Magnifying Muck: 

Discovering Ohio's Scioto Marsh

200 years ago, Ohio’s Scioto Marsh—an extensive wetland spanning an estimated 16,000 acres—stood as an aberration to the dense thickets and woodlands that dominated Hardin County’s landscape. Amid this soggy prairie, native grasses and shrubs concealed an incredible array of biodiversity, the ideal habitat for countless species of scurrying rodents, foraging mammals, and flocks of migratory birds. Around the periphery, scattered communities of the Indigenous Miami and newly established westward settlers harvested from the seemingly endless bounty. However, unbeknownst to these earliest residents, trapped beneath the region’s shallow and murky waters lay an untapped natural deposit of immense economic potential: muck soil. A prodigiously fertile but non-renewable resource, these prized mucklands would become, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, the driving force behind the marsh’s rapid transformation from swampy wilderness to agricultural haven.

It is with this historical and ecological evolution in mind that “Magnifying Muck” was born. Though today the marsh may look like it has been lost to history—the untamed wild subdued by sprawling fields of corn and soybeans—it is still very much alive. It lives in the fertile soil still sown in the spring and harvested in the fall. In the wild grasses that grow on the river’s straightened banks and in the pooling waters on the dampened earth after a heavy rain. And, most importantly, it retains characteristics that fall well beyond managed control. While it may have been parceled, sold, drained, and cleared, the marsh has always been and will always be. 

This website, then, provides users with a snapshot journey across the marsh’s history—from initial drainage through the twenty-first century. In doing so, it serves to contextualize the often overlooked historical challenges faced by Ohio’s wetlands and highlights what lessons can be learned from past land-use practices to ensure their continued survival in the present.