Great Parks and The Nature Conservancy Partner to "Daylight" Buried Streams at Shawnee Lookout

The project will start this spring.

(Hamilton County, Oh.) - Great Parks is working with The Nature Conservancy to restore nearly two miles of streams below ground in stormwater pipes on the former Shawnee Lookout Golf Course. 

The restoration project is part of a major 150-acre ecological restoration for the park in western Hamilton County. 

Work is expected to begin this spring with heavy construction and will be entirely funded through the In-Lieu Fee Mitigation Program from The Nature Conservancy of Ohio. 

An additional portion of land at Shawnee Lookout will be restored solely by Great Parks. 

“The Nature Conservancy, with their tremendous national expertise in protecting land and water, is an outstanding partner for this chapter in our transformation of Shawnee Lookout,” said Todd Palmeter, Great Parks CEO. “We are bringing developed fairways and bunkers back to a functional natural state by restoring streams. The plans we’ve developed with the public on the future of Shawnee Lookout will improve the park, making it a major regional hiking destination with access to protected and flourishing conservation areas.”

Shawnee Lookout is an important archaeological district that was continuously inhabited for 10,000 years. On the former golf course, which closed in 2019, and in surrounding areas of the park, over 9,000 feet of streams were buried and moved into underground culverts. 

Great Parks and The Nature Conservancy will restore those streams to the surface in a process known as "daylighting." 

The work will include removal of culverts and asphalt from the old golf course, establishing riffles and pools along the stream and replacing invasive plants with a riparian buffer or native plants. 

Construction teams will plant 24,000 native trees and shrubs at the park, enhancing habitat for birds and other wildlife, providing shade for the stream and associated aquatic and riparian habitats, and improving water retention of the site. 

The former cart path will be removed and replaced with a new, two-mile natural surface trail. 

“This project will have a lasting impact on wildlife and water quality in the area and we are thrilled to collaborate with Great Parks on this project,” said Bill Stanley, state director, The Nature Conservancy in Ohio. “This area has undergone significant changes over the last several decades, including being used for farming and as a golf course. Now, Shawnee Lookout presents a unique opportunity to uncover and restore buried streams, native plants and a strong forest canopy.”

Daylighting of the streams is just one of many improvements coming to Shawnee Lookout. Future plans, as requested by the public in the Park and Facility Master Plans, include a new nature and education center, 8.4 miles of new trails, an amphitheater and outdoor classroom for new educational programs, new picnic shelters, a bird blind and nature playground.

More information about this work, and other major Great Parks projects, is available at greatparks.org/projects.