By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

An obliterated butterfly garden is the latest battle in the war between an environmental group concerned about the health of Mill Creek and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is in the middle of a $2.5 million project to stabilize the creek's banks behind Salway Park.

The group, called the Mill Creek Restoration Project, is asking the Cincinnati Solicitor's Office to file a "taxpayer demand" of more than $105,000 for the destruction of a 1,500-foot native butterfly garden. The group says the garden had a value of about $35,000, but the law allows for triple damages and punitive damages if it comes to a lawsuit.

Cincinnati Council's Neighborhood and Public Services Committee voted Tuesday to direct the solicitor's office to take "whatever action necessary" to restore the garden at no cost to taxpayers.

Councilman David Crowley, who introduced the issue, said that could be accomplished through negotiations or a lawsuit. Crowley said he expects support from the full council at today's meeting.

"I don't anticipate any problem with it," Crowley said. "That might mean suing, or it might mean something less."

A Corps spokesman said Tuesday that the area, in Winton Place directly across from Spring Grove Cemetery, was not known as a butterfly garden and was bulldozed so that there was room to lay down construction material. Crowley said the area could be mistaken because the native flowers that attract butterflies look more like weeds. Still, there was a fence on all sides of the garden that was removed before the area was bulldozed, he said.

It is the latest skirmish in a long battle between the Corps and the environmental group. Last week, the group called the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency because it said the Corps contractor on the project didn't take any measures to keep soil from running into the stream, as is required by the state permit allowing the work.

After a site visit, state officials suggested several ways the contractor, Sunesis Construction, could prevent soil from entering the stream. The contractor told OEPA it would take the appropriate action, officials said.

Robin Corathers, executive director of the environmental group, told the committee Tuesday that the garden was clearly outside the Corps' project boundaries. No one from the Corps attended the committee meeting.

Corathers added that her group isn't necessarily looking for punitive damages, but she wants to make sure that the Corps provides cash for maintenance of the garden for the next seven years.

"If there is a satisfactory resolution, we want to be at the table and have some say of the species of plants that go into the garden," Corathers said. "It was a mature and thriving garden, and it took seven years to get it that way. We believe the Corps should provide money for future maintenance."

The garden was planted in 1997 and included native flowering shrubs, perennials and prairie cone flowers.

It provided habitat and food for wildlife and served as a native plant nursery for the city's Mill Creek Greenway Program.

The garden also was used for educational programs where children learned about river ecology and wildlife habitat restoration, Corathers said.

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com