Ohio Clean Lakes Initiative Announced This Week

Initiative is a Result of the Agricultural Nutrients and Water Quality Working Group Report Released in March

The directors of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) have announced the Ohio Clean Lakes Initiative this week. The Ohio Clean Lakes Initiative is the result of the ODNR, ODA and OEPA Directors’ Agricultural Nutrients and Water Quality Working Group report that was released this March (click here for more information about the working group and/or report).

The Ohio Clean Lakes Initiative outlines ways in which the three agencies will implement the recommendations that were presented to Governor John Kasich in March. When developing the initiative, the three groups evaluated how the guidelines would impact the Ohio agriculture industry while looking at the best ways to decrease the nutrient loading of Ohio’s bodies of water.

As OEPA Director Scott Nally shared, agriculture is one of three likely sources of the loading, so this task force has been focused on agriculture-related loading, while other task forces have been working to resolve nutrients in Ohio watersheds due to other causes (such as municipalities). 

The Ohio Clean Lakes Initiative will leverage $1.5 million to implement the program through ODNR to help farmers implement 4R Nutrient Stewardship practices and nutrient management plans, to study various on-the-ground application processes, and to establish both short-term and long-term monitoring of Ohio watersheds through various partnerships with the agricultural community, local and regional stakeholders, and Ohio’s universities.

For more information about the Ohio Clean Lakes Initiative, go to http://cleanlakes.ohio.gov/.