Darby Creek Advocate Volume 9, Issue 3  November 2001

Early results are in from the EPA’s system-wide study of Big Darby, and one state agency is not wasting time in sounding an alarm.
In September the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, the agency that directs Ohio’s Scenic River Program, released an unprecedented letter addressed to “all concerned persons of the Big Darby Creek,” warning that the state has detected dangerous signs of deterioration in the Hellbranch Run subwatershed in western Franklin County.
The strongly worded letter, written by Central Ohio Scenic River Coordinator Tim Peterkoski, announced that preliminary results from this summer’s fish surveys showed a loss of fish diversity at almost every survey site along Hellbranch.
Peterkoski notes that the lower Hellbranch currently functions as a “buffer” against impacts from urban development upstream. The letter concludes that “preliminary results . . . indicate that much of this buffer capacity may have been reduced due to increased urbanization since 1992.”
The letter adds this warning: “AS GOES THE HELLBRANCH, SO GOES THE DARBY.”
The agency goes on to recommend a number of “development principles” that should be followed, which include storm water management, flood plain protection, and riparian corridor preservation.
The next issue of the Advocate will detail results of the EPA surveys.