ODNR Scenic Rivers program explains designation process as Lorain County residents raise Vermilion River concerns

Jeffrey, with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Scenic Rivers program in the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, described the agency’s designation process and protections for scenic rivers at a Lorain County meeting; residents used the session to press concerns about the Vermilion River and the program’s potential effects on private property.

Jeffrey said the program’s “mission is to work cooperatively with local governments, businesses, landowners, nonprofit organizations, and other state and federal agencies to protect the aquatic resources and terrestrial communities dependent on healthy riparian habitats.” He summarized the program’s history (created in 1968), the statutory categories of wild, scenic and recreational rivers under the Ohio Revised Code, and the steps to designation: a local request, a designation study, a director’s notice of intent, a 60-day public comment period and a formal entry in the director’s journal if criteria are met.

The presenter emphasized the program’s limited regulatory reach. Under current practice, Scenic Rivers staff review and must be consulted on public projects funded with taxpayer dollars that occur within 1,000 feet of a designated stream and outside municipal limits. He said the program has no authority on private property or within city limits and that the statutory “Scenic River area” language was removed in the most recent revision of the law to address landowner concerns.

Jeffrey described other program activities, including advisory councils (up to 10 local members that meet quarterly), volunteer stream-quality monitoring that began in 1983, and occasional state land management. He noted that volunteers sample sites about three times a year and that Ohio EPA’s monitoring frequency is much lower (often every 10–15 years), and he cited an example in which volunteer data helped identify a failing wastewater-treatment plant.

Residents raised several concerns during public comment. One resident who identified themselves only as a longtime landowner said aerial spraying over fields was reducing local biodiversity and asserted, “Glyphosate. It’s dangerous. It needs to be banned, but they're using I don't know what they're spraying with now.” The same speaker also asked about liability and visitors on private land if a river were designated.

Orton Linebach, a Vermilion River landowner who said he holds about 100 acres in a conservation easement with Lorain County Metro Parks, questioned a 1,000-foot designation buffer: “a hundred or a thousand feet from that river is taking up boku amounts of very, useful land that can be used elsewhere,” he said, arguing that steep valley cliffs make a fixed-distance buffer impractical in some parts of the Vermilion.

Other commenters asked whether earlier work on a Vermilion River designation would carry forward or require restarting the process; Jeffrey said a new designation study would be required because environmental conditions have changed. Multiple attendees asked about specific local projects raised in public comments, including concerns about fracking-brine transport on a rail trestle and potential spills; Jeffrey clarified that private railroad work is typically outside the Scenic Rivers program’s direct review authority but that ODNR-level reviews of publicly funded projects can impose best-management practices when applicable.

Jeffrey also outlined possible benefits of designation cited by supporters and funders: priority for some conservation grants, increased local stewardship and volunteer monitoring, and possible recreational and economic value (he cited a study of the Little Miami River that estimated about $233,000 per mile per year in recreation-related value but said causation with designation could not be firmly established).

The presentation closed with an offer to continue conversations; Jeffrey invited attendees to speak with him after the session about local concerns and next steps.