40 Years After Fire, Cuyahoga River (Nearly) Healthy

In 1969, sparks from a train crossing the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caused a fire in floating oil-soaked debris. The fire sparked outrage and led to a cleanup campaign that lasted for years and that has now, 40 years later, made for a much cleaner river. Though all is not perfect, the recovery of the river's ecosystems has been visible and tangible.

A burning river was nothing new in 1969. Rivers across the United States had been known to catch fire throughout the early 1900s. However, by 1969 the environmental movement had started, and river fires were less common. Thus, the Cuyahoga River fire became infamous because it represented the very thing the environmental movement was reacting against. Though it only lasted for 30 minutes and cost about $50,000, it went down in history where other fires hadn't.

Today, the Cuyahoga River harbors dozens of varieties of fish, and is also home to herons, beavers, and bald eagles. Where pollution used to make it so that nothing could survive, now the river is teeming with life. This is all thanks to the 1969 fire, which triggered the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Water Act.

The river is now even considered a tourist destination, thanks partly to the creation of Cuyahoga Valley National Park in 2000.

Not all is pristine along the Cuyahoga River, however. The EPA recently sued the city of Akron for dumping sewage into the river, and as recently as June 27, several hundred gallons of what investigators believe was cooking oil were dumped into the river from a sewer pipe, killing hundreds of gulls. However, the fact that the oil spill was investigated and the EPA filed the lawsuit against Akron gives evidence that Ohio still cares about its infamous (and now famous) river. The Cuyahoga river has turned from a horror story into a success story.