Surges IN Depth -- Putting Down Roots

POWER

SURGES I N depth

JANUARY 2017

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Start ‘em young.

ROOTS

Nathan Ehlinger, right, and three-year-old volunteer Orion catch fish for an impromptu survey at Honey Creek, in the heart of the Brubaker Wetlands near where Ehlinger grew up.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF NATHAN EHLINGER

POWER-Cincinnati’s Nathan Ehlinger works to save the wetlands he loves

By Kate Wutz

T

he small town of New Carlisle, Ohio—population roughly

6,000—rests on the banks of Honey Creek, a picturesque

waterway that runs along the southern side of the town.

The creek winds its way through farmland, upscale subdivisions and a golf course before splitting a few miles northeast of the city’s center. And just south of the main part of town, right near the Wot-A-Dog Drive-In, it intersects with the Tecumseh Trail, an area that means the world to one POWER employee.

POWER-Cincinnati Biologist Nathan Ehlinger has lived his whole life in New Carlisle, and grew up on the banks of that creek. Now, he’s founded the Tecumseh 1 Surges IN•depth January 2017

Trails Volunteer Group, which works to help beautify and preserve the area and the species that inhabit it.

“Everything we’ve been doing is focused right where I grew up,” says Ehlinger.

27-acre wetland

Though the trail wasn’t there when he was a child, he spent hours exploring the wetlands around Honey Creek.

Dam! From left, Lorien Ehlinger, Jonah Ehlinger and a volunteer explore a beaver dam constructed in the middle of the Brubaker Wetlands. Volunteers search the wetlands for all types of species—some of which, like the beaver, are easier to find than others.

PHOTO: NATHAN EHLINGER

“The Brubaker Wetlands were in my backyard,” he says. “I would always go walk around in the woods and into the wetlands by myself.

As I got older, remembering how unique it was and how alien it felt when I was little, I thought it would be cool to start getting people out and educating them on all of the natural resources we have around here.”

Completed in 2012, the 3.6-mile Tecumseh trail was named after a prominent Shawnee chief from the area whose name means “Shooting Star.” The wetlands are mostly owned by the City of New Carlisle, which purchased 27 acres of wetland in 2002 through a grant from the Clean Ohio Fund’s Green Space Conservation Program.

Now that this public land is in place and the trail has been built, it seemed natural to Ehlinger to try to get both kids and adults out into the wetlands and begin learning about the amazing species in their own backyard.

“It’s been a full ten years since I’ve done it [electrofishing],” Ehlinger says. “But having this volunteer group gave me a chance to get back into it.”

After graduating from Wright State University with a degree in Environmental Science, Ehlinger took a job at GAI Consultants, which has an office in Cincinnati. There, he did work very similar to what he does for POWER—environmental services for power delivery projects.

He met POWER-Cincinnati Department Manager Tom Chaney, who convinced him to take a job with POWER. Two years later, Ehlinger focuses on stream and wetland delineation, habitat assessment and 401/404 permitting. Oh, and finds time to bring his skills and his passion to the Tecumseh Trail area.

Completed in 2012, the 3.6-mile Tecumseh trail was named after a prominent Shawnee chief from the area whose name means “Shooting Star.”

A career outdoors

Ehlinger started with POWER in 2014, but always wanted to work outdoors as his career. He spent his childhood exploring the area and whitewater rafting with his uncle, which led to a job with the local parks department while he was in school. There, he learned how to conduct wildlife surveys and even perfected his electroshocking technique, which is a method for (safely) stunning fish in an area so they can be counted and released.

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Species and surveys

His group right now is small, consisting mostly of his two children, a family whose three kids are homeschooled (and earn science credits by helping), and other volunteers who come and go. The group has a large slate of activities, however, and always finds something to keep them busy.

For example, the crew performs monthly cleanups from April to November, removing all glass and trash from the area. Then, the real work starts—surveys of the wildlife and teaching the kids who come about the various riparian species.

To a layperson, the wetlands might look like just any creek bed of the sort that are scattered all over the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic

His group right now is small, consisting mostly of his two children, a family whose three kids are homeschooled, and other volunteers who come and go. states: trees, flowers, fish, water. But for a trained environmental scientist like Ehlinger, the area is a potential cornucopia of species, some of which are difficult to find, or even rare or endangered.

