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Fall webworm – not invasive, but unsightly

by | Sep 23, 2025 | Backyard Conservation, Invasive Species

fall webworm damage

Fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea)

While it’s not considered invasive, or a major threat, fall webworms can cause defoliation in late summer and early fall. A webworm infestation can lead to reduced vigor. However, the caterpillars are also a great food source for birds, spiders and wasps! Here’s some info about these little pests.

Mike Wilson of Russell Tree Experts writes on their life cycle, habitat, impact, and management/control.

Joe Boggs of Buckeye Yard and Garden Online writes and shares photos of a recent outbreak in Logan County, as well as info on some insects that feast on the webworms. He agrees that there is minimal long term damage from webworms, so attempts to control them are usually unneccessary.

 

Callery Pear Tree Removal Discount!

by | Jul 16, 2025 | Invasive Species, News

Callery Pear Tree Removal Discount

Do you have a Callery Pear tree on your property that you’ve been wanting to get rid of? You’re in luck! Davey Tree is offering 10% off Callery Pear tree removal this season.

As an added bonus, FLOW and Green Columbus are offering Olentangy Watershed and Columbus Metro Area residents a SECOND tree from our giveaways if you provide proof of removing a Callery Pear tree from your yard! To receive your extra tree, sign up as normal through either FLOW or Green Columbus’ tree giveaway links, and include on your form that you participated in the Callery Pear removal with Davey Tree. If you live within the Olentangy Watershed, please utilize FLOW’s tree giveaway for this bonus. Columbus Metro area folks who live outside the Lower Olentangy Watershed may use Green Columbus’ giveaway!

Keep an eye out for FLOW’s tree giveaway links coming soon!

FLOW releases activity book for kids

by | Feb 28, 2024 | Backyard Conservation, Invasive Species, Pollinators, Water Resources, Wildlife

FLOW’s New Watershed Activity Book for Kids

Teachers and home schoolers will enjoy using FLOW’s new activity book to teach young learners about the watershed and its care. Thanks to Maggie Guetschow for creating this 24 page book. It features informational pages that are paired with some fun activities for kids to complete, such as a tree planting maze, pollinator garden word search, and trash pickup “spot the differences”. Pdf versions are available for downloading and printing for use in the classroom. Click the headline or image above for the full book!

March 22 is World Water Day!

by | Mar 22, 2023 | Invasive Species, News, Water Resources, Wildlife

Happy World Water Day 💦
This day was adopted by the UN in December 1992. It’s a day to talk about the importance of fresh water. That’s really important to us as well! Here are five ways you can help your local watershed!

Help the watershed by reducing your lawn! 40% of the Olentangy Watershed is made up of lawns. If everyone reduced their lawn to plant native trees & plants there would be less mowing, an increase in wildlife habitat and diversity, reduced water usage, and reduced flooding. It also looks beautiful! It’s a win-win situation.

Help the watershed by making sure Only Rain Down the Drain! 💦

Reduce your use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. These chemicals are often washed from your grass and plants into the nearest storm drain, where they will eventually end up in the river and harm wildlife, pollute drinking water and cause algae blooms.

The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio contracts with a local company to safely dispose of household hazardous waste (HHW) such as chemicals, gasoline, oil, pesticides, batteries, and more. Visit @swaco_green for information on what items are accepted and HHW drop off locations. Never dump chemicals or fertilizers down the storm drain.

Another way to make sure “Only Rain Down the Drain” is by adopting a storm drain. Find a nearby storm drain and keep it free of trash, leaves, and sticks. This prevents clogs at the storm drain, which reduces the chance of street flooding, basement back-ups and damage to property. 

One way to help the watershed is to pick up litter. The litter you see while out on a walk or driving around is very likely to end up in our rivers and streams. When taking a walk, take along a bag and pick up the trash you see. If everyone did this we’d find a lot less in our waterways.

We often find plastic water bottles, takeout containers, straws, aluminum cans, cups, cigarette butts, snack bags and masks at our cleanups

Bradford Pear, Winter Creeper and Amur Honeysuckle. What do these three have in common? They’re all invasive non-native species of plants that you can see all over Ohio. These species were introduced to the area and quickly took over. Why is it important to remove them? We remove invasive plants because they don’t offer good food or habitat for local wildlife. They also crowd out the native plants, shrubs and flowers that are greatly beneficial to the wildlife.

If you have a hedge of non-native honeysuckle in your backyard or a Bradford pear we ask that you’d consider cutting it down and planting a native tree or shrub.

