WHAT CAN YOU DO?

What can you do to improve the streamside corridor of Rush Run or another Olentangy River tributary?

• If honeysuckle dominates the streamside, cut it down.  Remove stumps or treat stumps with herbicide.  It may take a few years to control honeysuckle.
  
  
• Plant with a mix of native floodplain trees, wildflowers, shrubs and grasses.  Avoid planting a lawn to the edge of the stream. Grassroots alone cannot control erosion.Don’t maintain a lawn to the edge of the stream.  Grass roots do little to hold back erosion.
  
  
• Avoid walking along the stream bank.  This compacts the soil and may cause further erosion.
  

The Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District has additional information on stream protection. (PDF)

For additional lists of native plants suitable for streamside restoration and floodplains contact Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves at (614) 265-6439 or contact Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District at (614) 486-9613.