Preserve Natural History.

Wetland ecosystems are credited with being the most biologically productive communities in the world. Killbuck Swamp is a birder’s dream with sights of soaring bald eagles and rafts of floating ducks and geese. On our first canoe trip to the site, we were accompanied by a tightly bonded breeding pair of the state-threatened Trumpeter Swan, a bird that has become well-established in the Killbuck after being extirpated from the state. Another state-threatened bird in Ohio, the Sandhill Crane, can be seen in the immediate region of Killbuck Swamp nearly every month of the year. Marsh Wrens rattle from the cattails, and it is not uncommon to catch sight of the “Swamp Lantern,” the brightly colored Prothonotary Warbler. Other signature bird species of Killbuck Swamp include the Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Hooded Merganser, Great Egret, Spotted Sandpiper, Common Moorhen, and American Coot.

The dependably inundated spring waters of Killbuck Swamp support tens of thousands of spring peepers, their collective songs drowning out all other sounds on warm spring nights. The vernal pools are breeding grounds for other spring amphibians including wood frogs and spotted salamanders. The still waters of the swamp that border Killbuck Creek on the acquisition’s eastern boundary support a high diversity of fish. Such shallow wetlands are notoriously low in oxygen at times, sometimes lethally so. Thus many fish species are only temporary visitors to wetlands – scooting back to the better-aerated waters of the main creek when oxygen levels plummet

Found in large numbers in this preserve were the central mud minnow and the Bowfin. The Bowfin is the sole surviving species of an entire order of fish that once flourished in the Jurassic. Both the central mud minnow and the Bowfin have special anatomical adaptations that allow them to gulp and assimilate oxygen on the surface of the water. The sturdy, feisty Bowfin has a limited distribution in Ohio. Closer to the main stem of Killbuck Creek, fish researchers made another exciting find – the fry of the state threatened, Lake Chubsucker. Before heavy development in Ohio, this fish species was found in shallow bays all along the south shore of Lake Erie. Today these population strongholds have vanished, and Killbuck Watershed is now a critical refuge for this rare fish.

Current Campaign. The Arc is seeking funding to expand Killbuck Swamp through two acquisitions: Bowfin Bottoms to the south, and Lower Black Creek to the north.

Bowfin Bottoms’ Acquisition. The 91-acre Bowfin Bottoms tract borders our pre-existing Crane Swamp parcel and extends our boundaries further southward. Bowfin Bottoms includes 0.75 miles of shoreline on Killbuck Creek, and a mosaic of remnant swamps, bottomland hardwood forests, emergent marshes, wet meadows, and a freshwater spring. 

In the past, both Bowfin Bottoms and Crane Swamp were heavily impacted by drainage ditches and tiles, rounds of frequent logging, and intensive pasturing. Restoring the wetlands of Crane Swamp required restoring the adjacent Bowfin Bottoms property at the same time, and that, of course, wasn’t possible unless we owned it. The two were inescapably, hydrologically linked.

Funding from Clean Ohio enabled the Arc and KWLT to purchase Bowfin Bottoms and pay for site improvements, including structural demolition, site cleanup, and visitor infrastructure. Two additional grants from H2Ohio were awarded to help pay for the costs of restoration planning, engineering, and heavy equipment contractors that would transform Crane Swamp and Bowfin Bottoms.

Bowfin Bottoms’ Remarkable Restoration. Contractors removed an old house, a livestock barn, thousands of feet of barbed wire, hundreds of fence posts, an oil well in the middle of a swamp, two tanks for oil and brine storage, underground oil and gas lines, and two power lines. A visitor parking lot was constructed along the state highway bordering the preserve, and we bought out the properties’ mineral leases so that we would gain full control of our lands, both above ground and below.

Working with the environmental planners, MAD Scientists, and the construction manager, Ironsite, the drainage ditches were plugged, the old clay drainage tiles broken, and twelve wetland pools were constructed to supplement the cutoff meanders, oxbow ponds, and vernal pools already in existence. Over 10,000 wetland-loving trees and shrubs were planted! What were once spoil banks along the old drainage ditches were reconfigured into small islands and depressions. Old drainage ditches were widened to create permanent pools, and logs were added to provide loafing habitat for waterfowl and turtles.  Each new wetland was designed to connect with pre-existing wetlands to enhance wildlife movement.  Some pools were created to be ephemeral, others permanent, so that together the various needs of native wetland species could be served. 

