Major Grant Will Help Restore Pond Brook in Twinsburg

Metro Parks, Serving Summit County was awarded $868,000 from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to complete the restoration of Pond Brook in northern Summit County. 

Pond Brook flows through the district’s Liberty Park in Twinsburg, Twinsburg Township and Reminderville, and is a major tributary to Tinker’s Creek, the largest of the Cuyahoga River’s sub-watersheds.

The restoration began in 2006 to repair the ditching, draining and damming done more than a century ago. 

The project is sponsored by the Ohio EPA's Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program. The grant will enable the park district to restore 6,500-feet of Pond Brook — most of which is south of State Route 82. 

Mike Johnson, chief of natural resources for Metro Parks, said in a prepared statement that the work should be completed by fall of 2016 and is designed to achieve a more natural stream channel through the creation of meanders, riffles and pools and the addition of boulders, overhanging vegetation and plant root-wads. 

To date, more than one mile of the Pond Brook corridor, over 4,000 feet of its tributaries and approximately 200 acres of adjoining wetlands have been restored at a cost of $2.5 million, all of it funded via grants and mitigation dollars. 

“The value of healthy wetlands and free-flowing streams cannot be measured,” Johnson said. 

At nearly 2,000 acres, Liberty Park – a partnership with the City of Twinsburg – is the largest property managed by Metro Parks, Serving Summit County. It contains three hiking trails totaling 3.3 miles. Much of the land is considered a conservation area, managed by Metro Parks to protect natural resources and improve water quality.