Bowfin Bottoms Acquisition & Restoration:

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. Combined, the grants would transform Crane Swamp and Bowfin Bottoms.

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 Black Creek acquisition on the north end of Killbuck Swamp 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 Revolving Land Fund

The Arc is now fundraising to repay the loans from the Arc’s Land Revolving Fund that enabled the acquisition of these 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. If the Revolving Fund were ever to go empty for long, the Arc of Appalachia land buying would roll to a stop. The Land Revolving Fund is the sole reason the Arc has been able to act with nimbleness and strength in the face of real estate emergencies, which nearly all of our land projects are, since almost no sellers are willing to wait for the slow gears of grant funding. 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.