Tinkers Creek, named after Captain Joseph Tinker—the chief boatsman in Moses Cleveland’s survey crew, is the largest tributary of the Cuyahoga River, gathering water from 13 sub-watersheds in 4 counties. The creek flows through Summit (including the Township and City), Portage, Geauga, and Cuyahoga counties.

In June 2006, trace amounts of antibiotics, prescription and nonprescription pharmaceuticals, personal-care products and household and industrial chemicals were found all along Tinkers Creek, but luckily in the years proceeding there has been a concerted effort to remedy this environmental crime.  According to Twinsburg Naturalist, Stanley Stine: “Tinkers Creek…we’re doing our best (everybody’s doing their best) to clean it up. And someday I’m hoping it’s the Creek that the ancestors of Twinsburg enjoyed, being clean. It’s showing signs of improvement. We have a river otter in it, too many beaver in it, water ducks, the eagles hunt over it when the rivers are frozen over with ice because the creek coming out of seven different waste water treatment plants along its length tends not to freeze because of the warmth of the water being in a building and being cleaned and deposited outside.”