DO NOT MAKE A DONATION ON THIS PAGE. CHANGE.ORG DOES NOT GIVE IT TO STOP THE SWAMP.  CHANGE.ORG KEEPS THE MONEY AND ADVERTISE THE PETITION TO NON-LOCAL PEOPLE. 

We, the undersigned, demand that the City of Toledo, Toledo Lucas County Port Authority, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources cease and desist from continuing forward with, and that they abandon, the Cullen Park Project and Grassy Island Project to build swamps (wetlands are defined as swamps and vice versa)  in the Cullen Park Bay and Maumee Bay at the mouth of the Maumee River and that the US Army Corps. Of Engineers deny any permit requests related to these projects.  The following are but a few of the reasons for this demand.

The swamps will negatively affect health:

The swamps would be built in a residential area. Swamps breed mosquitoes which carry more and more dangerous diseases every year. The City of Toledo already has to spray harmful chemicals throughout the Point Place area to control the mosquito population.  New breeding grounds for mosquitoes will only exacerbate the problem.

The stated purpose of the swamps is to have a portion of the Maumee River flow through them to filter phosphorus and other toxins from the river before it reaches Lake Erie.  This filtering will cause a higher concentrations of these toxins in the Cullen Park and Maumee Bays.

The swamps will negatively affect recreation:

The swamps would be built in waters that are used for recreation by citizens of Toledo and surrounding areas all year round.  The swamps will interfere with that recreation by decreasing the navigable waters and increasing the level of harmful toxins that swimmers and other water sport participants will be exposed to.

The size and scope of the swamps cannot be controlled:

Phragmites are an uncontrollable invasive species that has taken over most of existing swampy areas in and around the Point Place area. There is virtual certainty they will take over and extend out from any swamp built in the Cullen Park or Maumee Bays.

The harm the projects will cause outweighs the benefits

In contrast to the significant detrimental effects these swamps will have on Toledo and the surrounding communities, the proposed swamps will have a negligible effect on the total toxins that flow from the Maumee River Watershed into Lake Erie and cause the blue green algae blooms in Lake Erie.