In the mid-1990s, JMB Realty of Chicago was ordered to halt construction of Sawmill Place, a 160-acre shopping center on the Northwest Side; subsequently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ruled that 38 acres were wetlands. JMB was permitted to fill part of the Sawmill wetland and restore Groveport Madison High School's wetland, which is pretty much at the opposite end of the county.
In the mid-1990s, JMB Realty of Chicago was ordered to halt construction of Sawmill Place, a 160-acre shopping center on the Northwest Side; subsequently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ruled that 38 acres were wetlands. JMB was permitted to fill part of the Sawmill wetland and restore Groveport Madison High School’s wetland, which is pretty much at the opposite end of the county.
Today, there are 18 acres of wetland left at the Sawmill site; 20 acres are gone.
Now, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is in the process of turning the 18-acre woods and wetland over to a developer in exchange for 43 acres along the Ol-entangy River, near Highbanks Metro Park. This move would leave 7 acres for the Sawmill wetland, or, as Laura Roth of the Ohio Division of Wildlife wrote in an email to a few residents, “Approximately three acres will remain protected and undeveloped.”
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Public Notice dated Nov. 17, 1992, the Groveport wetland site is to remain a wetland in perpetuity. Why can’t the Sawmill wetland site remain in perpetuity, too? That was the promise. It is a site that supports the endangered smallmouth salamander, hawks, woodpeckers, praying mantises, deer and numerous plants, animals and insects. How are they going to get to Highbanks Metro Park?
Years ago, wetlands covered 37 percent of Ohio, and now it is not even 2 percent of our state. The state’s wildlife have suffered.
Wetlands are valuable for their ability to control flooding during heavy rains, and they filter pollutants. Wetlands are beneficial to wildlife for breeding, spawning, feeding and nesting.
Not only are there plants and animals living in the wetland, but there are trees as well. Trees cool our cities and soak up pollution. The Sawmill wetland is a green oasis for all living things in the midst of numerous buildings and parking lots.
Roth further wrote in reference to the Sawmill wetland: “A boardwalk was built so that visitors could easily visit the wetland. A security fence was erected, and the Division invited public groups to schedule visits. Since 1996, the Division estimates that fewer than 20 educational groups have visited the area, and only one in the last four years.”
Does the security fence sound inviting? Why is this wetland only for educational groups? Why can't it be open to the public during daylight hours, like the Metro Parks, so that individuals can access it?
Can we save the Sawmill wetland from extinction? Shouldn’t we save it?
DIANE L. TSCHANTZ