Try This!

Canoe and Kayak Tour of the Blanchard River

"River Rovers Take a Look at Blanchard"
by Michelle Reiter, originally in The Courier (6/26/2004)

It's hard to appreciate the Blanchard River when your underwear's wet and there are puddles in your tennis shoes.

But it's not impossible.

As one of the first activities of the newly-formed Blanchard River Watershed Council (BRWC), about 12 Hancock County residents -- mostly city and county employees plus this reporter -- spent Friday morning paddling down the Blanchard River in canoes and kayaks.

The group was formed this year as a collaborative effort by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the OSU Extension Office, to form a watershed plan that would keep Blanchard River clean.

After several initial meetings with potential stakeholders, the BRWC officially formed and decided to get a closer look at the river they plan to protect.

"It will give people a chance to learn about the river first-hand," said Robert McCall, the watershed educator at the West District OSU Extension Office, before the trip.

No one was counting on a rainy, 50-degree June day, however.

Boaters climbed into their vessels, made a 21/2-mile voyage from Ohio 235 to the County Road 53 take-out point, and hustled out.

The weather-related haste didn't mean there wasn't a lot to see along the winding Blanchard, however.
Boaters had a chance to see jumping fish, ducks, raccoons, owls, redtail hawks, turkeys and other waterproof wildlife.

The river had a muddy hue, but it had few deposits of debris collected along its sides -- that is, compared to what it looked like 50 years ago.

"Back in the '50s the river was much worse," said Ed Ingold, Hancock County commissioner-elect and currently Hancock Regional Planning Commission interim director. "People weren't as cognizant of waste and water treatment."

Not only did people dump garbage, car parts and unwanted furniture along the Blanchard, Ingold said, sometimes you could see livestock there too.

"Not along the river," Ingold stressed. "The livestock were in the river."

Most of yesteryear's debris was gone Friday, however. A few unsightly car parts remained; a chaise lounge lounged on the riverbank; some metal-framed lawn furniture was strewn about; and a large piece of farm machinery no one could identify rested in peace in a watery grave along the river.

But for the most part, the river was clean, clear and canoeable.

Hancock Park District Director Tim Brugeman said 20 years ago, a canoe trip like Friday's wouldn't have been possible. Logjams blocked several parts of the river, he said, and the county received a grant to help pay for their removal.

"That took about a year," Brugeman said of the removal process.

"People wanted to use the river for recreation," he added. And the county needed to use the river for drainage.

Meanwhile, tougher clean air and water acts forced a massive cleaning of local lakes and rivers, which helped purify the Blanchard River.

No one has exact data that can tell people how healthy the river is today, but BRWC hopes to find out after the EPA finishes assessing the river. That information could help the group secure state grants to strengthen the watershed group, and enable it to form and follow through with plans to protect the river -- specifically targeting the watershed area that flows into the river.

The Blanchard River watershed area includes parts of Hancock, Putnam, Allen, Hardin, and smaller bits of land in Seneca and Wyandot counties.

Many of the council members had never been down the Blanchard before Friday. Other than the occasional litter, most seemed to like what they saw.

"It was bigger than I thought it would be," said Steve Lichtensteiger from the OSU Extension office. "It looked pretty good."