On this 38th annual Earth Day, there will be a good deal of talk about conservation, recycling and global warming. Unfortunately, talk does not often lead to action. So, it seems appropriate to pay tribute to a group of men and women who took that step and saved a vital piece of wildlife habitat.
West of Cincinnati, the Great Miami River enters the Ohio. Its broad floodplain, a mosaic of ponds, wetlands, riparian woods and cropfields, has long been an important staging area for migrant waterfowl and shorebirds. Subjected to seasonal flooding, especially from late February through April, the shallows of this valley provide rich feeding grounds for these migrants. Other residents and visitors include bald eagles, ospreys, cormorants, herons, egrets, muskrat, beaver and a wide variety of wetland songbirds.
In 1985, area residents learned of plans to construct an industrial port at the mouth of the Great Miami; knowing that this would destroy much of these wetlands, they formed Oxbow, Inc., and spearheaded efforts to save this vital habitat. Named for an oxbow lake that is the natural centerpiece of the refuge, the group enlisted the support of regional conservation organizations, local businesses and concerned citizens to purchase key tracts of land and thereby thwart any "development" of the lower floodplain. Their efforts have been spectacularly successful and the Oxbow wetlands will surely remain a gem of the Cincinnati Tristate for generations to come. To learn more about this organization and its ongoing work, use the link to Oxbow, Inc., in the right column of this page.
