Western Reserve Land Conservancy

by R.D. Gainar, CEBS – Lake Management Committee Chairman

Approximately 20 residents meet with both the RomeRock Association Board and the Roaming Shores Village Council for a joint meeting on November 11 at the Village Hall to hear a very informative presentation by the Western Reserve Land Conservancy (“WRLC”). Mrssers. Brett Rodstrom and Alex Czayka presented and overview of the WRLC’s operations in northeast Ohio. This non-profit organization receives no public funding and works to protect natural resources in our corner of the State by purchase of rights-of-way or outright land acquisition funded by grants and donations of property or funds. These properties are “preserved” or controlled to ensure natural or current uses and will restrict the properties from further residential or business development.

The presenters described their Grand Valley Ranch Project that now has control of lands surrounding Synder’s Ditch, better known to us as Rock Creek. This south end of Rock Creek was a meandering creek in the early 1900’s before a 3-mile ditch was dug north of Route 87 to Route 322 to drain the area for rich farmland. The straight ditch allows easy, swift passage of sediment and nutrients from the drainage-tiled farmlands north to Lake Roaming Rock. The WRLC intends to raise funding to put the meandering turns and leach fields back into the creek to limit the amount of sediment and nutrients from flowing into Rock Creek, our lake, Grand River and, finally, Lake Erie.

While land acquisition for the Grand Valley Ranch Project is complete, the operations portion of the project has only just begun. However, residents of Roaming Shores will eventually benefit from this worthwhile Western Reserve Land Conservancy project.