Ryan Supports The Nature Conservancy’s $1.2M Collaboration to Protect Water

We are excited to announce our role in a groundbreaking partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to reduce the pollution of lakes and restore streams in Central Ohio. 

We’ve joined Amazon Web Services, Google, and Bath & Body Works to collectively provide a combined $1.2 million for the project, which is expected to divert runoff from more than 700 acres of mostly farm fields through a restored wetland. The project will use the restored wetland to naturally filter and store runoff before it flows into nearby Buckeye Lake, preventing an overabundance of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from entering the lake. 

It will also serve as an important step in utilizing TNC’s science and local relationships to establish regional priorities for stream and wetland restoration in Central Ohio.

“At Ryan, we are committed to sustainable solutions that protect and restore our planet,” said Joe Rozza, Chief Sustainability Officer. “We are proud to partner with like-minded partners to support efforts focused on restoring and protecting vital ecosystems in ways that benefit local communities; by bringing together the size and scale of our organizations, we can drive significant impact.”

TNC will collaborate with Licking County Soil and Water Conservation District to restore the wetland and expects the effort to begin in early 2026. Maps of the project area are available online.

“This collective funding model is the result of the private sector coming together for nature,” said TNC in Ohio State Director Bill Stanley. “AWS, Google, Bath & Body Works and Ryan Companies see the valuable role of nature in protecting our irreplaceable freshwater sources, which are critical for drinking water, recreation and our way of life.”

Under the project, water currently flowing through a straightened agricultural ditch will pass through a restored wetland, naturally treating the runoff from farm fields before the water flows downstream to Buckeye Lake. The project builds on the success of past collaborative efforts that have been effective in reducing nutrient pollution and harmful algal blooms in the lake in recent years.

“There are tangible impacts we are experiencing from climate change, including warmer summers and heavier rainstorms, which are washing fertilizers and sediment from farms and into the water creating ideal conditions for harmful algae blooms,” said Adam Lehmann, Central Ohio water manager for TNC in Ohio. “Wetlands act as nature’s kidneys, filtering out excess nutrients and sediment, and by restoring this crucial natural infrastructure, we can help reduce the extent and severity of these algal blooms and improve water quality by using nature as a solution.”

The Ohio Department of Agriculture estimates this project has the potential to remove 6,107 pounds of nitrogen and 315 pounds of phosphorous preventing it from being delivered into Buckeye Lake each year, helping to preserve the health of Ohio waters.

This project, which is expected to be the first of many for the region led by TNC, stems from a grant awarded to TNC by Amazon, Google and Ryan Companies last year to identify projects in the Columbus, Ohio area that would protect drinking water quality and improve and restore the health of streams, lakes and wetlands. This is the first funded project among several identified by TNC in this region.