Acres of Toxic Chemicals and Rusting Cars Becomes National Park After Amazing Transformation
When President Gerald Ford signed a bill creating the Cuyahoga National Recreation Area in Ohio in 1974, the site’s boundaries deliberately included a well-known local garbage dump, assuming it could be easily cleaned.
When the National Park Service (NPS) discovered a nearly-unmanageable chemical wasteland where even the water and soil were flammable, a decades-long cleanup effort converted it, at the polluters’ expense no less, into a vibrant marsh ecosystem with some of the highest biodiversity in the region.
“This was a toxic wasteland only a few decades ago. To find this diversity of species there today is remarkable,” said Ecologist for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Chris Davis.
The story begins when the Krejci (krech-ee) family opened up a dump along a river between Akron and Cleveland in 1940. Before municipal waste management, people were responsible for their own waste disposal, and Krejci innocently offered them an out-of-the-way place to do it.
As the years went by, the 200-acre site, with 50 acres meant for landfilling, began accepting heavier and heavier waste until many of the Rust Belt’s biggest manufacturers began relying on Krejci for disposal of their most harmful chemicals.
Getting stuck with the bill
As the years passed, the Cuyahoga area became a National Recreation Area and eventually a national park—the only one in the Rust Belt states. However, visitors began getting sick, and when NPS members finally got wind of the severity of the situation at the dump, a 25-year cleanup process began.
NPS needed a lot of cash to lead the cleanup, so they nominated Shawn Mulligan, a former Assistant Attorney General for Colorado, as an attorney representing the NPS. Mulligan would pursue companies like Chevron, Ford, Federal Metal Co., and Chrysler for almost $50 million in damages to pay for the cleanup.
The case dragged on, and few of the EPA legal staff believed it would yield a positive result for them. Eventually, as the NPS reported in a 2016 magazine issue, Ford quietly took the NPS legal team aside and decided on a solution: let the Motor City mechanics pay for and organize the whole cleanup.
The cleanup begins
With offices and resources close at hand, Ford hired contractors to begin excavating the contaminated soils. Still, every inch further dug revealed more sludge—and even more dangerous carcinogens like polychlorinated biphenyls or polyaromatic hydrocarbons.
The rusted cars and barrels, the tires, and all the other waste and discarded machinery were cleared out from 2002 to 2012, along with 400,000 tons of contaminated dirt—equivalent to 20 feet of topsoil.
Once no more barrels were found sticking out of the ground, and soil samples were clear of containments, the ground was contoured to match the surrounding ecosystem, and several wetlands were built up on the 50-acre dumping site.
Krejci dump today
Today, indigenous plants have been restored, and natural wetlands and all the plant and animal species they support are thriving.
Park visitors who experience the full-summer landscape find themselves soaking up the vista of native wildflowers and grasses as they watch turtles sun themselves on floating logs and listen to the birds sing.
Ford has been involved the whole way, paying its debt to society to a tune of $29 million and ensuring that the grasses and vegetation grow undisturbed and that soil erosion is prevented.
“[The Krejci site] is now as clean as any natural area in the park,” Dickerson says. That’s something remarkable, considering what it was in 1985.”
“You can categorize wetlands, and these are right up there with a three and a four (the top rating for wetlands). They can sustain high levels of benthic communities and critters, and turtles. They can sustain life here. It’s a vibrant resource for them.”
The Good news here is when like-minded people tackle a problem, there can be a positive solution. Today’s JohnKu discusses dedication. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
The Impossible by John W. Howell. © 2022
Something worth doing,
Seems impossible at times. . .
Grit saves the day.
Fiction Favorites 
Dear John,
what a great example showing how we can solve problems.
Wishing you an easy weekend
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Wishing the Fab Four a super weekend as well. 😊
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Fantastic, John! A story of perseverance, determination, and succcess. Thanks for sharing. Have a wonderful weekend 💕🙂
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I hope you have a super weekend as well, Harmony. 😁
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They did that with at least 2 dumps around here. Remember holding my breath whenever we drive by them, but now they’re parks. I did confused here though. It was Ford the President and Ford the company involved? Just missing Harrison Ford for the trifecta.
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Yes. Someone should have enlisted Harrison for a third.
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I always enjoy these positive stories. Amazing what we can do when we try.
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It is. I think people forget about the spirit within.
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If ever we needed an example of the great things that can happen when people work TOGETHER, this would be the time. And what a remarkable example it is. And big props to Ford and all the auto makers who stepped up and changed the game in the process. They put their money where their motors are.
Happy Friday Sheriff
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Thank you, Pilgrim. Well said. 😊
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An amazing story, John. It goes to show what can be accomplished when people work together and not against one another.
