Watershed Resources

Insight and Advice about Protecting urban land and natural habitats in Northeast Ohio.

Green Yards and Healthy Homes

A guide to Sustainable Habitats in Northeast Ohio

How to Add Native Plants to Your Garden

Many of us have chosen to cultivate species and landscapes that are not naturally-occurring in our region. It’s wasteful, expensive and detrimental to wildlife who encounter reduced availability of the native species upon which they feed.

Wildlife-Friendly Fall Yard Cleanup

Before any landscape program begins, assess the current conditions of your home landscape. This assessment will help you to identify and prioritize future projects and allow you to appreciate all the positive changes you’ve made.

Composting 101

Turf Grass Care

What is a Pollinator Garden?

Know Your Grass

Sustainable Design for Your Yard

Take cues from nature. Even if you choose not to convert your home habitat to a completely naturalized landscape, such as a prairie or woodland, there are ways to design home landscapes that make spaces more environmentally healthy and family friendly.

Understanding Your Soil

Yards are at the forefront of local environmental stewardship. Because residential land use is the most dominant land use in urban communities, we have the power to create a healthy landscape with high functioning ecosystems.

What is a Rain Garden?

Conduct a Lawn Assessment

NEORSD Stormwater Fee Finder

Some people say rain, other say rainwater. We say stormwater, and it’s more than just rain.

Stormwater is any rainwater or melting snow or ice that flows over the surface of the land to the nearest sewers, lake, or stream. Hard surfaces like driveways, roofs, parking lots, and even some lawns pose two stormwater problems: Pollution – like litter, debris, oils, etc. which the stormwater carries to its destination untreated – and increased flow when the water flows quickly and in larger volumes. That combination can increase flooding and erosion, the washing away of streambank soils.

Click here to visit the NEORSD Stormwater Fee Finder

NEORSD Stormwater Fee Credits

Sewer District customers can receive a reduction in their stormwater fee through credits. Residents can receive credits by retaining 25% of their stormwater on their property through stormwater control measures like rain gardens, rain barrels, pervious pavement, and vegetated filter strips.

For more information about the program or to view the online application, visit: Northeast Stormwater Fee Credit and Regional Stormwater Management Program.

What is a Watershed?

How water flows across a region’s surface affects many aspects of the landscape.

A watershed is the area of land that drains into a body of water. The largest watershed in Northeast Ohio is Lake Erie.

Protecting the Lake Erie watershed and the more than two dozen smaller watersheds that drain into the lake is important to the environment, public health, and the economic well-being of Greater Cleveland. When stormwater runoff is not managed properly, the result is flooded streets and properties, land erosion, and overrun sewers. All of these occurrences deposit pollutants into area streams and rivers, and the lake.

About Project Clean Lake

Project Clean Lake is a 25-year program that will reduce pollution in Lake Erie by 4 billion gallons per year. A combination of large tunnels, treatment plant improvements and expansion, and green infrastructure is reducing the volume of combined sewer overflow discharging to our Great Lake.

Click here to learn more about Project Clean Lake.

The Cuyahoga River: An Ohio Water Trail

The Cuyahoga River is a symbol of efforts to clean up America’s waterways. Famous for catching fire, the Cuyahoga is now sparking excitement. Wildlife and people are returning. The proposed Cuyahoga River Water Trail will take advantage of new opportunities and be a lasting legacy.

Click here to learn more about this project.

Sources: Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Cleveland Metroparks, The Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District