Can Mark Noll make the Ohio River cool again?

Last month, Mark Noll left North Bend, Washington, a small town nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, for a new job in his native Kentucky. He’s long loved Louisville for its network of parks, and for its perch on the banks of the Ohio River — “the whole reason why these cities exist in the first place,” he said. Now, in his new role as the Ohio River Way’s first-ever executive director, a daunting task lies ahead: Noll must figure out how to steer public perception of the Ohio River — a longtime industrial corridor with a reputation to match — toward one of reverence and restoration. And he must unite the many visions of success among the nonprofit’s assorted membership, spanning three states and more than 270 miles of the river from Portsmouth, Ohio, to West Point, Kentucky — even as small river communities are often in competition with one another for limited state and federal funding.

“The coolest thing about river towns,” Noll said, “is they’re old.”

The communities along the Ohio River cropped up because of the river itself, and are tied to its natural heritage. But they’re also dotted with historic buildings, providing “a huge opportunity to redevelop and renovate” them for new uses, Noll said.

This perspective draws from Noll’s background in urban planning and economic development. He studied at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and later attended graduate school at the University of Louisville and completed his master’s at the University of Maryland.

He also interned with the Waterfront Development Corp. in Louisville in the midst of the group’s work with Waterfront Park and the Big Four Bridge, and worked for Louisville Metro under the Greg Fischer administration as a project manager.

In his work for the Ohio River Way, Noll wants to see “a new economy built around the Ohio River,” capitalizing on recreation, tourism, and the historical and cultural fabric of the region.

He grew up in Lexington, but “it’s not a river town,” he said. Louisville’s place along the Ohio has always been a draw for him, and he’s now tasked with building a similar appreciation among the communities on the river’s banks.

For many of these places, the Ohio River is the biggest asset left. Some industry has departed, leaving “skeletons along the shoreline,” Noll said, and taking jobs away, too.

The Ohio River Way’s executive director position was born of a partnership with the University of Louisville’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute. Noll will also serve in a senior program manager role at the institute, and hopes the partnership will bring more resources and expertise to Ohio River communities that otherwise might not have such access.

Overcoming an entrenched reputation

Noll faces an infamous reputation of the Ohio River, one marred by pollution and industrial disaster, and expects combating that perception will be one of his biggest challenges.

Earlier this year, the Ohio was named the second most-endangered river in the U.S. It remains highly industrialized, and received more than 40 million pounds of Toxics Release Inventory chemical discharges in 2020 — more than any other watershed in the country, based on an Environment America analysis.

In February, a Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, sent

“Recreation and restoration are symbiotic. Through recreation, you’re really creating an audience of advocates that want to see the Ohio River restored.” Mark Noll

Executive director, Ohio River Way

toxic chemicals into the air and water, making national news and sparking concern for drinking water supplies downstream. A month later, barges broke loose from a tug near Louisville, with one tanker containing 1,400 tons of methanol pinned against the McAlpine Dam.

And also this year, Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet levied litigation against upstream industry for contamination of the commonwealth’s waterways.

These events have upheld fears that the Ohio River is nothing more than a commercial asset, unfit for recreation.

But water monitoring by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission indicates considerable improvements in recent decades, including meeting recreational standards much of the time.

The Ohio River Way is in the process of applying for a national water trail designation along its stretch of the river, aiming to promote recreation and ecotourism.

“Recreation and restoration are symbiotic,” Noll said. “Through recreation, you’re really creating an audience of advocates that want to see the Ohio River restored.”

‘This is our coastline’

Noll’s role with the Ohio River Way will mean finding ways to incorporate the river into the economic development of the towns along its banks. But for some, the river has been out of sight, out of mind.

“We have not historically capitalized on the river,” said Debra Cotterill, mayor of Maysville, Kentucky, where earthen levee and floodwalls block a view of the river from much of town.

But the physical barrier doesn’t have to prevent the connection with the river.

“Even if you have a big concrete wall, tell the story,” Noll said. “Tell the historical story of your community as it relates to the river as a mural, or as a series of things along that flood wall.”

Portsmouth, Ohio, a town of 18,000, marks the start of the Ohio River Way’s reach. Mayor Sean Dunne grew up in New Jersey, where, in close proximity to the Jersey Shore, he routinely saw depictions of the ocean and the beach in homes and businesses.

There, proximity to water is woven into the culture. When he moved to Portsmouth, he didn’t find the same reverence.

“How many people actually have a photograph or an image or a painting of the Ohio River?” Dunne said. “What I’ve found is, it’s quite low.”

But downstream, in Madison, Indiana, lies a “model for other small communities up and down the river,” Noll said. The town has worked to revitalize some of its historic buildings, hosts river-based events and runs one of the oldest Main Street programs in the United States in efforts to support a lively river town economy.

“It’s safe to get out there on the water,” Noll said. “And the more that people see people on the river, it just creates this snowball ... changing that perception.”

Louisville has river access, “but we don’t market that well,” he said, speaking over the droning of Interstate 65 traffic crossing the Ohio.

He gestured to the river, rolling past Waterfront Park: “This is our coastline right here.”

MATT STONE/LOUISVILLE COURIER JOURNAL Mark Noll leads the Ohio River Way. He wants to see “a new economy built around the Ohio River,” capitalizing on recreation, tourism and history. Behind him is the Big Four Bridge, a project that has helped unite Southern Indiana and Louisville with a pedestrian and bike-only bridge.