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So true, Joan. Thanks for the comment.
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Now – this is good news, John!!
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It is, GP. Thanks.
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Love this story and your last line, John!
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Thank you, Jill. 😁
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That’s really a positive outcome and your JohnKu fits the situation perfectly. Thanks for making my weekend better, John. 🙂
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Thank you, Tim. You just made mine better. 😁
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What a remarkable transformation! I’m really curious now about how the cleanup actually works. When the contaminants are removed, where do they go?
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Good question, Liz. Probability to another hazard waste site
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That was what I was thinking. It has to go somewhere.
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As long as it is not my front yard.
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Definitely not!
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What a long haul that was, but the results were worth every minute. An amazing transformation.
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It is amazing, Teri. Thanks. 😊
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It’s amazing to me how fast the ecosystem rebounded once the cleanup was done. Reminds me of the Jurassic Park quote: life finds a way.
So glad to hear this. Thanks for the smile.
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The impossible is always possible! We lived in Cleveland when the Cuyahoga River caught fire (from all the pollutants) and burned down structures on the shores!
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This is the first I have heard of this story. And usually stories on the CVNP catch my attention. It is a beautiful park. And it has a well equipped adult hydration station just a few steps from they hiking trail as you pass through Peninsula. It is very good to hear that it is now clean and safe. Three fingers sir !
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Good old American ingenuity on display — thanks for telling us about it, John. I don’t live that far from Ohio, but this is the first I’ve heard about this transformation. Would that we could work together to find creative solutions to some of our other problems, too.
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I wish we could as well, Debbie. 😁
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Now THIS is definitely a perfect Friday Good News Story. Proof positive that when people decide to work for a common good, miracles can happen.
Happy Friday to you, good sir! Excellent JohnKu to go with the story.
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Thank you so much, Dale. Have a great weekend as well.
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Thank you, kind sir. I shall do my besterestiest!
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😁
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Plus, it IS date night so there’s a stronger than strong chance that I shall 😉
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Date night? Yowzaaaa.
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Every Friday night 😉
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That is some commute.
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LOL! Amazing what you can do over the Internet with a video call 😉
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I can imagine. 😊
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🙂
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😁
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Amazing story and love your Ku, John. Have a great weekend!
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Thank you, Lauren. You as well.
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That’s impressive, dear John! Other countries…especially mine must follow this example. 🙂
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I think it would be good if we tried to work together on these problems.
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Agree. The entire world must gather forces to clean the earth. 🙂
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We can only hope.
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Wonderful post, John. People can be amazing problem-solvers when they work together. We’ve never needed “community” more than we do now. Thank you for offering a concrete example of the miracle waiting to be embraced. 😊
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Yes grit is a group effort. Thanks, Gwen.
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wow
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I know right?
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Grit does save the day! This is proof positive that people can make a difference. And Ford gets a huge benefit from doing the right thing. Thank you for sharing.
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Mu pleasure, Pamela. I’m a believer in grit.
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Yes, it can be done!
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We need to work on it for sure, Jo. Have a great weekend.
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This gives me hope for our planet! Thank you for sharing, John! Here’s to grit!
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Yes, Here’s to grit. 😁
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This makes me happy to see. Nice the corporations paid for the clean up.
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Yes, it was nice.
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John, back in the day when we made a call on Revco in Solon OH you were only about 2 miles away from the park. I lived in Hudson OH. which bordered the park. I don’t remember the junk yard issue. I have been back since I moved to IN and visited the park. It is Beautifull, featuring the rolling hills of Cuyahoga County.
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Wow this is a first hand observation. Thanks, Dan
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What an amazing transformation, John. It give us reason to hope.
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So true, Dan
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Good to see people working together in productive ways. If we quit screwing things up, Earth would have a better chance of healing itself.
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Humans = Screw up
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Wow, what a great story, John! Thanks for sharing it xo
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Yup. Had to be told.
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I am cheering Ford for doing the right thing. This is a great story!
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Yes. They did step up for sure.
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😀
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😊
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That’s a stunning transformation and well worth it I think.
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I do too. Thanks, Deborah.
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Yay for this happy story John. Amazing what people can do when they actually work together. 🙂
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I agree, Debby.
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Wow. I kind of wonder how they disposed of all the bad stuff though.
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They take it to another hazardous site but one that is for that purpose.
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This is great news.
Your JohnKu nails it.
NOW, I wonder where they dump all that stuff. I mean it’s not like we have stopped making garbage.
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They take it to a site that has been especially build for this kind of waste.
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… and they take better care, not just creating the same mess all over again?
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Yes I think they do. 😊
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