Posted on July 19, 2023
LAFAYETTE TWP. — A section of the Chippewa Inlet Trail will be closed later this month to allow a restoration project to begin construction.
The H2Ohio wetland restoration project is part of the H2Ohio program that was launched by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2019. The program hopes to improve the quality of water and provide clean and safe water to Ohio.
The project is part of three phases of an H2Ohio project the park district was awarded in 2021 for the Chippewa Lake watershed, according to Isaac Smith, the planning and operations manager for the Medina County Parks District.
“We selected three different locations to do some significant wetland restoration to help improve the water quality of the Chippewa Lake watershed, both the lake and the creek, as it heads further south,” he said. “It’s a wetland restoration project that will divert water from the inlet that feeds water into Chippewa Lake. It will divert water through approximately 4,000 linear feet of a linear wetland.”
This will equate to a wide floodplain. Currently, this area is farmland.
This filtration will allow the observation of algal blooms and other water hazards to be noticed and prevented before reaching the lake.
“We are going to be constructing a few different segments, and we’ll be putting two different boardwalks over these wetlands,” he said.
This project will be taking place on the Chippewa Inlet trail section south of state Route 162, also known as Wedgewood Road.
“It’s about a 118-acre total area of the property that we are working in, we are going to be constructing within about 43 acres of it,” Smith said.
The new segments will help improve multiple aspects of the Chippewa Lake Watershed.
“Overall, this is part of a rehabilitation project for the Chippewa Inlet trail,” said Smith. “It’s going to be creating some lovely wetland habitats along the Chippewa Inlet Trail, along with the boardwalks we are hoping to construct a couple of wildlife observation areas along the trail to take advantage of this new wetland habitat.”
The project is expected to start in late July, with the project schedule having completion in August 2024.
