In 2008, Metroparks Toledo acquired a 987-acre property in Jerusalem Township, Lucas County, Ohio, also known as Howard Farms with funding assistance from the Ohio Division of Wildlife and from the Clean Ohio Fund.

This property was acquired with the specific intent that it be converted from agricultural land use into a new Metropark (to be named Howard Marsh Metropark) in order to provide the public with recreational access to restored Lake Erie coastal wetlands habitat, while also meeting the drainage needs of the surrounding residential communities that rely on the property’s network of drainage ditches and earthen levees.

With input from local citizens, government agencies, and conservation partners, Metroparks developed plans for three adjacent and interconnected wetland impoundments, or “cells”, to be constructed over an approximately 600-acre area.

Due to its size and volume, the largest of these wetland cells will be classified as a Class 1 Dam according to the Ohio Administrative Code and therefore must be constructed in accordance with strict standards as administered and enforced by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Water Resources, Dam Safety Program.  To comply with Ohio Dam Safety Program requirements, Metroparks hired Verdantas to oversee construction of this Class I Dam and wetland areas and provide quality assurance testing, contractor submittals reviews, and certification documentation services.

Upon project completion, Verdantas prepared a certification report and as-built drawings for submittal to ODNR documenting that the dam has been built in conformance with the plans, specifications, and changes approved by Dam Safety.  The report included copies of the Daily Field Reports, compaction testing results, compaction test location map, construction photographs to document select construction steps and processes, and a summary of the work activities.

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