Restore Cincinnati
Urban Ecological Permaculture
Restore Cincinnati explores ecological urban design interventions to inspire grassroots and systemic planning for socio-environmental resilience on local-global scales.
Restoring and connecting ecosystems with city systems including multimodal networks is essential to reversing environmental degradation and coming home to an abundant and beautiful future.
Cincinnati resides on the unceded lands of indigenous peoples including the Hopewell, Adena, Shawnee, and Miami Nations.
Ohio was 95% forest before colonization. Most forests were mixed Maple-Beech-Birch and Oak-Hickory. We now have very few remnants of old growth forest and preserved prairie or wetland. Most of today’s forests are mixed Oak-Hickory.
Before development, the Mill Creek watershed covered in beds of rich alkaline soils that supported Ohio River riparian ecotypes. The bedrock is mainly Ordovician age limestone and shale. The valley has nutrient-rich alluvial soils, made mostly of sandy silts. The lower layer is glacial outwash soils left by the Illinoisan glacier 400,000 years ago. 70,000 years ago, the Wisconsin glacier deposited loamy till soil types on the hills.
The main stem of the Mill Creek is 28.1 miles long with an average depth of only three feet. Stream corridors provide ecological services including air and water filtration, carbon sequestration, and wildlife sources of shelter and food.
Riparian zones form the transition between the stream and floodplain. Riparian trees provide shade and stabilize the bank side of healthy waterways.
Assets vs Issues
Legalize public art-making including stickers, markers, and paint on public concrete and metal surfaces. Urban art culture should exclude historic stone and brick. Use materials on-site for terraced gabion plantings, stormwater capture, and sculptural seating.
Callery pear control: remove street trees to prevent spread.
Honeysuckle control: cut at base and paint stump with dyed herbicide.
Wintercreeper and English ivy control: cut base section of vine and paint stump with dyed herbicide. Fire weed ivy types and celandine.
Move down-hill in sections. Replace invasives with live stakes, bareroot canopy species, and seed a mix of native forbs and grasses.
i.e. red twig dogwood, elderberry, viburnums, ferns, spring ephemerals
Reconnect the City Steps network with restored steps and step-trail-path-alley-transit connections. Connect Fairview to the West End art district via trail steps to the steps to The Mockbee and The Pit, art and skate spots.
Tree of Heaven control: dig out entire root system, consult an aborist for larger infestations.
Garlic mustard control: hand pull to remove entire root, bag and place plants with flowers or seeds in trash to prevent spread.
Plant natives with extensive root systems. Woody plants that sucker and thicket will stabilize the hillside and provide habitat. Species plantings: edge along the forest, wet in the way of water, and prairie in sunny clearings.
i.e. black locust, pawpaw, juniper, sumac, prairie flowers
Long term, separate sewage and stormwater systems using ecological design and integrated technology. Transform the viaduct into an elevated streetcar bridge.
Bioengineer to 3:1 slope and 50’ terrace for naturally stable streambank and floodplain bench. Reuse rock material from demolition for ripple and pool morphology. Ecosystem benefits include terrestrial and aquatic habitat, dissolved oxygen, and improved water quality.
Live stake water-loving woody plants in upper floodplain and seed hardy native wet forbs and grasses.
i.e. willow, sycamore, button bush, arrowhead, native sweet flag and iris
Key invasive plants vs Native species
