About Us

Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners (TCWP) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) watershed organization officially established in 2006.  Our mission is to protect and restore water quality and habitats of the Tinker’s Creek watershed through community partnerships.  The Tinker’s Creek watershed drains 96.4 square miles and is the largest tributary to the Cuyahoga River. The watershed area spans 24 communities in Cuyahoga, Summit, Portage and Geauga counties.

TCWP is governed by 15 dedicated volunteer Board of Directors who bring a variety of expertise in the fields of stormwater management, environmental education, engineering, natural resources conservation, planning, and economic development.  TCWP is guided in their efforts to protect and restore the watershed and educate the public by three Ohio and U.S. EPA endorsed nonpoint source implementation strategic plans (NPS-IS Plans). Each plan encompasses a subset of the Tinker’s Creek watershed. They can be found under the Information tab. The group’s mission, along with the NPS-IS plans, shaped the goals of TCWP.

The goals of Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners are to:

• Increase the understanding of community officials and the public regarding the natural and monetary value of protecting their water resources.
• Promote low-impact and conservation development practices that balance environmental integrity with human development
• Educate watershed communities about their daily activities and habits which negatively impact their environmental surroundings and provide alternative approaches to those practices.
• Encourage a no-net-loss wetland mitigation policy where mitigation remains localized within the watershed rather than outsourced to other watersheds.
• Lead a watershed-based approach to decision making that advances the concept of connectivity between the different political jurisdictions within the watershed.
• Increase recreational opportunities by connecting greenways, corridors, and bike paths between the different jurisdictions within the watershed.

Help support Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners mission TODAY!

E-mail: [email protected]

Tinker’s Creek is named after Joseph Tinker, the principal boatman for Moses Cleaveland’s survey crew, who died in a boating accident on a return trip to New England. The steepness and rockiness of the Tinker’s Creek gorge, now a part of the Cleveland Metroparks Bedford Reservation, made much of the land along the creek bed inaccessible for homes and farming, securing its preservation as a natural area. Tinker’s Creek is the largest tributary of the Cuyahoga River, draining parts of 24 different political jurisdictions, spanning Portage, Geauga, Summit, and Cuyahoga counties. Tinker’s Creek has a drainage area of 96.4 square miles and a total length of about 30 miles. It enters the Cuyahoga River at river mile 16.36.

The watershed lies on a glaciated plateau. Soils are mostly silt loam and clayey silt loam. Wetland swamps, bogs, and fens are common in the upper watershed. Flows in the lower section of the creek are highly influenced by the discharge of treated wastewater from upstream wastewater treatment plants; in 1991 the combined effluent had a median discharge of 11.623 mgd or 17.9 cubic feet per second. Portions of the stream are on bedrock and form waterfalls which are a natural barrier to fish passage. The lower portions of the stream have formed the Tinker’s Creek Gorge, which is a National Natural Landmark.

Recent acquisitions in the basin by MetroParks Serving Summit County and the Cleveland Metroparks have increased the amount of protected watershed in the basin. Many local communities are also involved in protecting and acquiring parkland in the basin. (Ohio EPA, Lower Cuyahoga TMDL).