Though he is not often seen by students tramping through weeds and high grass, Ohio State Professor Bill Mitsch is one of the top wetlands researchers in the world.

Bill Mitsch, a professor of environmental science and ecological engineering, has been at OSU for almost 20 years. Possessing many ecological awards, he recently won the 2004 Stockholm Water Prize for contributions to the world’s lakes and wetlands. He shared the award with his counterpart, Professor Sven Jorgensen from the Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

“It’s a very important and prestigeous prize in water research,” Jorgensen said.

The two friends met in 1981 and have co-written multiple books.

“It’s always a pleasent atmosphere when working with Bill Mitsch,” Jorgensen said.

Mitsch started working in Chicago in the early 1970s after receiving his bachelor’s in engineering from Notre Dame University.

“The company I was working for was a fairly big polluter, and I got all excited about helping them solve all their problems,” he said.

At that time, Mitsch knew little about ecological engineering, so he applied to the University of Florida’s graduate school.

“When I got to Florida, with all the beauty in nature and the biology of the land, I got involved in wetlands,” Mitsch said.

He received his master’s in environmental engineering from the University of Flordia in 1972. By 1975 he had his doctorate in environmental engineering sciences at the Howard T. Odum Center for Wetlands at the same university.

Mitsch came to OSU in 1986 as a professor of natural resources and environmental biology and science. Mitsch has worked on many projects while at OSU, but none is more impressive than the Olentangy River Wetland Park he created and directs.

“It’s sort of a microcosm of the university,” Mitsch said. “It’s what professors are supposed to do.”

He said professors do three things.

“We teach, we do research and we do services. I can’t think of a better setting to do all three than this. It’s our big giant lab out here.”

The Olentangy River Wetland Research Park is north of campus on Dodridge Road. It sits on 30 acres of land once used by OSU for experiments, Mitsch said. He said the university stopped using the land and instead conducted smaller experiments in a laboratory setting because the land was too wet.

“What? Too wet? Perfect. It’s supposed to be wet,” Mitsch said.

He said he lobbied for land close to OSU, and the Dodridge Road area was suitable. But he said his idea did not culminate over night.

“The idea came to me in 1989 but really got going in 1991,” he said.

Mitsch said the digging began in 1993, and the first drop of water was put into the wetlands in 1994.

“Dr. Mitsch is an innovative thinker,” said Cheri Higgins, an OSU doctoral candidate in the school of natural resources. “He is the brains behind the wetlands park. You’ve got to be cutting edge to think ahead of your time the way he does.”

The wetland park is composed of two experimental kidney-shaped wetlands, a storm water wetland, inflows, outflows, a bioreserve pond, an oxbow lake and the newest creation – the 9,000 square foot Heffner Wetland Research and Education Building.

“Our goal is to get all 50,000 students to – some time in their four years here at OSU – take a class or be exposed to our facility here at the wetland park.”

Describing an experiment at the park, Mitsch said, “We decided to create some floods, so we scheduled them for the first seven days of each month from January through June.”

He said graduate students knew when everything was to occur and were able to set up their instruments and measure whatever they wanted.

“First we brought the wetlands to the students, then we built the Heffner building 50 yards away, and lastly we scheduled the floods for them. You can’t have it any better than that,” Mitsch said.

He said the park is his greatest accomplishment as an ecological engineer.

“This is the greatest facility of its kind, and we’re lucky to have it here at OSU,” he said.

Save for a few minor projects, such as building a small shelter for bikers and creating a system to get information concerning the park to the general public, “(the) master plan at the wetlands park is pretty much finished,” he said.

He said he and the graduate students who work at the wetlands park give over 150 tours each year to visitors, mostly non-ecology majors.

“I appreciate the fact that 98 percent of the people who come through here are not ecologists,” Mitsch said.

Winston Bash, an OSU alumnus and former director of OSU’s Food Industry Center, was on a tour July 21.

“Everytime I come here I either see something or learn something new – and usually both,” he said.

Mitsch’s future is in large-scale ecological restoration, he said.

“The granddaddy of them all would be tackling the Mississippi River Basin. Fixing a nitrogen problem that occurs when nitrates from fertilizers get into the Mississippi River and flow to the Gulf of Mexico where it creates a deadzone called hypoxia,” he said.

He said the deadzone is about the size of New Jersey, and a possible solution is in using wetlands.

“Wetlands happen to be a system that takes nitrates out of the water,” he said, adding that if people designed a landscape to have wetlands filter the chemical out before it gets to the stream or river, the problem might be stablized.

For now, however, Mitsch continues to research and inspire future ecologists throughout the country.

“He definitely influenced me into coming to OSU,” Higgins said. “Everyone knows Bill Mitsch. He’s the top wetlands ecologist in the world.”