Minutes of the Annual Meeting of April 18, 2023
Elaine Marsh welcomed guests to the annual meeting, then segued into several points of business:
Election, Ballot: Elaine Marsh asked if there were any outstanding votes to be cast for the Board of Trustees. Hearing none, she announced the winners of the election: Elaine Marsh, Harold Marsh, and Ken Schneider.
Treasurer's Report: Harold Marsh presented the Treasurer’s Report for March 2023.
Other Business:
Dianne Sumego reported briefly on the status of the Canal Diversion Dam project, noting that, although issues with the screw pump had caused delays, the project is nearing completion.
Ken Schneider spoke briefly about outings, sharing this season’s upcoming schedule and inviting members and friends to join.
Elaine thanked Jacki Zevenbergen for her long service to Friends of the Crooked River, and thanked Keith Riley, as well. She introduced the Cuyahoga Falls Fest and its organizer, Don Howdyshell, and said that FoCR will have a booth at the Fest, to take place 4/29 in Cuyahoga Falls. She also mentioned the Blue Heron Homecoming, to be held 6/24 at the Akron Water Reclamation Facility. Finally, Elaine noted that, while the Canal Diversion Dam project has occupied FoCR for some time, and perhaps distracted us from moving forward on other issues or building leadership in the organization, FoCR is a 30-year-old organization that has reorganized itself four times in the past. She now looks forward to the fifth, and asked for input from all those who have ideas on what they think the Cuyahoga River needs now.
John Kaminski made a motion that the business meeting be adjourned, and Gary Whidden seconded; the meeting adjourned at 7:16 pm.
River Rat Revelry--Guest Presentations
Bill Zawiski of Ohio EPA presented on the Gorge Dam removal project. He noted that it’s a major undertaking requiring substantial financing, multiple partner organizations, and multiple phases: sediment removal, sediment disposal, dam removal, and aquatic habitat restoration. All funding has been secured, and he anticipates removal of sediment sometime between 2023 and 2025, with removal of the dam to follow in 2026.
Ryan Trimbath of Cuyahoga Valley National Park presented on freshwater mussel restoration in the Cuyahoga River within CVNP. He noted the success of other recovery programs—river otters, fish, the river itself—so why not mussels? Feasibility studies were conducted, and as a result freshwater mussel bed restoration in the Cuyahoga will start in 2023, followed by building local capacity to breed mussels, including $150,000 for a mobile aquatic mussel rearing trailer.
Paul Pira of Geauga Park District—who also provided our musical entertainment for the evening--spoke about efforts to protect Ohio’s native brook trout in the Lake Erie drainage. After noting that most previous trout restoration work had occurred in the Chagrin River watershed, Pira described a project to be undertaken at a recently-acquired property in the watershed of the West Branch of the Cuyahoga; it will build 1,800 linear feet of coldwater trout stream, fed by a gushing spring of cold water.
Mike Johnson of Summit MetroParks spoke about a project to raise native wetland fish at Summit Lake for reintroduction into local glacial lakes—the Portage Lakes, for instance. Summit MP worked with Brian Zimmerman and others to raise least darter, lake chubsucker, blacknose shiner, blackchin shiner, and western banded killifish, with great success.
Respectfully submitted by Ken Schneider, Secretary
May 16, 2023