For nearly 100 years, the Mahoning River in Northeast Ohio was the dumping ground for the steel mills. But in the decades since the mills closed, the river has been recovering. Now people want to connect the river to the communities through which it flows. Can the river now help them remake the Mahoning Valley into a great place to live? The five stories in this series provide an idea of what's possible.
Reporter Jacqueline Marino, who grew up in the Mahoning Valley and is well familiar with the river's legacy, spent the summer of 2022 on the Mahoning River seeing firsthand what's changed and talking to the people who have a connection to the river's past and a vested interest in the its present and future.
The series opened with a look at the current state of the river. The following episode was an introduction to some of the trailblazers who've been working hard to turnaround the river. The water of the Mahoning are the cleanest they've been in decades; Our third story looked at how far the river's recovery has come and how far it has to go still. Not everyone is thrilled about the idea of restoring the Mahoning River by removing its dams. In the fourth part of our series we brought them and their concerns into the conversation. Our final story examined how one current effort to clean up the river have brought together some groups who've long been in conflict.
You can learn more about the series at https://www.ideastream.org/news/changing-the-course-of-a-river
This series was edited by Andrew Meyer and produced by Jon Nungesser.