A small waterway in southern Clark County is now officially named Coyote Run.
In 2017, Enon Sand and Gravel, a subsidiary of Jurgensen companies, went to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to ask for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to discharge water from their proposed mining operation into a small local waterway that runs through private farmland. The company and the state called the waterway an “unnamed tributary.” Kathleen Mathews, who’s on the board of the environmental group Mud Run Conservancy, says that gave her an idea.
“It was so small and so insignificant it didn't have a name. It just really annoyed me." She says "that was part of the reason nobody was upset and so I just decided that I was going to try to figure out how you get things named.”
In July, the Mud Run Conservancy’s application to name the tributary was approved by the United States Board of Geographic Names. Now, the tributary is officially known as Coyote Run.
Mathews says that’s a nod to the increasing number of coyotes living around the waterway. She also hopes that the naming of the stream will help people feel more of a connection to it. Students from Greenon School District picked the name from a list of five finalists.
Enon Sand and Gravel’s discharge permit is still pending. In May 2019, the OEPA requested supplemental information related to the permit application from the company. Also, in 2018, while sampling Coyote Run, the OEPA found a population of redside dace, a declining fish species and indicator of good water quality.
Environmental reporter Chris Welter is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
