously.” Photo by Tim Braun, 2005. Summer 2005 6 Feasibility Report goes through public review by Mark Kessinger, Project Manager Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington, West Virginia

On May 2, 2005, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the draft Feasibility Report and draft Envi- ronmental Assessment of the project in the Monday Creek Watershed for public review. For those wishing to review them, the documents could be downloaded from the Huntington District’s website and copies were placed in the New Straitsville Public Library, the Logan-Hocking County District Library and the Nelsonville Public Library. The comment period for both documents ended in early June. Comments received during the review period will be incorporated into the fi nal Feasibility Report and fi nal Environmental Assessment. The Huntington District will then forward both documents to the Great Lakes and Division Offi ce in Cincinnati and Corps Headquar- ters in Washington, D.C. for review and approval. Typically, it takes 2-3 months to gain approval. Following Division and Headquarters approval, the documents will be sent to the As- sistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works at the Pentagon for that offi ce’s approval. From there it goes to the Offi ce of Management and Budget and fi nally on to Congress for authori- zation of construction. I’m explaining all of this because even though the report is complete, it takes about a year, and in some There’s a slim chance that funding I’m fully confi dent that the U.S. cases longer, to reach the House and for Monday Creek construction could Army Corps of Engineers project in Senate to be enacted into law. It get into the 2007 budget, but most the Monday Creek Watershed will be would be nice if we could move right likely, the earliest we might see federal built. The question is when. In today’s to construction, but that’s not how funding for the project is 2008. And climate of constrained budgets at both things work. Even after construction that’s just Uncle Sam’s part, which federal and state levels, projects may is authorized, another appropriations pays 65% of the cost for construction. not get built as fast as we would like bill must be passed designating federal The other 35% is the responsibility of them to. So all of us will need to keep funds for the project. The nation’s the State of Ohio. In the case of Mon- our eyes on the future and our minds 2006 budget has been developed and day Creek, the non-federal sponsor for on the end result — a cleaner, greener work is currently underway on the the project is the Ohio Department of Monday Creek Watershed. 2007 budget. Natural Resources. Summer 2005 7

2005 Upcoming LOOKING BACK Watershed Events Continued from page 8

Monday Creek Partners’ Meetings are pipe clenched in his teeth and a tin of held on alternate months. Dates: Sep- Five Brothers Tobacco close at hand. tember 8 and November 10. Details The Kings kept their house in TBA; meeting minutes are posted at Dundee while mining in the Mon- www.mondaycreek.org. day Creek watershed: Kathryn spent a year in New Lexington, summers in Friends of Monday Creek Meetings Nelsonville, and went to Carbon Hill at MCRP offi ce, 115 W. Main Street to high school, but was fondest of New Straitsville, potluck starts at 6:30 their house in Sand Run. Friends and pm, guest speaker. Friends meetings family were constant visitors, but at are: August 11 and October 13. fi rst she wondered how anyone would Above: Viola Walter King with 5-year- August 16-17-18: Monday Creek fi nd their place in the hills. A photo old Kathryn at a coal tipple near Dundee, Watershed Daycamp for kids 9-13 of the puffi ng steam shovel in Sand circa 1920. Run shows Frank King and (prob- September 17: Buckeye Trail Hike ably) Uncle Frank Walter, Kathryn work mining coal on a farm belong- October 15: Annual Monday Creek and three young friends in its cab. ing to Ed Machan near Dundee, Watershed Tour Eventually Frank King realized which produced enough coal to pay they could not produce and sell off the burdensome equipment debt. October 22: Stream cleanup. enough coal from the Sand Run Several years ago Kathryn and one Details: visit www.mondaycreek.org mine. He brought the shovel north of her daughters drove back to see the or call MCRP at 740-394-2047. where several other relatives operated old home in Sand Run, but they weren’t mines. In 1932 the B-2 was put to able to fi nd it, she says: the road is gone.

PARTNERSHIP SUPPORT

OUR MISSION: BENEFITS: The Monday Creek Newsletter, Watershed Tours, Float Trips, Volunteer Opportunities and, Restoration Project best of all, helping make the wa ter shed beau ti ful again. is a Partnership MEMBERSHIP: committed to improving MCRP’S coordinator provides support to the Mon day Creek project as the wa ter shed health well as many other com mu ni ty endeavors, through community orga - for the benefi t niz ing, networking, and development efforts. of the community. $1000 Sustainer $60 Family $60 Nonprofi t $500 Sponsor $40 Individual $100 Business $100 Supporting $15 Basic Grassroots Yes, I want to be a Friend of Monday Creek! Please specify: Donation to MCRP Membership Both $ enclosed

Name Date Send your contribution Organization or mem ber ship dues to: Address MCRP City State Zip PO Box 129 New Straitsville, OH 43766 Phone FAX E-mail Questions? call 740-394-2047 Looking Back

steam shovel Family Ties (a model B-2) by Mary Lautzenheiser and estab- lished a mine Kathryn King Gardner Weber and at Sand Run. my father, Herman Lautzenheiser, The wors- are first cousins. Both grew up in ening econom- Dundee, a Tuscarawas County com- ic climate soon munity along Ohio Rt 93 when min- forced his part- ing (for coal or clay) and farming were ner to sell out the two main ways to make a living. to Uncle Frank John and Martha (Walter) Laut- ($5,000 was an zenheiser had a farm north of Dundee; o v e r w h e l m - my dad remembers flash floods in the ing burden at creek and a large sow teaching her the time). His piglets to swim across to a safe pasture. brother-in-law, In places, the streambed was stained Frank Walter, turquoise from mining debris. When joined him to the Beach City Dam was built in the operate the 30s, their place was in its path and they shovel. My moved to a farm in Wayne County. dad remembers Frank and Viola (Walter) King the two uncle took up housekeeping in the village Franks’ skill of Dundee after their marriage. Frank with heavy King worked at the Wayne Coal Com- equipment: pany on a coal shovel (he oiled the they moved equipment) until the mine folded in the the dragline 1920s. He followed the steam shovels with precision and delicacy, he says, Top: Bucyrus Erie B2 steam shovel on loca- south to New Lexington, Nelsonville, and Uncle Frank King always had his tion in Sand Run. Below: The Kings' house in Sand Run, and Carbon Hill. In 1928, Sand Run. Family photos courtesy of Kathryn he and a partner bought a Bucyrus Erie Continued on page 7 King Gardner Weber.

Monday Creek Restoration Project Non-Profit Org. PO Box 129, 115 West Main St, US Postage New Straitsville, Ohio 43766 PAID Permit No. 159 Address Service Requested Athens, OH 45701