Mill Creek Stream Restoration Project

The CCBH has received a Section 319 grant from the Ohio EPA for a stream restoration project within the Mill Creek Watershed. This project is also being funded by the City of Cleveland, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. The project will start January 2007 and be completed in July of 2009. The Mill Creek Watershed is a sub watershed of the Cuyahoga River Watershed. The Mill Creek Watershed is 19 square miles and approximately 12,000 acres of land. It originates in the city of Beachwood, flows in a southwesterly direction and joins the Cuyahoga River approximately 11 miles later. There are nine communities that drain to the Mill Creek including the cities of Beachwood, Cleveland, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Shaker Heights and Warrensville Heights, plus the Villages of Cuyahoga Heights, Highland Heights and North Randall.

The Mill Creek Watershed consists of predominately Chagrin Silt Loam. It also contains Cuyahoga County’s tallest waterfall, the Mill Creek Falls, at 45 feet tall. An average of 3 million gallons per day of water flows through the Mill Creek Watershed to the Cuyahoga River. This watershed is characterized by dense housing districts, large industrial districts and congested commercial districts. Approximately 62 percent of the watershed is comprised of medium-density residential development, 1 percent of high-density residential development, and approximately 21 percent of the watershed contains commercial, industrial and/or institutional uses. The population according to the 2000 census for this watershed is 88,139.

The Mill Creek Watershed Partnership is a collaboration of municipalities, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses and citizens who are dedicated to working together to improve water quality and quality of life in the Mill Creek watershed ecosystem. Current activities within this watershed include annual cleanups, outreach programs, watershed tours, the development of a Watershed Action Plan and a current ODNR grant awarded in 2005 for a Comprehensive Community Assessment. This assessment will be utilized to assist in the writing of the Watershed Action Plan and to have this plan endorsed by the Ohio EPA.

The project will take place at the Highland Park Golf Curse located in the Village of Highland Hills. The golf course is owned by the City of Cleveland. The Golf Course is a 36-hole course and is approximately 330 acres. Chagrin Boulevard serves as the northern boundary of the course, Green Roan runs along the east, Harvard Road along the south and Northfield Road forms the western boundary. The head waters of the Mill Creek Watershed are located just north and adjacent to this course and the Mill Creek runs through the center of this area. The main stem of the Mill Creek flowing through the golf course is approximately 5,000 feet in length, and the tributary stream located within the course is approximately 3,200 feet, plus a number of small headwater streams feeding the main stem and the tributary stream.

The project site is approximately 3,200 linear feet in length. This area will include the tributary stream, south of Chagrin Boulevard. The project site has severe stream bank erosion, stream channel degradation and destroyed riparian areas. The stream bank erosion has caused restricted channels and continual bank degradation. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2008.