Lower Black Creek Acquisition. The 94-acre Lower Black Creek parcel is a swamp forest braided by the circuitous sinews of Black Creek. It includes many abandoned creek channels as well as Black Creek’s final confluence with the larger Killbuck Creek.  

Its acquisition was leveraged by two grants: the H2Ohio Rivers Program and Clean Ohio. Lower Black Creek meanders through the middle of the property for 1.21 miles on its journey to its mouth at Killbuck Creek on the parcel’s eastern boundary. Although formerly grazed and logged, the property nevertheless supports a diverse successional swamp forest community that includes bottomland hardwood forests, buttonbush swamps, vernal pools, cold-water springs, wet meadows, an emergent marsh, and small oxbow ponds.   

The property also protects a great blue heron rookery. Last summer two dozen pairs of herons were observed utilizing the tract.

The added bonus of acquiring Lower Black Creek is that it buffers a newly constructed boardwalk and walkway along CR-621, bordering our Turtle Pond parcel, funded as part of the $5.4-million Ohio Appalachian Community Grant for Killbuck Village’s Streetscape and Trail Extension. This project connects the paved Holmes County Rail-Trail to Killbuck Village and is building a spur trail westward to our preserve’s Turtle Pond and Quarry Bluff trailheads. By partnering with Killbuck Village to secure this grant, we are able to actively work for the welfare of our local community, enhance tourism, and reach more visitors with our conservation message.            

Replenishing the Land Revolving Fund. The Arc is now fundraising to repay the loans from the Arc’s Land Revolving Fund that enabled the acquisition of Lower Black Creek and Bowfin Bottoms. The Land Revolving Fund is THE reason that the Arc can act swiftly when new real estate opportunities arise, so we must replenish the Fund after we take loans out for emergency purchases. Fortunately, these two Killbuck acquisitions were largely funded by Clean Ohio grants, and our loan amounts were limited to the grant’s 25% required match. Every private donor dollar we receive in the Killbuck Swamp campaign will leverage another $3 in grant funding.

Preserve history: 

Those readers who have been with the Arc a long time are probably asking, “How in heaven’s name did the Arc end up in northeastern Ohio?” Fair question.

It all started when one of the Arc’s longtime enthusiasts, Janet Kohr, informed Nancy Stranahan, Arc Director, that as part of her estate plan, she was setting up an endowment fund for the Arc of Appalachia. Nancy, intrigued by what Janet divulged about her preservation activities, drove up to her home in Knox County to learn more about the privately owned system of preserves that Janet had gathered up in the Kokosing Watershed: 5 tracts totaling roughly 270 acres.

Once there, Nancy saw how beautiful the properties were, and learned that Janet was having trouble visualizing a local entity capable of managing the complex needs of her preserves. Later, the two conspired, and long story short, the Arc Board agreed to receive Janet’s properties as a bequest, and Janet agreed to increase her endowment to help support the hiring of an on-site preserve manager to steward them. Nancy casually mentioned that since Janet was already overseeing her lands and intended to do so for life, anyway, she might keep her eye out for other worthy properties in the region that perhaps the Arc could buy with the help of Clean Ohio funding. Any lands that were found and acquired could be merged with Janet’s holdings after her passing to make an even larger and more compelling system of local preserves. Nancy told Janet, “However, any properties sought would have to be of exceptional quality. It might take you 5-6 years to find something attractive enough to draw the Arc across I-70 anytime in the near future.”

Three weeks later, Janet called Nancy with the question, “Is the Arc interested in buying a swamp?” Janet had found a swamp for sale in nearby Holmes County, just 35 minutes away from her farm. When Nancy saw the photos on the realty listing, she was astonished that wetlands that large and beautiful existed anywhere in the state, and that prompted a search of local land trusts to see if any other entity was already working on the acquisition. The trail led to Randy Carmel - President of Killbuck Watershed Land Trust, expert birder, and all-around naturalist. Randy explained to Nancy that he had been negotiating with the owners for over a year and he was confident the wetlands could be mostly funded through a Clean Ohio grant. However, he also shared that he was constrained by the fact that the mostly volunteer-driven land trust did not have enough money to supply Clean Ohio’s required 25% match.

After talking for some time, Randy and Nancy both decided that bringing the Arc of Appalachia and Killbuck Watershed Land Trust together was a match made in heaven. Together a Clean Ohio grant was submitted and rewarded. The two entities agreed to co-own Killbuck Swamp. The application ended up earning the highest score in the entire district.