Efforts to restore Grand Lake St. Marys have been successful to date, writes Heather Rutz for The Lima News.
Takeaways from the article:
- Cooperation between the public and private sectors have made a difference at Grand Lake St. Marys, state officials said Thursday.
- Officials from Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Ohio Lake Erie Commission spoke in Lima as part of a day-long visit from state officials, including Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and the Small Business Advisory Council.
- The state is working to remove the “Watershed in Distress” designation from Grand Lake, said Karl Gebhardt, deputy director, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and is supporting new legislation that will mandate greater monitoring of fertilizer application and more detailed soil testing.
- Taylor said an initiative she has headed since she took office, the Common Sense Initiative, has helped to make sure farming operations can remain viable while complying with new nutrient management regulations.
- Collaboration among the state, local officials, farmers and other business owners have resulted in a reduction of toxic algae there, and an improvement in a local economy that took a massive hit, Gebhardt said.