Conservation Newsletter Feature (2026)

The Upper Scioto Drainage and Conservancy District was established in 1915 to maintain the Scioto River and later the Cottonwood Ditch in the 1920s, both located in Hardin County. There are a total of 20 conservancy districts in Ohio.

The Upper Scioto Drainage and Conservancy District was the very first conservancy to be established in Ohio after the Ohio Conservancy Act of 1914, due to damaging floods that occurred in 1913. The initial focus of the Conservancy District was to manage the properties within the floodplain but soon expanded to the entire watershed around the 1980s. While the history of the Conservancy District has been impactful, it has since been even more impressive. There are over 128,000 acres that are assessable within the watershed including over 9,500 properties, the vast majority being residential and agricultural.

The Conservancy District consists of three Directors that each serve five-year terms. The current Directors are Gary Oates, Jan Layman, and Brice Beaman. Jan is the longest serving member in the history of the Conservancy District at 37 years. Gary has also devoted 35 and a half years to serving the Conservancy. While this is Brice's first term, he proudly sits on the same seat as his great grandfather, William McGuffey, who was the founding member of the very first Conservancy District in 1915. The Conservancy District works alongside the Hardin SWCD, specifically with District Technician, Mark Lowery. The Conservancy District members explained that the relationship between them and Hardin SWCD is mutually beneficial. Both reap a financial benefit as well as having a strong partnership in completing projects. Mark is the engineer that designs/oversees all the projects and stays in contact with contractors that complete those projects.

The Conservancy District focuses on repairing any previously constructed structures along the river, handling any concerns that are reported to them by landowners within the watershed, and their latest concern has been managing beaver. Beavers have become a rising issue as they are backing up the Scioto River with their dams. Some being almost four feet high restricting the flow of water. The district members and Mark, are being extremely active to make efforts in working out a solution. Updates on this may be released at a later time. Beavers are not the only cause to restricting water flow. Aside from doing repairs along the river, much of their work consists of cleanouts such as log jams from fallen trees and maintaining proper drainage.

"The Conservancy District's goal is to maintain water flow and drainage for agriculture" - Brice Beaman.