Parks and Greenspace

Chagrin Falls Region Alternate Transportation Study
http://www.srtrails.org/Default.aspx?pageId=610301
Chagrin Falls, South Russell, Moreland Hills, Orange, the Cleveland Metroparks and the South Russell Multipurpose Trails Foundation received a $68,000 grant from the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency for this study. The $17,000 local match component is being covered by the above agencies.

Cleveland Metroparks
http://www.clemetparks.com/
Cleveland Metroparks is a regional organization that includes land in Cuyahoga and other counties from Lorain to Stark, as well as Pennsylvania. Metroparks has several current initiatives to plan for natural areas in the region - working with the Nature Conservancy, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and others.  Referred to affectionately as the "Emerald Necklace."

Cuyahoga County Planning Commission Greenspace Plan
http://planning.co.cuyahoga.oh.us/green/
The Greenspace Plan incorporates natural systems thinking with social and economic issues.  The Greenspace Plan establishes goals for open space protection and restoration in Cuyahoga County, including improvements to the County's quality of life, regional competitiveness, image, green infrastructure, and environmental and human health.

"Eight County Open Space Plan"
One of the earliest collaborative planning efforts in the region was initiated in 2001 by the 8 county metropolitan park districts.  Working together for the first time, they coordinated a plan for current and future open space acquisition in the region.  This group continues to work together, has kept their database of natural areas up to date, and is currently updating the plan to show what has been accomplished.  The goal is to develop a plan and campaign for a future world-class trail and greenway system - an achievable goal since over 50% of the system is already in place.

Lake Erie Allegheny Partnership for Biodiversity (LEAP)
www.leapbio.org
The Partnership is a consortium of about 50 organizations which own and manage natural land in the Lake Erie-Allegheny plateau, encompassing all of northeast Ohio, plus parts of northwest New York and western Pennsylvania. Partners include park districts, local and county governments, the Nature Conservancy, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and smaller land trusts, universities, research agencies, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.  Formed in 2004 and staffed by the Cleveland Musuem of Natural History, the consortium is working on a biodiversity plan that identifies species and communities of value, and is using modeling to draw conclusions about likely locations worth preserving.  The Partnership has also established a biodiversity fund, managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Fund (NFWF), to support planning and restoration efforts.

Northeast Ohio Ecosystem Consortium (NEOECO)
www.gcbl.org/neoeco
The Consortium is a group of environmental and social scientists, natural resource management professionals, urban planners, and landscape designers representing eight universities and colleges, local nonprofits, the USDA forest service, and government agencies who have joined together to investigate the relationships among environmental and social factors that determine the health, vitality, and well-being of urban communities., and provide expert scientific and technical guidance for the protection of the region’s valuable natural amenities and for the sustainable revitalization of distressed urban communities and habitats.  NEOECO activities are supported by funds from the federal government supplied jointly by the National Science Foundation and the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture through the Urban Long-Term Research Areas (ULTRA) exploratory grant program, and is one of 17 ULTRA-X grants in the country. The NEOECO team was awarded a grant of $272,075 in September 2009.

North Coast Regional Council of Park Districts
http://www.ncrcpd.com
In 1998, a once in a lifetime opportunity was presented to park districts in northern Ohio - Penn Central abandoned a railroad right-of-way in Huron County that could become the central backbone of a trail system stretching across 12 counties. At that time, no local park district within the county existed that could facilitate the land purchase. The 5 independent districts pooled their funds and purchased the land. Members are Erie MetroParks, Lorain County Metro Parks, Sandusky County Park District, Medina County Park District and Wood County Park District.

Northeast Ohio Regional Parks Consortium
http://www.ecocitycleveland.org/smartgrowth/openspace/parkscons.html
The consoritium has mapped out a conceptual view of where thousands of acres of land could be conserved and where more than 1,000 miles of new trails could be constructed. The vision includes the conservation of important natural areas, the connection of parks to cities and towns throughout the region, and the creation of greenway corridors that connect to the Lake Erie shoreline.  The consortium is composed of 8 local park districts and two national parks.

Ohio Canal Corridor
www.ohiocanal.org
Founded in 1985, received National Heritage Corridor status in 1996, now funded by the U.S. Dept of the Interior to coordinate economic development, recreation, and conservation opportunities within a 4-county area along the old Ohio and Erie Canal historic corridor.  Mission: to create a park system that follows the route of the Canal from Cleveland to Dover/New Philadelphia by promoting historic preservation and interpretation expanded recreational opportunities and sensitive economic developments.  Activities include: Linking the natural and cultural assets via a master bike/hike trail, rail and scenic roadway.  Forging dynamic public/private partnerships that develop key physical projects.  Promoting the Canalway as a tourist destination, showcasing its natural cultural, and historic resources.  A competitive grant program has awarded millions for projects within the corridor area, and has leveraged additional millions in support for a variety of projects. Board members represent private businesses located throughout the canalway area.

Western Reserve Heritage Corridor Study
www.westernreserve.ning.com
A regional group is working to achieve designation of a large part of the NE Ohio area as a national heritage corridor, similar to the Ohio and Erie Canal Corridor, merging economic development, tourism, historic preservation and recreation in a local-federal public-private partnership.  Congressman Tim Ryan (D-District 17) introduced legislation in Congress to conduct a study on the region, which Congress approved in 2006. Coordination of the study was assigned to the NPS, which received funding to undertake the study last year.  A group of more than 20 local officials makes up the local steering committee for the project.  The area being considered for the designation is made up of all or portions of the present-day counties of Summit, Medina, Ashland, Ashtabula, Erie, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Ottawa, Portage and Trumbull. The final draft of the study should be completed by the end of 2010, and then submitted to Congress.

Western Reserve Land Conservancy
http://www.wrlandconservancy.org/
In 2006, Western Reserve Land Conservancy (WRLC) was created by the largest-ever merger of land trusts in the United States. Eight local land trusts in northern Ohio voluntarily joined forces to form a private, nonprofit conservation organization for a region that stretches from Sandusky Bay to the Pennsylvania border and from Lake Erie to Wayne County.  Success includes the preservation of 13,402 acres in the four-year span that followed the merger – a 167 percent increase on a 20-year total.   The Anchor Strategy Plan involves a parcel-by-parcel prioritization for 4.5M acres of the region; this project is currently in the outreach stage, with stakeholder meetings being held in 15 counties to obtain input on priorities for conservation. WRLC is also working in the Mahoning Valley to support watershed/sewer district initiatives and supporting various other sub-regional land use and conservation iniatives.

If you know of an initiative that should be listed on this page, please download the NEO Initiative Submission Form.doc located at the bottom of "Regional Initiatives" page.