Living in the Vermilion River Watershed began as a service-learning project between Oberlin College students in the first-year seminar Field-based Writing: Ecology of the Vermilion River Watershed and the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Firelands Chapter. The goal of the project was to share information about the watershed with its residents.
Within a year the project grew into a collaborative effort between watershed residents, scientists, private organizations, and government agencies in the surrounding region. View Cooperating Organizations.
The book includes 23 articles and over 300 full color photographs, contributed by 25 local writers and 18 photographers. Among the topics are farm conservation programs, geology, native peoples, birds, fish, wildflowers, invasive plants, and water quality.
Thanks to a grant from the Ohio Environmental Education Fund of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Firelands Chapter and additional funding from Oberlin College, this beautiful book has been printed and distributed to residents free of charge. You can also download either the whole book or separate chapters in pdf form.