At the Tuesday November 3, 2009 Board of Commissioners' General Session, Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District Director Jennifer Fish presented the commissioners with the district's 2009 Conservation Stewardship Award. Each year the award is given to a person or organization that exemplifies a strong environmental stewardship ethic and promotes the implementation of conservation practices.

Commissioners Paula Brooks, Marilyn Brown, and John O'Grady were recognized for their commitment to the use of green infrastructure in Franklin County. Green infrastructure is a cost-effective approach that infiltrates, evapotranspirates, captures, and reuses rainwater to improve water quality, provide wildlife habitat, and encourage outdoor recreation. Green infrastructure examples range from the preservation of natural landscape features including floodplains and streamside corridors to smaller scale practices such as rain gardens, porous pavements, and green roofs.

The commissioners' leadership in encouraging the use of green infrastructure in Franklin County includes:

• Supporting Franklin Soil and Water's county-wide conservation easement program,
• Supporting the purchase of 196 acres along Hellbranch Run in order to provide for the protection of 500 contiguous acres of sensitive streamside land in the Big Darby watershed,
• Installing a green roof on the County Courthouse building,
• Supporting the installation of green infrastructure at the Franklin County dog shelter, Pleasant Township firehouse, and Franklin County fairgrounds,
• Participating in the Central Ohio Rain Garden Initiative,
• Approving an amendment to the county's zoning regulations which established stream setbacks (buffer zones) around waterways in the Big Darby Creek watershed,
• Supporting the development of conservation development zoning regulations, and
• Collaborating with Franklin Soil and Water on the placing of a conservation easement along Early Run at the site of the former Children Services complex at Gantz Road.

Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District is the natural resource agency in Franklin County with the sole purpose of promoting conservation and responsible land use for better water quality and natural resource management.