By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

DAYTON, Ohio — Since 1937, the 37-acre lot southwest of downtown Dayton was home to the Dayton Tire and Rubber Co., a business that employed thousands. But when this large tire manufacturer left the Dayton area because of company buyouts, the buildings were razed and weeds gained control; all that remained was a unsightly Brownfield.

Thanks to the city of Dayton, students from Central State University, Aullwood Audubon Center and 70 community volunteers, this 37-acre site will be soon be an Eastern tall grass prairie.

“We’re transforming an area that has sat dormant for 37 years,” said Sarah Alverson, environment education specialist for Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm in Dayton. “This will be a good habitat for wildlife and great for the community.”

Vacant lots are plentiful in the western part of Dayton. This section of the city is dominated by low-income families and most businesses have left the area. Many, like the Dayton Tire & Rubber Co., were either bought out, consolidated, closed doors or relocated out of state.

The goal was to target an area near an existing neighborhood that rests next to an abandoned business or company. The lot, which was tabbed, sits just one mile north of State Route 35. But this didn’t happen overnight.

Officials from the city of Dayton, the Aullwood Center and students from CSU worked together to make this dream a reality. CSU students conducted research and conservation activities, while those enrolled for environmental engineering, botany and ecology assessed the Dayton Tire site, collecting baseline data on soil, wildlife and plants.

Students then collected prairie seeds and planted and grew prairie wildflowers and grasses in CSU’s greenhouse to transplant to this community volunteer site. Meanwhile, two CSU students and Aullwood’s Wildlife and Land Management interns began transplanting wildflowers, removing invasive plants and collected soil samples while surveying wildlife.

“This prairie will serve as a nature sanctuary for wildlife and a natural area for the community to watch birds, walk, enjoy wildflowers and reconnect with nature,” said Ardith Hamilton, Aullwood development and marketing coordinator.
The prairie is located along the Wolf Creek, which is an important migration corridor for wildlife as they search for food and breeding grounds. “We aim to engage the community in conservation action by planting wildflowers as we transform this Brownfield into a prairie green space,” Hamilton added.

In late June, more than 70 volunteers converged on the premises, planting more than 8,000 species of plants – swamp milkweed, butterfly weed, false blue indigo, purple coneflower, oxeye sunflower, bergamot, gray-headed coneflower, royal catchfly, vervain, big bluestem, Canada wild rye and northern sea oats will dot the landscape when full grown. The planting was made possible by the TogetherGreen Innovation Grant. It is one of more than 43 events in dozens of cities across the nation over the next year.

TogetherGreen is a National Audubon Society conservation initiative funded by Toyota. It has provided $3.5 million to U.S. projects since its inception in 2008.