A Quiet Return
Quietly, and without much fanfare, two extraordinary things happened at Crane Swamp last month. The third week of February saw temperatures reaching into the 50’s, melting snow throughout the watershed and causing the waters of Killbuck Creek to rise—9 feet on Monday, 10 feet on Tuesday, and approaching 11 feet by the end of Wednesday. The water receded slightly on Thursday, but a strong, heavy rainfall in the early morning hours on Friday created a surge of water, peaking at 14.15 feet that evening.
Of course, none of this seems especially extraordinary; this is typical in Killbuck—snow melts, rain falls, and the creek rises quickly. But on this day, February 20, 2026, two things happened at Crane Swamp that haven’t happened in the last 100 years. This time, when the waters rose, they spilled over newly cut breaks in the creek levee—flooding the wetland, saturating the ground and filling newly constructed wetland pools. As the weekend came and went the creek receded, but the water was retained and then slowly released back into the stream. Crane Swamp and Killbuck Creek are now a functioning wetland system—pulling nutrients from the water, attenuating floods and droughts, and creating diverse riparian habitat.
The day before, while the water levels hovered just below 11ft, we also reopened Lower Laurel Creek. One hundred years ago this creek was plugged at both ends and its waters redirected down a man-made ditch. Fortunately, its meandering creekbed remained on the land, allowing us to locate and re-establish the creek’s confluence with Killbuck Creek to the south. And on the north end we were able to plug the ditch and redirect the flow of water back into the existing creekbed. With this work completed on Thursday a small trickle of water began to flow, however, the next day’s rain turned that small trickle into a flood and Lower Laurel Creek was once again flowing through Crane Swamp and into Killbuck Creek.
I knew that re-establishing Lower Laurel Creek was an event to document. But with only a trickle of water slowly making its way into the northern end of that old creekbed, I figured it would take hours or (likely) days for those waters to reach the southern end at Killbuck Creek. Imagine my surprise when I returned the next day to discover that everything was wet—really wet. Even the higher lands were pocketed with puddles and ponds. Where did all of this water come from? It couldn’t be that trickle, could it? Had the ditch plug failed?
I slowly made my way to inspect the status of Lower Laurel Creek and the ditch plug. The plug was intact, and the creek was full. So full, in fact, that it disappeared in most areas, leaving a flooded landscape. I trekked southward, avoiding the deepest waters and the muckiest of mud. When I saw the height of Killbuck Creek and its confluence with Lower Laurel Creek, I realized that I was now standing in a properly flooded wetland.
Through the graceful timing of mother nature, I had found myself right in the middle of a burgeoning wetland. So thankful that I was there to see this first flooding, a huge stepping stone in our effort to return the land back to the wild world. Our work at Crane Swamp is not nearly complete, but this milestone is remarkable and should be celebrated by all of us, as this is a community effort. It is with your support as well as public funding (Clean Ohio & H2Ohio) that KWLT and Arc of Appalachia are able to restore these wetlands for the public good. Thank you.