OAK HARBOR, Ohio — A major restoration of highly valuable coastal wetlands was recently completed in Ottawa County.

The Toussaint Creek Wildlife Area, also known as the Toussaint Marsh State Wildlife Area, is a 225-acre state wildlife area five miles north of Oak Harbor.

It has been open to the public for waterfowl hunting and for anglers’ and duck hunters’ access to the Toussaint River since the state of Ohio acquired it in the late 1950s. But its ability to be a functional wetland had greatly diminished over the years.

Now, as a result of about $4 million of improvements made in three different phases, the 125 acres of coastal wetlands onsite are working better than ever. Those who played roles in completing the project this fall see the project as another step forward for Lake Erie water quality, while also offering improved hunting and fishing opportunities for visitors.

“It’s another 125 acres filtering Toussaint River water before it gets to Lake Erie,” said Scott Butterworth, district manager for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife. “It’ll provide spawning habitat for fish species that have been excluded [from the site] for decades.”

The site redesign includes new pumps, water-control structures, stronger berms, and a three-to-two consolidation of levees, which should make it easier for the Ohio DNR to manage, he said.

One of the key improvements is a new fish passage that will allow species such as northern pike to use the site for spawning and as a nursery. The agency plans to close it when the water temperature warms, to keep out destructive species such as carp that are known to tear up wetland vegetation, Mr. Butterworth said.

The redesign, which began before Gov. Mike DeWine’s H2Ohio program was initiated, is the biggest improvement to the site in the nearly 65 years it has been under state control.

But Stephanie O’Grady, an Ohio DNR spokesman, said there is an affiliated H2Ohio project nearby in which the state is working with the Ottawa Soil and Water Conservation District to also reconnect coastal wetlands to Lake Erie tributaries, allowing for a flow-through system.

“Water will flow through the coastal wetlands and be treated before making it to the Toussaint River,” she said. “These wetlands also will serve as fish spawning areas and nursery rearing habitat for larval fish. Both components of this project will enhance currently degraded wetland dike infrastructure.”

Before the state acquired it, the land comprising what is known today as the Toussaint Creek Wildlife Area had been a private waterfowl shooting area, according to the Ohio DNR website.

The project has been important to the federal government, which contributed more than $2.7 million in Great Lakes Restoration Funds for the work.

“Restoring coastal wetlands like the Toussaint State Wildlife area brings us closer to cleaning up the entire Maumee Area of Concern,” said Debra Shore, U.S. EPA’s new Region 5 administrator in Chicago.

The recently passed infrastructure bill will “ensure more projects like this are possible” for northwest Ohio, she said.

Other federal agencies involved included the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Nature Conservancy also contributed a major grant it obtained from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The Maumee Area of Concern is one of many across the Great Lakes region that the U.S.-Canada International Joint Commission identified in need of remediation back in 1987. It includes the Maumee River, the Ottawa River, and others feeding the western Lake Erie basin.

Russ Terry, Ducks Unlimited Great Lakes conservation manager, said more than a mile of interior levees were removed to create the seasonal fish passage.

Experts hope for the same kind of success there as occurred with a fish passage created at the Howard Marsh Metropark in eastern Lucas County’s Jerusalem Township, which has become a popular spot for migratory Lake Erie fish.

He also said he expects the Toussaint Creek Wildlife Area to become more popular with birders during the next Biggest Week in American Birding.

“This will be a hot spot, for sure,” Mr. Terry said.

Ducks Unlimited has been partnering with the Ohio DNR on projects like this one since at least the mid-1980s, he said.

Work at the Toussaint site was implemented in multiple phases because of the large scope of work, but it remained open to the public throughout, Mr. Terry said.

“It’s been highly enhanced for fish and wildlife,” he said.

Kris Patterson, executive director of Partners for Clean Streams, a Toledo-based nonprofit that serves as the Maumee Area of Concern’s facilitating organization, said the Toussaint site’s restoration has been a priority for years.

“For me, the fish passage part of it is really exciting,” she said.

First Published December 4, 2021, 2:15 p.m.