Our Prairie
We have about 100 acres of broad open prairie. Before Harsha Lake Dam was built upriver at East Fork State Park for flood control, these fields typically flooded with 10 to 20 feet of water. Today, the flooding is less intense, but still happens on occasion as shown in some of the pictures below.
From the 19th Century through 2002, much of this plain was tilled and farmed in various crops including alfalfa, soybeans, corn and tobacco. Produce crops were also grown on these fields and the fields also served as pasture for livestock. Today, we are helping nature convert most of these fields back to native habitat, much like it probably looked when Native Americans and early settlers saw this land. We are allowing native wildflowers and plants to return in a managed fashion with annual cutting as directed by Andy Dickerson, our expert conservationist with years of expertise from work with The Nature Conservancy and Little Miami Inc. We have also planted native tallgrass in various areas and those grasses have taken hold.
On of the detriments of the years of farming this land is that the fields were tilled up to the banks of the East Fork. This has resulted in two areas on our property with severe high bank erosion because there are no trees or deep rooted plants to stabilize the soil. To reverse this situation, we have planted hundreds of tree saplings in the prairie back from the edge of the bank. When these saplings take hold and grow into mature trees, they will minimize future bank erosion.
To date we have sown over 30 acres of native prairie grasses on our property. These grasses have extensive root systems that provide erosion control near the East Fork during flooding and storm events. These grasses also tend to dominate over weeds and invasive species and they go to seed and then expand naturally. These grasses provide outstanding habitat for nesting songbirds and grassland wildlife. Among the many doves, egrets and other bird species on the property, a nesting pair of Henslow's Sparrows were identified on our property. We also have a healthy stock of native wildflowers returning to the property. We are planning to plant some wildflower areas in the coming years. These wildflower areas are flush with butterflies and insects.
As shown on the figure below, the entire prairie and about 95 percent of the Valley View property is in the floodway and 100-year and 500-year floodplain of the East Fork. During major storms, almost all of our property will likely be under water. In many ways then, the Valley View prairie serves as a "pressure relief valve" for the East Fork. Allowing water to flood onto Valley View, reduces the amount of flooding elsewhere in streets, neighborhoods and other developments along the River. This fact is a key reason why Ohio EPA, the Clean Ohio Natural Resources Assistance Council and the Ohio Public Works Commission supported our efforts to buy and preserve this land. Whether you are a conservationist or not, preserving natural functioning floodplain mitigates flood damage on the property itself and elsewhere up and down the river. That protects people from being harmed and property from being damaged.
Each year during the rainy season, parts of the Valley View prairie flood with rainwater and runoff from surrounding land. But on May 11, 2003, an intense spring storm dropped a 2.80 inches of rain on Milford and parts of Clermont County in a short period of time. The result was moderate flooding along the East Fork. If you click on the pictures, you will see a video slideshow showing how the Valley View prairie and streamside forest function during both the routine rainy season and during the 2003 flood (these are large video files that may take a minute or two to open and will require Flash Player for proper viewing). Look closely in the video of the 2003 flood and you will notice that the water in the River is muddy while the water in the fields is much cleaner having been filtered by the grasses and other plants in our prairie. You may also notice that during the floods we have ducks, mallards and other birds swimming in our prairie. You will also see how our streamside forest was completely inundated during the 2003 flooding. For more information on that area of our property, visit the Wetlands Page.
If you would like to learn more about how Valley View's scenic prairie serves an important function in flood control and preserving water quality in the East Fork, check out the documents below. These documents provide more scientific information on the subject and how the Valley View prairie serves an important function within the 500 square mile East Fork Watershed.