The Ohio River has changed from a wildlife oasis to an industrial superhighway during the past century. Now the agency responsible for initiating many of the changes that allow the transportation of 230 million tons of cargo each year wants to expand the highway and begin to restore the oasis.

        In a plan approved by Congress but not yet funded, the Army Corps of Engineers has proposed spending $307 million over the next 15 years to restore ecosystems along the river's 981-mile span.

RIVER FACTS

(Jeff Swinger photo)   • Starts in Pittsburgh, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers and winds 981 miles to Cairo, Ill., where it dumps into the Mississippi River.   • Flows through or borders six states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.   • Source of drinking water for 3 million people.   • More than 25 million people live in the Ohio River Basin.   • About 164 species of fish have been collected from the river.   • Tainted rainwater runoff from urban areas, agricultural fields and abandoned mines is the river's biggest environmental threat.   • More than 230 million tons of cargo are transported on the river each year. Coal and other energy products make up about 70 percent of the commerce traveling by barge.   • There are 20 dams and 49 power facilities along the river.

        It would be a project surpassed in scope only by the restoration of the Everglades in Florida.

        The plans have the potential to affect the health, function and future of a river once called Belle Riviere, or “the beautiful river,” by the French.

        “Overall, these would improve the ecological integrity of the system,” said Jerry Schulte, a biologist with the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, a water pollution control agency.

        “It would undoubtedly have a positive effect,” Mr. Schulte said. “Any enhancement will have a positive effect, no matter how small.”

        Corps engineers have painted their picture of restoration with wide brush strokes. The plan includes:

        • Restoring 25,000 acres of bottomland hardwood forests, much of which was lost for fuel to steamboats or cleared for development.

        • Protection of 40 islands and a hundred miles of pristine shoreline.

        • Restoring 25,000 acres of wetlands and 1,250 acres of aquatic embayments, both of which act as nurseries for fish and animals.

        President Bush's budget for fiscal year 2002 did not include any money for the restoration program. Sixty-five percent of it is to be paid for by federal tax dollars with the rest coming from local governments, state natural resource agencies, nonprofits and the like.

        Michael Holley, a project manager for the corps, said no more than $10 million per year will be spent in the first five years of the program; no more than $15 million annually will be spent in the last 10 years.

        And each proposed project, he said, will go through a series of studies that will examine its impact before funding is requested.

        Mr. Holley said people have been affecting the river ever since cities such as Cincinnati and Louisville were founded on its banks.

        “This is only a small dent in the total losses the river has suffered,” Mr. Holley said. “But it's a start. And we'll pull in more data and figure out the most efficient and effective way to spend the money.”

        The corps' involvement worries some.

        Dr. Michael C. Miller, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Cincinnati, has been studying microscopic animals in the river for 30 years. Those animals act as the foundation of the food chain, and shed light on the health of the entire ecosystem.

        Dr. Miller said the corps is good at pouring cement and moving dirt. Those activities can harm the river.

        “The Army Corps has a vested interest in that they have to keep their contractors busy,” Dr. Miller said. “Most construction would be detrimental to the river.

        “The report has the words ecology and preservation, but they carry some big cement along with them.”

        The Ohio used to be shallow enough to walk across in most parts. The first series of dams was built at the turn of the last century. Another series of locks and dams was constructed by the corps in the 1960s to maintain a minimum water level so barges could travel the river.

        Separate from the restoration, the corps is asking the public for ways to improve navigation along the river. One of six public hearings will be from 5-7 p.m. Aug. 6 at the Kenton County Public Library.

        Veronica Rife, the corps' project manager for the navigation improvement plan, said one or two locks might need to be replaced and a few might need to be lengthened to handle larger craft.

        The overall study will cost $45 million and should be finished by 2003, she said.

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