Rowing is a popular sport on the Great Miami River, especially in Dayton, Miamisburg, and Hamilton
Related: Great Miami River Watershed | Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer | Human History of the Great Miami River
Great Miami River - Highlights
Originating upstream from Indian Lake, the Great Miami River flows 170 miles southwest to its confluence with the Ohio River west of Cincinnati.
The Great Miami River is fed by six major tributaries: Stillwater River, Mad River, Twin Creek, Buck Creek, and Greenville Creek. More than 6,600 miles of small streams drain to the Great Miami River across 15 counties in Southwest Ohio.
The groundwater in the buried valley aquifer provides flow for the rivers; In turn, the rivers helps recharge water levels in the aquifer. This means that our drinking water resources are vulnerable to sources of pollution and contamination that happen at the surface and in our rivers.
Great Miami River - Name Origin
The English borrowing of ‘Miami’ is related to the word myaamia, which means “downstream person (or people)”. In the 1800s, French settlers referred to the Great Miami as ‘La Riviere a la Roche’, meaning Rocky River (Hover, 1919).
The Assistant Director of the Myaamia Center at Miami University, George Ironstack says "The Great Miami River in western Ohio likely got its current name from the indigenous peoples of eastern Ohio – Shawnee, Delaware, and Haudenosaunee – who used that river as a means to travel to Myaamia villages to the north. The British and later the Americans learned the name of this river from those groups. The Myaamia people call the river the Ahsenisiipi (Rocky River) based on an old story of the river and its rocky bottom during the dry summer months" (2011).
Great Miami River - Water Conditions
In the 20th century, untreated human sewage, industrial discharges, gravel mining, toxic waste, and suburban sprawl the health of water resources in the watershed. The Great Miami River made a comeback thanks to centralized wastewater treatment and enforcement of water quality regulations, bringing back healthy populations of fish and insects. However, erosion, nutrient pollution, and stream destruction are still major threats to healthy rivers and streams.
To find out more about conditions of area rivers, you can explore our Water Studies & Research and real-time data like stream levels in our Water Data Portal.
To view easy-to-understand infographics of stream health, open the PDFs listed below:
To help people recreate safely on area rivers, real-time river water bacteria is monitored in the Great Miami River and the Mad River May 1 - October 31 each year (the sensors are dormant in the winter).
To get involved, you can help keep your rivers clean by volunteering at a River Clean Up. Local groups join forces each year to clean up local rivers. You'll have a variety of dates and locations to choose from on the Great Miami, Stillwater and Mad rivers. And you can either walk or paddle a canoe in the clean-up effort.
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Great Miami River - Aquatic Wildlife
Habitat
As a result of the Great Miami River Watershed’s glacial deposits, the Great Miami River flows over a buried aquifer with thick deposits of sand, gravel, cobble, and boulders.
Stretches of the Great Miami River meet exceptional warm-water habitat criteria (Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, 2001). The exceptional warm-water habitat designation is reserved for those streams in Ohio that support “unusual and exceptional” assemblages of aquatic organisms. Many of the rivers and streams in the Great Miami River Watershed are designated “warm-water habitat,” meaning the streams and rivers support the “typical” warm-water assemblage of aquatic organisms that are expected to be found given the regional climate, hydrology, and land use.
Aquatic Insects
With more than 1,200 species, aquatic insects are the largest group of Ohio stream wildlife. These include species like mayflies, stoneflies, dragonflies and damselflies, caddisflies, beetles, and true bugs such as water striders. Dragonflies and damselflies love to rest on your paddles as you make your way downstream.
Mollusks
Ohio streams are a habitat for freshwater mussels. Not only are they an important food source for many other animals, but they also have cultural and historical importance for the native Americans who once called the Great Miami their home. Mussels were used for food, beads, and hoes. European settlers also used them for buttons and fish bait. Today, all mussels and their shells are legally protected throughout Ohio so populations can recover from serious declines.
Stream Fishes
More than 162 species of fish have been captured in Ohio streams, most of which are never caught or seen by anglers. Some are huge, but most are small, such as minnows, suckers, and darters. Popular sport fishes to be found in abundance specifically in the Great Miami include smallmouth bass, channel catfish, saugeye, and black crappie.
Hook into a smallmouth bass and you’ll see why it’s Ohio’s most sought-after stream bass—they are known for their quick and sudden strikes, can grow up to 20 inches in length and weigh up to 6 pounds, providing a thrilling challenge for any angler.
Learn more about fishing the Great Miami River
Reptiles and Amphibians
Ohio has a number of amphibians and reptiles. You are almost certain to see a few turtles resting on driftwood or a snake skimming across the surface as you paddle down the Great Miami.
Great Miami River - Outdoor Recreation
In addition to fishing, the Great Miami River is popular for paddlesports including kayaking, canoeing, fishing, rowing, and even river surfing. Access points can be found all along the river from Sidney to Hamilton.
Recreation Trails
The 102 uninterrupted miles of Great Miami River Recreation Trail is another way to experience this beautiful river as you pass through parks, forests, farmland, and several riverfront cities.
Why do some bike trails go under water? Because parts of the trail wind through the Miami Conservancy District flood storage basins and levees of the flood protection system, at times some sections of the trail will be underwater. Not to worry - this simply means the system is worked as it was designed. Thankfully, closures and trail conditions can be checked ahead of time!
Birding
There are amazing birding opportunities in Southwest Ohio and along the Great Miami RIver and its tributaries. Thousands of acres of preserved forests, wetlands, riparian zones, prairies, and more are accessible to you with a diverse array of species.
The infamous Dayton-local bald eagles, Orv and Willa, have nested near Carillon Historical Park since 2018. In 2023, they successfully bred and welcomed three eaglets (a rarity that happens only 20% of the time). Almost daily, you can find photographers set up near the park to document the mated pair.
Other species include the belted kingfisher, great blue heron, osprey, woodpecker, sandpiper, and of course Ohio's beloved red cardinal. These are just a few examples of the hundreds of species that call this region their home.
Visit a riverfront park to enjoy beautiful views
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