Franklin County Conservation District

10/21/2026

This Saturday, October 24, is Make a Difference Day, and you can help us make a difference in a spooky way! Every year we hand out over 1,000 native plant seed packets to Franklin County residents at community events big and small. To keep things affordable we order bulk seeds native to our region, and volunteers help us pack them into envelopes at events just like this one. Join us in your favorite costume this year to help us get more native plants in the ground in Franklin County!

10/20/2026

Like many things we talk about, leaf management in your yard is full of nuance! (nulawnce?) We all have different goals for our yards and different amounts of time and ability to do yard maintenance, so we like to think of leaf management as a spectrum. What are you doing with YOUR leaves this fall?

- Best: Leaving entire leaves in a designated area, whether that's on your lawn (Make sure your grass is still getting light!) in the drip line below a tree, your garden beds, or some sort of container where they can break down into compost.

- Good: Leaving leaves on the lawn and mowing over them. This helps feed your lawn nutrients from the leaves, although it does reduce habitat for small creatures that live among the leaves.

- Ok: Having leaves picked up by your municipality. The leaves will be composted, but you won't have habitat or the benefit of nutrients on your property. Your leaves will gain a carbon footprint from being driven around.

- Not good: Leaving a thick layer of leaves on your lawn that unintentionally smother and kill the grass. This can lead to soil erosion next spring!

- Worse: Bagging up leaves in plastic bags or putting leaves in the trash. Leaves can take decades to break down at the landfill.

- The worst: Dumping leaves in drains and waterways, where their nutrients have an adverse effect on water quality.

10/18/2026

10/16/2026

Partnerships with other county agencies make our jobs so much easier. We’re feeling very grateful for the Franklin County Engineer's Office lately! From helping with drainage calls, to being an extra set of eyes for us on construction sites, to helping us out with some storage space when we were tight on space for a pesticide storage cabinet, they always have our back! So of course, when we got the opportunity to see a bunch of cool equipment….I mean…give them a place to do some training with their maintenance crews, it was an easy yes! The best projects are those that meet multiple agencies goals. We got some honeysuckle brush-hogged so we could more easily treat the stumps, and they got space to practice using their bucket truck, mowers, and practicing felling and bucking trees. Thanks for the partnership FCEO, and thanks for letting us tag along for the training!

10/13/2026

Our Community Backyards program is breaking records: Again! Thanks to all 3,568 residents who participated in 2026 and learned about stormwater pollution and how they can help! The program is now closed, but mark your calendars for April 22, 2027 when the program will re-open for what we hope is another record-breaking year! 🎉

10/10/2026

We are live streaming for World Mental Health Day 😌

10/09/2026

Now's your chance to make your voice heard regarding City of Columbus' updated zoning proposal! The public comment period runs now through October 24.

The City of Columbus has released the public review draft of the Zone In Phase Two: Economic and Housing Opportunity proposal — the next step in the city’s ongoing effort to modernize its more than 70-year-old zoning code.

Visit the Zone In Public Gallery to explore the proposal through interactive exhibits, maps and conversations with members of the Zone In team.
Location: 141 North Front Street, Columbus, OH 43215
Hours of Operation: Monday-Saturday (Unless otherwise indicated)
Monday-Friday: 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 4-6 p.m.
Saturdays: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

The proposal includes updates to zoning districts and development standards for additional mixed-use areas, industrial and warehouse areas, and business and institutional campuses.

These changes matter because zoning helps shape how and where Columbus grows. This proposal would create more opportunities for housing, support businesses and jobs, and provide greater flexibility for employment and institutional areas to evolve with the needs of a growing city.

10/08/2026

This week's takes us back to June of 1968, when you couldn't copy and paste a Google Maps link, or even scan a paper map, so you would hand draw maps for events! Our office apparently had a gifted cartographer on staff. Can you tell what body of water this map is directing folks to? It's a feature that is still in this exact spot today.

10/07/2026

Stormwater Awareness Week is all about one thing: Preventing pollution. While our waterways aren't literally on fire anymore from large volumes of dumped chemicals, they are still under threat. Today's water pollution comes from all over. It's fertilizer that ran off a sidewalk, and fertilizer that ran off a farm field. It's pet waste left in the yard and human waste from unmaintained septic systems. It's litter that made it's way from the street to the river, and hydrocarbons that got spewed from a vehicle's exhaust pipe. Our hope with this week is that everyone learns one way they personally can mitigate some of these types of pollution, because clean streams really do start with you!