Ohio Environmental Education Fund (OEEF) Mini-Grant

Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners was awarded an OEEF grant of $4,000 to implement an educational watershed signage campaign. These signs identify the location of Tinker’s Creek and the boundaries of the watershed. The goal of the signage campaign was to raise awareness and to create a sense of location of the watershed.

The first stage of the project was completed in 2013 and included an online interactive map and a fact sheet with the location of the signage. During the first stage of this project, 61 signs were placed throughout the watershed in the communities of Beachwood, Bedford, Glenwillow, Macedonia, Oakwood, Walton Hills, Twinsburg, and Streetsboro. TCWP will continue to work with additional communities to install more signage throughout the watershed.

Streetsboro Rain Garden Replanting

The city provided additional materials and labor. The Streetsboro rain garden was improved by adding 41 native plants, 2 tons of sand, 6 yards of mulch, 3 tons of gravel, 6.8 tons of river rock, and 24 yards of moss. These additions helped ensure that the rain garden will drain correctly and help filter pollutants coming from a nearby parking lot.

Village of Glenwillow Surface Water Improvement Fund (SWIF) Project

In August 2013, with the assistance of a $53,358 grant from the Ohio EPA Surface Water Improvement Fund (SWIF), the Village of Glenwillow installed a new parking area constructed of 2,800-square-feet of porous concrete. The new parking area was designed to capture stormwater runoff from 7,600-square-feet of existing impervious surfaces before it enters the storm sewer and empties into Tinker’s Creek. The project also included a specially designed turf swale that will treat runoff from the parking lot during significant rain events and will serve to remove pollutants from snow melt. The project is located adjacent to the service department building and was designed by Chagrin Valley Engineering, Inc., the Village’s consulting engineer.

This project serves to demonstrate to the public that innovative stormwater retrofits can be effectively incorporated into existing parking areas to reduce stormwater runoff entering Tinker’s Creek and to help minimize local flooding as well as to improve water quality. This project was completed the summer of 2013 and TCWP helped to provide outreach about the project.

Cleveland Metroparks Walton Hills Land Acquisition

Cleveland Metroparks was awarded a Clean Ohio Conservation Grant in 2013 to acquire 15.9 acres of land next to the Astrohurst Golf Course and the Cleveland Metroparks Bedford Reservation. The property included the abandoned Astrohurst Party Center and 2,500 linear feet of Tinker’s Creek along the northern end of the property. The goal of the acquisition was to expand the Cleveland Metroparks Bedford Reservation and the protected areas of Tinker’s Creek by providing permanent protection and restoring floodplain areas.

In 2013, TCWP also submitted a Project Clean Lake proposal to help fund reforestation of the property. Unfortunately, the property was not acquired in time to be considered for funding. Demolition of existing buildings and grading of the land began in 2013.

In 2014, work on reconnecting the stream to the floodplain and planting was completed . Approximately 37 volunteers helped to stabilize the overflow channel with trees, shrubs, perennials, and bioengineering materials. These plantings were designed to help stabilize the banks of the channel to help slow flow and provide habitat.

The volunteers and Cleveland Metroparks staff planted 27 containerized trees, about 600 two-foot stake trees (willow and sycamore varieties), 20 six-foot sycamore posts, 15 small trees, about 300 tall grass/sedge plugs, and about 400 native perennial plugs including blazing star, monkey flower, ironweed, and swamp milkweed.