SUITABILITY ANALYSIS FOR WETLAND RESTORATION IN THE BLANCHARD RIVER WATERSHED IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION

The Blanchard River watershed is in the region of the former “Great Black Swamp” located in NW Ohio. The watershed eventually drains to Lake Erie via the Maumee River. In the 19^th and 20^th centuries the wetlands in the watershed were drained in exchange for agricultural land, and excess nutrient runoff from farming in the former wetland areas has significantly contributed to harmful algae blooms in the lake. The primary goal of this study is to develop a multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) approach for assessing and identifying areas in the Blanchard watershed with potential for successful wetland restoration projects. The MCE accounts for several watershed characteristics (e.g., land use, soils drainage, stream proximity and order, slope, and depth to groundwater) and allows us to calculate wetland suitability for each land pixel (30m by 30m) within the watershed. Calculated suitability values range from 0 to 100 and are classified into five categories, i.e., 1-5, with Class 1 representing the “lowest” rating (not suitable), Class 5 representing the “highest” (very suitable), and others in between. Our preliminary results show that within the Blanchard watershed’s 1997.2 km² area, 27.4% of land is estimated to have a “highest” suitability score (Class 5), 49.7% has a “high” score (Class 4), 21.3% is “average” (Class 3), 0.95% is “low” (Class 2), and 0.58% has the “lowest” suitability (Class 1). We anticipate that the approach and results from this study could directly benefit wetland restoration projects, such as the ongoing H2Ohio Initiative here in Ohio.