Rural Action envisions a region with clean streams and healthy forests, a place where thriving family farms, meaningful livelihoods, and vibrant communities exist for everyone. Rural Action Watersheds Program is working toward this vision by assisting landowners, agencies and conservation groups with removing invasive plants, stabilizing stream banks and installing native trees throughout Appalachian Ohio.

We need your support to purchase and plant trees along our waterways to continue to expand this restoration work. Your donation will go directly toward tree purchasing, supplies, and staff time spent planting.

One project we are already working on involves restoring 18 acres of floodplain along the Little Muskingum River in Washington County. The Little Muskingum River is home to 73 fish and 22 mussel species including several that are listed by the state of Ohio as threatened or endangered. Preserving and enhancing this high quality stream is important to ensure that humans and wildlife continue to enjoy the benefits of clean water. Problems such as erosion, excess nutrients, flow alteration and bacteria have been identified as possible sources of pollution in this watershed. We plan to address these problems by removing invasive species and planting native species like elderberries and swamp white oaks, which will create a foundation for other thriving wildlife. Rural Action is also actively working to develop similar projects with private landowners that would amplify our efforts to improve and preserve water quality in Athens and surrounding counties. Find out more about this project!

Describing the project site, Rural Action’s Water Quality Specialist Matt Ledford says, “The sun beats down on a field choked with mats of invasive Reed canary grass. The occasional Autumn Olive and Multiflora Rose break through, but there’s no space for native vegetation to take hold.” Though the Watersheds team is making progress on this specific site, we need your help to continue this work across our region. With your support, we can improve water quality well into the future and restore habitat and reduce erosion so these fish and mussel species in the Little Muskingum River and beyond can thrive.

If you are a landowner with a stream on your property and you would like help evaluating your riparian areas (wetlands adjacent to rivers and streams) and receiving resources to conserve and restore those areas, fill out this form!

Nestled in the foothills of Appalachian Ohio, Rural Action was founded in 1991 on the principle that locally-based, sustainable, and inclusive development is the main strategy for building resilient rural Appalachian communities. Rural Action’s mission is to build a more just economy by developing the region’s assets in environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways. We do this work by focusing on sectors identified as important by our members: food and agriculture, forestry, zero waste and recycling, environmental education, watershed restoration, and energy. Emerging work in social enterprise development and local tourism are more recent parts of our portfolio.

Plant a Tree with the Watersheds Team

By RURAL ACTION INC

Plant a Tree with the Watersheds Team

Donate to support watershed and habitat restoration.

Team Members