Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed Flow

FLOW has been an important partner with the Ohio State University's Olentangy River Wetland Research Park. Their organization is highly regarded within the university as a rich source for local expertise; for it's excellent outreach activities and ability to engage large groups of volunteers for restoration initiatives.

My experience with FLOW has been wonderful. They are very organized and helpful. With their help we got tons of work done to clean up the Olentangy River. Columbus is better with FLOW and that is a fact

I first became involved with FLOW in 2010 while working on the initial stages of a community project in Weiland Park. I find the wonderful members, staff, board, and volunteers of FLOW to be gracious, infectious, professional, cheerful, knowledgeable, warm, focused members of our watershed community who are always willing to pitch in and lend support in any way necessary to protect all our waterways, educate the public, lend support and lead the way! Many thanks for a great partnership! Sandy Frey, Principal, Integrity Sustainable Planning and Design

FLOW is actively involved in educating the public on the importance of the Olentangy River. Their science committee has provided valuable comments on projects to insure good stewardship of our water quality resources.

FLOW has a dedicated board and membership. They are well informed, interested in partnerships, actively engage community members, and are well established.

FLOW is a fantastic organization--it is truly an asset to the central Columbus area. They are able to motivate a large number of volunteers and accomplish big things for our watershed. FLOW has partnered with many other organizations and keeps everyone up to date with what is happening in the area.

FLOW is one of those amazing organizations that works on a wide array of water quality projects and continues to make a difference on a shoestring. The organization is involved with projects across the watershed with boots on the ground volunteer service events like river clean ups or invasive species removals. They also do environmental educational programs like rain barrel seminars or their public meetings, and reach out to many different sectors of our community. They are making such a difference in my watershed!

FLOW has educated me (and many other novices) about my local environment -- specifically the importance of the watershed I live in, as well as how to care for it. Specifically because of FLOW training classes, I have two rain barrels, and I have used permeable surfaces when landscaping my yard. Whenever I see a project going on in my area -- removal of invasives, planting of native trees, watershed research, environmental studies -- it seems FLOW is a part of it. I see the group's positive impact and am motivated to volunteer on projects of importance to them.

FLOW was am instrumental partner in getting the Lower Olentangy Urban Arboretum off the ground. FLOW's has continued to give support to the arboretum which in turns helps maintain it as a viable organization.

As an academic in an environmental field I have worked with various organizations on grants and projects. FLOW was involved in a grant written for my home neighborhood (Clintonville in Columbus) and I was impressed by FLOW volunteer's competence and passion in assisting with the grant. I have also had students contact FLOW members with regards to projects related to the Olentangy River, and the students have been very impressed with the knowledge and helpfulness of FLOW. A top tier nonprofit.

I've partnered with FLOW on a variety of community-based projects for several years, and have found them to be truly stellar in their ability to participate in collaborative projects involving positive changes to their watershed. The staff, board and volunteers all show a focused commitment to supporting other organizations' needs as well as their own. Thanks, FLOW, looking forward to many more projects with you! Susan Weber, Principal, Integrity Sustainable Planning and Design

I have been a member and worked with FLOW for many years. During this time they have made a real difference in improving the lower Olentangy River. Actions range from clean-ups to being active in development regulations. Their frequent meetings, newsletters and community events do a great job a keeping residents engaged and aware.

FLOW makes things happen in the watershed. I'm a design engineer who implements green stormwater infrastructure in and around Columbus. The FLOW staff and board have successfully created partnerships with governments and institutions, and raised funds for water quality improvement projects. Thanks to FLOW, there were green jobs out there that I could bid on. I've been paid to work on project teams that built 4 public rain gardens, installed 2 water harvesting tanks, restored 3 stream segments, and currently, a huge stormwater treatment demonstration project in the rapidly developing portion of Delaware County. FLOW has boosted the green economy as well as getting water quality projects in the ground.

I first met folks from FLOW when they were looking to write grants for the Olentangy watershed to make improvements to water quality. I was impressed with their initiative and concern for the watershed. The folks from FLOW were very dedicated to making their watershed better. I am encouraged by organizations like FLOW that local grassroots types of initiatives can make a difference for the watershed and the people that live there.

In conjunction with another volunteer organization, I have planted trees alongside FLOW volunteers on more than one occasion and have been very impressed with the dedication and knowledge of the members of FLOW’s grassroots organization. FLOW members and volunteers truly care about the environment. They are making a difference in the ecosystem along the Lower Olentangy Watershed not only by raising awareness and educating people, but also by organizing and participating in hands-on projects that help restore and preserve the quality and sustainability of the area. Thank you, FLOW, for all you do.

I volunteered with FLOW as part of a class service learning project at Ohio State University. I attended several meetings and helped with an initiative to convince local golf courses to become more environmentally friendly. FLOW is a great group with a very strong volunteer base, I was amazed by how many active projects they had at one time and how well organized they were at executing all of them. The members I met were all very friendly and very dedicated to their cause of improving the quality of the Olentangy River watershed.

I have been affiliated with Flow for three years after attending a rain barrel workshop. I later attended a spring long workshop to become certified in HHEI and QHEI stream assessment. This program was informative and very well planned. I have felt very fortunate to be part of this wonderful, hardworking group of people and plan to continue to volunteer in the future.

I went to a rain barrel workshop put on by FLOW and learned so much about the effects of rainwater runoff and the ability to recapture that to reduce my own utility costs and to protect the Olentangy. Their volunteer events really contribute to the health of this important and beautiful river. I've also seen them work very effectively with local governments to assist in keeping the focus on this resource.

FLOW has been a very successful grass roots organization for years and I was pleased when they asked me to be a board member to help continue the success of working cooperatively with municipalities, landowners and businesses within our watershed.

Watershed work is fun because it involves so many types of activities and so many partners that the work never gets dull.

Anyone that wants a fun place to volunteer or a great place to donate their money should join us.

I attended a rain barrel workshop co-sponsored by FLOW and several other environmental concerns. The event was held near a community garden in a blighted part of town. A rain barrel was installed nearby, at the rental property of a willing neighbor. We watched the actual installation, met the renter, and saw the neighborhood project the barrel benefited.
This workshop required skilled coordination for the many separate parties to interact. FLOW conducted a seamless, enjoyable and educational program for myself and others new to their organization.

I first became acquainted with FLOW when my son was working to get a local stream named as part of a college class project. FLOW does an incredible job with almost no resources getting the word out about the need to protect and clean up the small streams that make up the Olentangy River watershed.

This is a test review not counted for campaign, but to determine how to send onto others.