In an effort to improve one of Big Creek’s influents, the city of Parma, Cleveland Metroparks, and Big Creek Connects have united to create the Fern Hill Storm Water Treatment Wetland.
The one-acre natural habitat that will capture, slow and infiltrate flow from a 36-inch storm water outlet that eventually feeds Big Creek, which is the third largest tributary to to Cuyahoga River. Currently, the water drains over 50 acres of an adjacent residential neighborhood.
“The project is directing some storm water runoff from residences and redirecting that water into a newly created wetland,” says Jennifer Grieser, the Cleveland Metropark’s senior natural resource manager for urban watersheds.
The new wetland, which will be in the Fern Hill picnic area in the Big Creek Reservation in Parma, will also improve water quality.