If you have winter creeper taking over a tree please cut the winter creeper at the base of the tree. Winter Creeper can cause your tree to lose limbs and die over time.

FLOW will have two opportunities coming up later this year to purchase native plants for your yard. Franklin Soil & Water Conservation District also has a sale going on through the March 26th on Spring native plants and trees. (https://www.franklinswcd.org/tree-and-plant-sale) 

 

Help the watershed by planting native plants and trees. Native plants and trees not only provide food and habitat for our wildlife friends, but their extensive roots also absorb rainwater that otherwise might cause flooding.

FLOW has many upcoming opportunities to volunteer to plant trees and help at one of our tree nurseries. 

 

A year-end message from the president

by | Dec 6, 2022 | Backyard Conservation, Invasive Species, News, Pollinators, Recreation, Volunteers, Water Resources, Wildlife

As the year is ending we have been reflecting on what an amazing year 2022 has been. Together we have done so much to help the Lower Olentangy watershed. Over 3,384 volunteer hours have been spent cleaning up trash, planting trees, maintaining pollinator gardens, monitoring the tributaries of the Olentangy River, removing honeysuckle and other invasive plants and so much more. We couldn’t do this work without your time and financial support. Thank you!!!

Thank you for reading this special letter from FLOW Board President, Kelly Thiel:

This fall, on a beautiful afternoon, I took a walk along the Olentangy trail just south of Henderson Road. What used to be open grassy fields next to Whetstone High School is now planted with a row of native trees, ready to provide years of shade to trail users and an improved ecosystem for the area. This successful project is just one of many that FLOW made possible this year. Our grant writers are always on the lookout for opportunities to bring dollars to our communities and improve the watershed for all of its inhabitants. These trees were obtained through a grant FLOW received and planted by FLOW volunteers. Our hope is that everyone who passes by these trees benefits from their proven ability to clean the air, improve the soil, increase wildlife habitat, filter storm water and regulate the surrounding temperature.

In order to continue to make a difference we rely on the support of generous individuals and businesses in our community. If you have been to a FLOW event in the last couple of years then you are likely familiar with our fabulous event coordinator. With your support we can keep this position filled, keep our tools stored, and the lights on in our small office. We depend on our community recognizing the value of a healthy watershed to continue to fund the work we do.

In these days of increasing costs for everything from groceries to goods and services my family has been using the outdoors as free entertainment and a benefit to our mental health. It can be easy to take our green spaces for granted and ignore that Columbus is one of the fastest growing heat islands; increased development will put a strain on our streams and tributaries. FLOW remains focused on our mission to maintain the value of one of the community’s most precious assets–The Olentangy River. We need your help to continue this mission and meet the environmental challenges ahead.

If you have donated to FLOW in the past, THANK YOU! Our donors and volunteers make FLOW the great organization it is today. We hope that you’ll consider becoming a member of FLOW. You can give a one time gift or we hope you’ll consider giving as a monthly supporter. Your tax-deductible donation will help keep the Olentangy River safe, clean, and healthy for generations to enjoy in the decades to come. Visit the support page on this website for ways to donate.

 

 

 

 

 

OSU Capstone Projects providing valuable information for FLOW

by | Dec 30, 2021 | Invasive Species, News

On December 7th at the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center OSU students from the School of Natural Resources in the College of Food Agriculture and Environmental Sciences presented their FLOW requested Capstone projects. The projects were titled as follows:

(click on the titles to see the posters summarizing the projects)

Allelopathy of Amur Honeysuckle and Management
Rachael Truman and Mike Puckettt

Environmental Education at Sawmill Wetlands
Lilla Dvoraczky, Brandon Flores, Jennifer Regrut, Tatiana Slesnick

Slyh Run Soil Restoration
Katie Baker, Erin Stewart, Izabelle Vose, Sydni Ward

Sawmill Wetlands Forest Assessment
Madison Drlik, Danielle Hutchison, Nick Neumeier

A Literature Review of Sustainable Urban Tree Management for Worthington Tree Nursery
Grace Beil, Anthony Suchan, Zijing Wang

Wildlife Survey Within the Urban Landscape
Gautam Apte, Nikolas Fuhrman, Kelsey Ridenour, Andrea Spurck, Eric Vermillion, Zach Whalen

We would like to thank Dr. Bill Peterman, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Management and all the students for their time and hard work. We’d also like to thank the FLOW volunteers that worked with these amazing students on their projects.

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