Introduction: “Darby Creek: One of the Last Great Places”
(Chapter 1-4 will feature captioned images that informs the viewer of the attributes of Darby Creek)
Chapter 1: “Winter at Darby Creek”
Chapter 2: “Spring Comes to the Creek”
Chapter 3: “Summer; a Time of Growth”
Chapter 4: “Scenic Autumn”
(The final chapter will consider the future of the creek and its various proposes to mankind)
Chapter 5: “The Real Value of Darby Creek”
Darby Creek: One of the Last Great Places
What is so special about Darby Creek? … Well, nothing! Yet, that is precisely what is so special about Darby Creek.
Darby Creek is actually comprised of two tributaries – Big Darby Creek and Little Darby Creek. These two creeks flow about 80 miles through present-day west central Ohio. These two creeks were just typical ordinary small streams 200 years ago. They were nothing unique or special; actually they were very commonplace in what was called The Northwest Territory by early American pioneers. Darby Creek was no different than hundreds of miles of similar creeks that stretch across hundreds of miles of hardwood forests northwest of the Ohio River. The receding glaciers, from about 11,000 years before, left this part of the land with paths cut though the gently rolling hills and great expanses of glacial till to form the original courses of these streams. In time, hardwood forests covered much of the landscape. As early explorers came from the original American Colonies they found this land full of animals, natural resources, and opportunity. Thousands of pioneers moved through and into this area. The first “National Road” was built to accommodate migration of settlers and the flow of commerce through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. (This pioneer highway actually crosses both Big and Little Darby Creeks.) These pioneers brought “civilization” to the area. Today, that great expanse of deciduous forest interlaced with clear flowing creeks has been replaced by productive agricultural areas, industrialized cities, and homes to millions of descendants of those pioneers. This transformation has been so complete that some ecologists claim that in the state of Ohio only .004% of the state’s original ancient forest remains.
Because of colonization, great change came to the creeks that flowed through this vast wilderness. The water flow of the creeks continued, but the interface of land and stream (the riparian corridor) was significantly altered in most areas. Forests were cleared to make room for croplands and urban areas. This affected the local climatic conditions along the waterways. Agricultural runoff and industrial and domestic pollutants entered the water. The habitats for many species of wildlife became altered. The habitat required for the survival of some species of fauna or flora was entirely lost. In some waterways, stream flow was altered by channelization, building of dams, or the draining of wetland areas. As the end of the 1900s approached, there were only a few remnants of the once vast network of streams with their accompanying riparian corridors that remained in the same condition as they had existed for centuries before. Darby Creek is one of those very significant remnants.
Although the forest along the creek is not a virgin forest, a corridor of deciduous forest does continue to grow along much of the banks of Darby Creek. This creek is home to 98 species of fish (slightly over 100 species existed prior to colonization; today, perhaps five of those are endangered). Mussels, which are very sensitive to environmental change or pollutants, exist in nearly the same of number of species as they did 200 years ago – 44 species. But today, two of them are endangered. The creek and its riparian corridor are home to 170 species of birds, and 34 species of mammals. When compared to the seemingly countless other streams and creeks, Big and Little Darby Creeks are, unfortunately, very unique and very valuable because of their biodiversity.
Darby Creek’s scenic beauty and biodiversity has been appreciated by many people in the past few decades. After a long political battle, grassroot efforts were successful in preventing the construction of a dam on Big Darby Creek for a municipal water supply. As a result of those efforts, Darby Creek was further protected when the State of Ohio designated it as a State Scenic River in 1984. Ten years later, it was became a National Scenic River. In 1991, because of the ecological health and biodiversity of the stream an international organization, The Nature Conservancy, designated Darby Creek as one of the dozen “Last Great Places” in the western hemishere.
The Real Value of Darby Creek
Currently there are over 30 organizations, varying from citizen groups to government agencies, which help preserve Darby Creek. Hopefully they will continue in the future. But there have also been groups of people who would readily flood the creek for municipal or private interests. Farmers and urban developers could try to reverse or nullify the environmental protection policies that currently help protect the quality of the waters that feed the stream.
Is the worth of Darby Creek determined by a dollar value for its biodiversity? Can a ledger book tally the expenses for environmental protective measures opposing profits from agricultural use in addition to real estate value for urban and residential developments and infrastructure?
What is the cost to continue maintenance of Darby Creek as one of the last remnants of an ecological environment of meandering streams that interlaced through hundreds of miles of pioneer wilderness? Before such a cost could even begin to be calculated, the real value of this creek needs to be evaluated. What is the value of biodiversity? What is the value to prevent a specie from becoming extinct? What is the value to the attributes of Darby Creek and its accompanying riparian corridor? What value is there to Darby Creeks ecological system or even any eco-system?
In an address to the Ohio Valley Regional Conference in 1925, the Dean of the School of Science at Purdue University, Stanley Coulter, declared that “we began to realize that scenery–our rivers and lakes, our hills and mountains our fertile plains and forests, our peaks of privilege, whence we could see great vistas and glowing sunsets and myriad stars–is our greatest natural resource.
Thoreau asked, “What would it profit if man gained a whole continent, but in the process lost contact with the wellspring of human renewal?”
Richard Lieber, the first director of the Indiana Department of Conservation, while explaining the need for states to protect and preserve natural tracts of land as state parks declared, “Without vision a land will die. Without inspiration we remain disconnected from the immortal order of all things.” On another occasion, in 1941, he said “Converse with nature restores happiness; communion with its mysterious forces, Antaeus-like, fills us with renewed strength and rids us of fear. It is the land and all it contains which performs the miracle.”
What is the value of this emblematic stream named Darby Creek?
Perhaps the answer lies within each one of us.
(Footnote: Antaeus was a Greek mythological giant who seemed invincible until he challenged Hercules. Antaeus was repeatedly thrown to the ground by Hercules but he seemed to be constantly rejuvenated and continued the wrestling match – slowly tiring his opponent. Hercules eventually realized that the earth, Gala, Antaeus’s mother, was the source of his strength. Hercules need only hold Antaeus up off the ground until his strength expired.)
