Hopefully, you’ve already heard that Lynette Overholser of the Franklin County Pollinator Pathway (FCPP) will be speaking at the next meeting of Simply Living’s Bioregional Working Group. I am looking forward enthusiastically to hearing about FCPP’s activities and about the importance of pollinators to our bioregion. The meeting is on Sunday, March 29th at 2 pm at the Columbus Public Library’s Hilltop Branch, 511 South Hague Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43204.

After Lynette’s presentation, there will be a discussion about the Working Group and about where we want to go from here. Read on for more information. Your input is valuable, so if you have an interest in bioregionalism, I encourage you to attend the meeting if you possible can. Please register here.

Origins of Our Bioregional Conversation

The Central Ohio Bioregional Working Group began in June 2025 as a collaboration of individuals & organizations with the intention to reconnect people with place by studying natural resources, food systems, water sources, energy, and culture at the local level. Bioregionalism isn’t a new idea, but lately it’s resurfaced as a hopeful, practical way to think about living locally. At Simply Living, we’ve always believed that our communities hold the power to respond to global challenges right here at home.

So far, we have been a Bioregionalism Study Group, focused on learning about businesses and organizations who are employing bioregional principles in their work. Kelly Clark with the Great Lakes Southern Shore (GLESS) Bioregion led us through a rich discussion about what a bioregion is and how one might take shape here in Central Ohio.

Luke Messinger introduced us to RAPID 5 (Rivers and Parks Imagination Design), a Land Trust covering the five major waterways flowing through central Ohio. Its mission is to unite our regional assets, knitting more than 80 communities together to create one of the largest interconnected park systems in the nation.

Patty Shipley, a longtime advocate for healing people & ecosystems and the owner of the native plant nursery Leaves for Wildlife, invited us to shift our mindset from extraction to reciprocity, of giving back rather than taking endlessly from the earth. Patty, also the owner of Leaves of Life, a wellness center founded upon the practices & principles of Naturopathy & Functional Medicine, emphasized the profound connection between environmental health and human health.

How Should We Continue?

Continue to Study Bioregionalism

One alternative for the group is to continue what we have been doing, learning more about bioregionalism practices and principles. There is much we can learn, and there are many local businesses & organizations (like the Franklin County Pollinator Pathway) who can enlighten us.

Establish a Central Ohio Bioregion

Another alternative is to establish a Simply Living Central Ohio Bioregion. To clarify, we would not be establishing a bioregion, bioregions already exist in nature. We would instead be defining a geographical area based on bioregional principles covering that part of central Ohio we want to include. The next step would be to begin bioregional mapping activities and advocating bioregional principles & practices specific to central Ohio.

Existing Bioregion Organizations in Ohio

According to The Drum Foundation’s Bioregional Resource Directory, there are two existing groups in Ohio.

The Agraria Center for Regenerative Practice is a nonprofit group working toward bioregional regeneration in the Miami Valley of Ohio. At its 138-acre farm in Yellow Springs, it researches, demonstrates, and teaches practices to restore the health of soil and ecosystems, heal our relationship with the land, and grow just & equitable food systems. Its bioregion is defined as the upper & central Miami Valley, an area which includes portions of the Great and Little Miami River watersheds.

The Great Lake Erie Southern Shore Bioregion (GLESS) is headquartered in the Village of Chagrin and includes all the Lake Erie watersheds in north central & northeast Ohio and further east. Its goal is to cultivate connection, communication, cooperation, & collaboration among the human and more-than human members of the Bioregion. It functions as an independent, decentralized network emphasizing place-based organizing, regional food security, regenerative farming, and community resilience.

Geographical Area of a Central Ohio Bioregion

To define a Central Ohio Bioregion with the same boundary that we use for Simply Living (i.e., a 60-mile radius around Columbus) would be inconsistent with bioregional principles, since it is a convenient human construct. A more appropriately defined area would be based on hydrologic boundaries.

The watershed boundaries of the Scioto River Basin would be suitable for the bioregion boundary north of Columbus. But we would need to identify a suitable hydrologic boundary to serve as the downstream (southern) terminus of the bioregion. And a bioregion based on the Scioto River Basin would exclude the eastern and western portions of the Simply Living area, which extends into the Miami River Basin on the west and the Muskingum & Hocking River Basins on the east. Clearly, further consideration is needed.

Bioregional Mapping

Bioregional Mapping is a powerful tool to increase understanding of a bioregion. It is a participatory approach to cartography that focuses on mapping the natural, ecological, and human realities that have emerged. It highlights the interconnectedness of the region’s natural systems and human communities, offering a holistic view of the landscape that integrates ecological data with cultural and historical insights.

A good bioregional map shows layers of geology, flora, fauna, and inhabitation over time, allowing individuals to contribute to the documentation of local knowledge, history, and cultural significance, thereby creating maps that are more inclusive and representative of the lived experiences. It includes the identification of traditional pathways, local species, historical landmarks, stories, songs, how things change over time, and other culturally significant sites that might not appear on standard maps.

Many resources already exist to support the bioregional mapping activities of a Central Ohio Bioregion organization. Considerable research will be necessary to find and utilize them. Clearly, establishing a Central Ohio Bioregion would be a large undertaking requiring the involvement of many Simply Living volunteers.

Bioregional principles & practices can serve as a framework for guiding global environmental issues through tangible, local actions. I look forward to hearing your input at the upcoming meeting!