One such species is the eastern prairie fringed orchid, a federally threatened species that grows in prairies, bogs and wetlands in the Midwest. The green stem is capped with a cluster of flowers in a cone shape—think a lilac, but each blossom is a spiky, delicate bloom with a three-part fringe.

“There are some in some locations close to New Carlisle,” Ehlinger says, and so he’s hoping to find them in the wetlands.

He’s already cataloged dozens upon dozens of species, including abelia (a variety of wild honeysuckle), turtlehead (a perennial commonly found on stream beds in the eastern part of the country) and several species of lobelia, a prolific flowering plant with over 415 distinct varieties.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF NATHAN EHLINGER

Snakes!

While plant surveys are fun, Ehlinger says a more popular activity are the snake surveys—an activity especially beloved by his eightyear-old daughter.

“She will try to catch anything we see out there,” he says, laughing.

“Usually, she’s the first one out and the last one back.”

Mostly, they find rat snakes, but the team is trying to find a large variety of species and contribute to research in the area (although there are no official surveys of what’s out there).

Specific species they’re in search of include Eastern Massasauga rattlesnakes and Kirtland’s snakes, which are also known as Ohio Valley water snakes. The latter species is listed as threatened or endangered throughout five of the six states in its habitat area, so a find in this area would be special.

The children also search for fish species and other aquatic life in Honey Creek. Ehlinger estimates there are between 30 and 40 species inhabiting the stream, including sucker fish, minnows, creek chubs and darters, which have the most variety of colors and patterns and are fun for the kids to find.

“They’re some of the prettier fish in the stream, but you don’t really see them, because they like to hide in the ripples.”

Ehlinger and his children, ages eight and five, have also seen schools of smallmouth bass, as well as some rather large minnows— including one 10-inch specimen that they caught this summer.

“They loved holding that,” Ehlinger says.

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PHOTO: COURTESY OF NATHAN EHLINGER

Digging in the dirt.

(Top) From left, volunteers Bree Flowers, Ehlinger, and Lorien Ehlinger learn about archaeology through a hands-on activity.

Family fun.

(Bottom) Ehlinger and his son, Jonah, and daughter, Lorien, take a quick break from catching fish in Honey Creek. The fish are caught, studied and released, in an effort to determine what species make their homes in the wetland.

Ehlinger got a list of potential species from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and has been trying to add to it and check off species he’s found.

It’s the bio blitz

Next summer, Ehlinger hopes to host what he calls a “bio blitz,” which is when a group of biologists with expertise in a variety of specialties come to the area and try to identify as many species as possible over a 24-hour period.

Ehlinger got a list of potential species from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and has been trying to add to it and check off species he’s found, but it would be helpful to have more experts on scene.

“Anyone who specializes in anything, I’d love to have them out here.”

Ehlinger is also working to give presentations to the public and to the local historical society, which he hopes will help develop a series of archaeological programs in the area. Mostly, his plans are to continue to educate the public about the special value of the wetlands through their kids.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF NATHAN EHLINGER

A mix of science and chaos.

Ehlinger and some of the younger volunteers take a break from surveys to have fun in Honey Creek. Ehlinger says kids of all ages love to splash around and get a little muddy, which makes the learning more fun.

A tradition of fun

“A lot of people don’t understand the areas and don’t like them, because of the mosquitos and ticks and all of the plants that can sting,” he says. “But kids love going out and playing in the water.

Some kids really enjoy looking at the flowers, some of them like catching critters.”

Though some of the muddier adventures are too much for the younger kids, including Ehlinger’s five-year-old son, he says kids as young as three enjoy wading in the stream and looking at fish.

And, after all, his main motivator for preserving the wetlands are so his children can have the same experiences he did, in the same place he’s loved his whole life.

“They are pretty much the reason I created the whole group, to get outdoors with them and teach them. They make all of the work worth it.”

Kate Wutz is a copywriter for Corporate Communications and is located in Hailey.

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Lasting legacy.

Ehlinger says the rewards of teaching his kids about the wetlands he loves and how to protect the area makes all of the hard work worth it.

PHOTO: ANDY GRIMM, NEW CARLISLE NEWS

HIT THE TRAIL Fo ll o w t h e p r o g r e s s o f t h e Tecumseh Trails Volunteer Group https://www.facebook.com/TecumsehTrail/