Little Beaver Creek Land Foundation

Contact Information

OSM/VISTA: Esther Bardo
Supervisor: Lisa Butch
Sponsoring Organization: Little Beaver Creek Land Foundation
Address: 130 Maple St. Lisbon, Ohio 44432
Phone: 330-420-9507
E-Mail: estherb84@yahoo.com (Esther); lbutch@gmail.com (Lisa)
U.S. Congressional Districts: 6th
County: Columbiana County

Background:

The Little Beaver Creek Land Foundation (LBCLF) is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit environmental organization that was founded in 1993. Its mission is to preserve and protect the Little Beaver Creek watershed for future generations. They aim to realize this mission through land acquisition and conservation easements, citizen education, and other environmental management activities that help to protect sensitive habitats and species. The LBCLF works solely in the Little Beaver Creek watershed, a 323,160 acre watershed in Northeastern Ohio that extends into Western Pennsylvania. To date, the LBCLF has worked with its watershed partners to protect 4,343 acres in the watershed, through outright purchase, donation, or conservation easements. Most of the acreage that is protected is riparian corridor.
The Little Beaver Creek watershed is a unique river system—it was the first in Ohio to have a portion of it designated as a “Wild” river by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Portions of the system also have been included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Program. This special watershed is also one of the few in the United States where evidence of the four major glacial periods can be found. Controlling agricultural runoff, sedimentation and erosion, and preserving riparian corridors is especially important in the watershed because it is home to Ohio’s largest population of the state endangered Hellbender salamander and it is also a valuable Smallmouth Bass fishery. The lower portion of the watershed was most recently dedicated as an Important Bird Area by Audubon Ohio.
The OSM/VISTA will assist in and initiate new, as well as previously established, educational and environmental management practices. Additionally, he/she will attempt to secure further grant funding and recruit new members and volunteers. Finally, the OSM/VISTA will identify and address the problem of AMD that exist within the watershed from pre-regulator mining in the county. This is the first year for the LBCLF to be a sponsor site for an AmeriCorps OSM/VIST; however, the foundation did have an AmeriCorps VISTA summer inter through the summer associate program in 2007.

Goals and Accomplishments:

Since the OSM/VISTA came on in mid-November, both she and the site supervisor have begun the process of partnering with the Ohio OMRM to monitor and remediate known sites of AMD and identifying any additional sites that may be present in the watershed. The foundation has also received publicity through various media publications and as a result has several new members to the foundation. Additionally, a brochure was created highlighting different mammals whose natural habitat is within the Little Beaver Creek watershed. The OSM/VISTA has also recently aided the Columbiana County Parks District in a grant application.

Partnerships:

• Columbina County Federation of Conservation Club
• Columbiana County Parks District
• Columbiana County Soil & Water Conservation District
• Little Beaver Creek Wild & Scenic River Advisory Council
• Little Beaver Creek Wildlife Education Center
• National Audubon Society, Audubon Ohio
• Natural Resource Conservation Service
• Ohio Department of Natural Resources
• Ohio office of Mineral Resource Management