Backyard Conservation

BACKYARD CONSERVATION

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

You can make a difference in our watershed by starting in your own backyard and community. Check out these resources to find out how you can get started.

Non-point Source What you can to to keep our water clean. Water pollution brochure (PDF) produced by FACT & MORPC.

Protecting Your Stream How to provide stewardship as a streamside landowner. Courtesy of Franklin Soil & Water Conservation District, Natural Resource Conservation Service.

Create a Streamside Buffer for your backyard.

Rain Gardens for Homeowners "Protecting our water, one garden at a time."

CORGI website - Central Ohio Rain Garden Initiative.

American Beauties (TM) courtesy of the National Wildlife Federation. Find the perfect native plant for your backyard.

Start Composting (4 page document)

Compost: Truth or Consequences. 15-minute video teaches the science behind the solutions. Using a quiz show format to present common questions, it shows home composters learning how to provide the right conditions for composting without problems. By: Cornell Waste Management Institute,1998.

Create a Backyard Wetland.

Make a home for Birds, Butterflies and other Nature's Creatures.

Only Rain Down the Drain . Courtesy of Franklin County Soil and Water Conservation District

Wildlife & Wildlife Management access to Ohio Dept Natural Resources. Featuring links for urban landscaping, planting trees & shrubs, wetland & woodland habitat management, and more.

Fight Invasive Plants

Removing Invasive Honeysuckle by ODNR, Division of Wildlife. Bush honeysuckle, an invasive plant that can threaten wildlife habitat, stands out in the understory of forests as the first shrubs to leaf out in the spring and the last to lose leaves in the fall. See the 5 minute video for easy methods of removal.

Invasive Alien Species: Impacts to Fish and Wildlife in Ohio (4-page color brochure).

Reduce Runoff: Slow It Down, Spread It Out, Soak It In (Washington, D.C. – Jan. 15, 2009) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Botanic Garden produced this on-line video that highlights green techniques such as rain gardens, green roofs and rain barrels to help manage stormwater runoff. More information on stormwater management.

"Green infrastructure" is a relatively new and flexible term, and it has been used differently in different contexts. However, for the purposes of EPA's efforts to implement the Green Infrastructure Statement of Intent, EPA intends the term "green infrastructure" to generally refer to systems and practices that use or mimic natural processes to infiltrate, evapotranspirate (the return of water to the atmosphere either through evaporation or by plants), or reuse stormwater or runoff on the site where it is generated. Green infrastructure can be used at a wide range of landscape scales in place of, or in addition to, more traditional stormwater control elements to support the principles of LID.

To learn more about how EPA is promoting green infrastructure to manage wet weather impacts in urban areas, please visit EPA's Green Infrastructure Page. Be sure to read EPA's 2008 Action Strategy for green infrastructure.

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Ohio EPA Storm Water Video

The Division of Surface Water has available free copies of a short educational video (also view/download on-line) that discusses storm water runoff and its impacts on streams and other waterbodies in urban areas. “Tempest in a Channel: Stormwater Runoff’s Impact on Urban Streams” is a 15-minute program that explains in general terms how the actions of private citizens can contribute to pollution of storm water runoff, and how increased areas of impervious surface that result from new development create increased volumes of runoff that have to be managed.

Household Products Database - Health & safety information on househould products. What's under your kitchen sink, in your garage, in your bathroom, and on the shelves in your laundry room? Learn more about what's in these products, about potential health effects, and about safety and handling.