An important goal of the city of Cleveland's Lakefront Plan is creating more green space and connections to its greatest natural asset, Lake Erie. Dike 14, located at the north terminus of Martin Luther King Drive, is the confined disposal facility that holds soils dredged from the Cuyahoga River Navigation Channel. It's location and lush natural areas means it fits well in the plan. A number of groups want to convert into a lakefront nature preserve so that we can all get closer to nature without having to travel away from the city.

Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District received a state grant for an environmental assessment of Dike 14 to determine what type of public access will be possible with certain interventions, such as boardwalks or trails. Conducted by Partner’s Environmental and Davey Resource Group, the assessment has been completed and is ready to be shared with the public.

Dike 14 Environmental Education Collaborative with support from the City of Cleveland, the Cleveland-Cuyahoga Port Authority, Cuyahoga Board of County Commissioners, local institutions and community leaders will share the results of the environmental assessment, and the current educational and research activities taking place. Community meetings will be held at the Cleveland Lakefront State Park Office on December 5 at 5:00 p.m. and at St. Phillip Neri Community Center, on East 82nd, north of St. Clair on December 6 at 6:30 p.m.

Public meeting on the Dike 14 Confined Disposal Facility focusing on recent results of EPA brownfields assessments (which will help determine how safe it will be to open up Dike 14 as a publicly-accessible natural area).

The meeting will be repeated at a different location on Dec. 6.

More information.

Last week’s Free Times ran a short article denouncing bike access on the future nature preserve at Dike 14. Bike access at Dike 14 is part of Cleveland’s new Bikeway Master Plan, which was approved by Cleveland City Planning Commission last Friday. The article states that environmentalists are against allowing bikes onto Dike 14 for fear that it will disturb trail users and migratory birds which use the 88-acre site as a rest stop.

Some environmentalists, however, think there might be room to plan for a shared-use path leading from the main entrance along the perimeter to the ‘beak’ or western-most point of Dike 14 without it disturbing the most sensitive birding areas in the interior. They argue that pedestrians, more than cars or faster moving vehicles, are often more of a disturbance to nesting birds like hawks and eagles (as the recent blockade to a portion of the Cuyahoga Valley Towpath Trail near the nest of eagles illustrates).

It’s a sensitive issue because cyclists and hikers have historically been segregated by trail design. The legacy is inherent in this comment: “If you have any bike access (to Dike 14) mountain bikes will invade and destroy everything. City people have plenty of noise and machinery—we need to offer them a chance to connect to the natural world. Lower blood pressure, less violence, brain works better—lots of solid evidence.”

Read more about Dike 14 here. Is there room for cyclists at Dike 14 on the perimeter trail to the western point, or should it be pedestrian-only?

The Richard A. Shatten Public Policy Case Study Competition and Awards Program, with this year's topic focusing on the costs and benefits of a proposal for the development of Dike 14 into a nature preserve for environmental education and recreation. Guest speaker is Bruce Latimer, executive director of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Program and awards at 5 p.m., with reception following. More information.

RSVP to jestes@gcpartnership.com or 216-592-2287.

Agenda includes:
Mayor Jackson’s recommendation: “Convert Dike 14 into natural area on the lakefront.” Plain Dealer, January 23

Updates on testing and risk assessment work at Dike 14 under a $200,000 USEPA brownfield grant awarded to CSWCD in May 2006.

The FREE 6th Annual Water Quality Exposition will be held Saturday July 8, 2006, from 9am-5pm, at Rockefeller Park Lagoon.  Activities include water quality testing demenstrations, fishing instructions, and guides to Lake Erie fish.  Along with music, and other misc. family activities.  For more information contact David Wright, Nature Center Naturalist at, 216-321-5935 ext233.  Or e-mail at Wright@shakerlakes.org.

Last week, the Cuyahoga County Soil & Water Conservation District (CCSWCD) — the fiscal agent for efforts to advance Dike 14 as a natural park— was awarded a USEPA Brownfields grant of $200,000 to perform an environmental assessment and risk analysis for the former dredge disposal facility. Securing the grant is a major step toward making Dike 14 a nature preserve with public access.

"Now we can survey the whole 88 acres and find out, are there hotspots (about which) we need to be concerned where we want to use the site?“ says CSWCD’s Jan Rybka. “We can breath a sigh of relief, do this assessment, and keep the momentum going.”

Updates on city's Dike 14 Master Plan and recently awarded USEPA brownfield grant for testing and risk assessment.

Dike 14 Nature Preserve Committee supports the city’s Master Plan for Dike 14 Nature Preserve insofar as it calls for wildlife habitat preservation and enhancement, pedestrian trails and boardwalks, coastal overlooks, benches, and environmental educational signage.

But the committee opposes the plan’s addition of bike paths, picnic areas, toilet facilities, and an amphitheater at the...site as these amenities detract from the resources and experience of the nature preserve, and these amenities already exist in the adjacent Gordon State Park and other nearby parks.

For more information, email Barbara Martin, chair, Dike 14 Nature Preserve Committee.