A Win for the Wetlands

How Ohio is protecting its wetlands, and the local environment at large

Photo by Sonya Suri @suri_photography.21

By Alicia Szczesniak

The past few years have been rough for climate news. The ten warmest years on record have all occurred since 2015, global sea ice is at its lowest in recorded history and it seems like almost every week there is a new climate disaster occurring in some corner of the world. It’s all too easy to get bogged down in the terrible news you hear every day, making it all too easy for the pieces of good climate news to slip through the cracks. 

One piece of good climate news to come from 2025 can be found deep in Ohio’s natural areas. Specifically, wetlands. 

While people typically associate Ohio landscapes with rolling Appalachian foothills, cornfields and forests, the state is also home to a variety of wetlands, swamps, fens, bogs and marshes. The large amount of river valleys and proximity to Lake Erie has made the state a perfect place for these landforms to appear. In fact, roughly 20% of the state was once covered in wetlands. However, after European settlement and industrialization, about 90% of them were lost. 

This led to a variety of environmental and economic issues. For example, many of Ohio’s endangered animals call the wetlands home. Additionally, 75% of all of the state’s waterfowl breed exclusively in wetlands, such as herons and several types of geese and ducks. By removing these habitats, these species face greater chances of extinction and endangerment. 

Furthermore, wetlands offer protection from flooding. They act as natural sponges for excess water, be it from meltwater or precipitation, by trapping it, storing it and preventing it from reaching other areas. However, urbanization and development of wetlands has led to less permeable structures being put into place, causing an increase in runoff. Ultimately, this increase in runoff leads to an increase in flooding.

But perhaps most importantly, wetlands act as natural water filters. When rushing water enters a wetland, the vegetation helps slow its velocity, allowing suspended sediments to settle on the bed. From there, the extremely long roots of wetland plants can bind to the sediments, which are often carrying pollutants such as heavy metals and agricultural runoff. This effectively traps pollutants in the wetland, allowing clean water to pass through. But, when the wetland is removed as a natural barrier, more contaminants are able to enter valuable sources of drinking water, such as our rivers and lakes. 

Additionally, the nutrients from agricultural runoff, sewage and septic systems, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are a vital source of food for algae. While a little bit of algae is okay, it can quickly spiral out of control. Specifically, massive blooms of cyanobacteria, or blue green algae, known as harmful algae blooms (HABs) can cause extensive damage to the local ecosystems. 

The HABs can block out sunlight on the surface of the water, disallowing it from reaching plants who rely on photosynthesis to grow. Furthermore, it can use up all the oxygen in the water column, creating anoxic “dead zones” where organisms cannot breathe due to the lack of oxygen, killing off species of fish and other freshwater animals. Additionally, it can also make the quality of drinking water plummet, with some incidents even leading to tap-water shutdowns, as seen in Toledo in 2015. 

However, not all hope is lost. Since the launch of H2Ohio in 2019, there have been dozens of wetland restoration projects across the state. However, on February 11, 2025, Governor Mike Dewine and Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz announced funding for eight new wetland restoration projects. This pushes the amount of completed or in-progress projects to over 200, marking an important milestone in Ohio’s conservation history. 

The $7.7 million needed to finance the eight projects will be coming from the state budget, which Gov. Dewine formally released on February 3. The new projects will take place in five different counties across Ohio’s Western Lake Erie Basin: Hancock, Lucas, Ottawa, Wood and Williams. 

Some of these projects are taking place on farms in the area, helping to restore the wetlands surrounding them as well as helping use farming best practices to reduce the amount of nutrients reaching the wetlands, allowing them to better capture them before they reach waterways and Lake Erie. 

Mertz also estimates that roughly two thirds of future projects will take place in the same area. However, she also is urging people to remain pragmatic about just how much wetlands can do. While they do provide the benefits listed above, they are also only a piece of a massive puzzle of environmental conservation. 

“We think we're becoming better and better in finding right places to put them and how to construct them. I think we’ve learned a lot,” Mertz said in an interview with the Toledo Blade. “We're not going to solve this whole algae problem with wetlands. It's only a part of the solution”

However, Mertz and H2Ohio remain optimistic and excited for the new projects. Mertz stated with her announcement of the projects that “[she is] thrilled to see these H2Ohio wetland projects throughout the entire state of Ohio and the impact each and every single one has when it comes to water quality,” said ODNR Director Mary Mertz. “These projects have also done so much for the Buckeye State with preserving the natural beauty and environment for plant life and wildlife.”

Wanna chat? Email Alicia @as589820@ohio.edu, or follow her on instagram @alicia_szcz