Our new series of FOREST FORUMS aim to conserve and restore forest cover for watershed health.

The first Forums, for Euclid Creek and Big Creek watersheds, were held in January. Participants mapped areas in their communities where more forest canopy would assist with stormwater management, stream health and habitat.

Participants receive updated forest cover and stream maps of the watershed and their communities, and become eligible for pilot planting projects, tuition to Tree Commission Academy and assistance with improving their community's restoration efforts.

The next two work sessions will be held for:

Doan Brook / Dugway Brook / Nine Mile Creek (the cities of Cleveland Heights, University Heights, South Euclid, Shaker Heights, Bratenahl, and East Cleveland) on Thursday, February 9, at the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes. Two identical sessions will be held at 1pm and 6pm.

West Creek and Chippewa Creek (the cities of Parma, Brecksville, Broadview Heights, North Royalton, Independence, Seven Hills and Cleveland) on Wednesday, March 7, at the Independence Library on Selig Rd. One session, from 2-5pm.

Registration is required. Call Jane at 216-241-2414 x610 or email goodmanj@crcpo.org to RSVP or for more info.

...and all year long you can enjoy the image of fog flowing out to the lake while helping us restore our river, its watershed and Lake Erie.

Just make a donation of $10 or more and you'll receive an 11" x 17" wall calendar. And our thanks, of course.

Image courtesy of Focal Plane Photography.

The CRF's new home at Rivergate Park, with 1,100 feet of river frontage, is growing toward what will be a 6.5-acre park along the Cuyahoga's shipping channel, adjacent to Hart Crane Park, affording a tremendous new area of public access to the river. Learn more about Rivergate Park and CRF.

Mark your calendar for September 16, 2012, when CRF hosts the first USRowing Masters Head Race National Championship, expected to bring more than 500 of the nation's top 27-and-older rowers.

Next year, the Cleveland Dragon Boat Festival will again be held on the same day as HOTC, September 15, 2012, downriver at the Nautica Entertainment Complex on the west bank.

Goodman had served the RAP as Outreach & Communication Director for five years. She has been involved in environmental work in Northeast Ohio for more than twenty years, as a founding trustee of the Earth Day Coalition and Friends of Euclid Creek, and for seven years was Director of Outreach and Education for ParkWorks, formerly Clean-Land, Ohio.

As a member of South Euclid City Council, she has helped that inner-ring suburb become what the Sun News called "the greenest east side city."

Port Authority To Open Dike 14 as Nature Preserve

Cleveland, Oh – May18, 2011—The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority’s Board of Directors today voted to officially rename and open Dike 14 as The Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve, underscoring the unique value of the 88-acre site as well as the Port’s commitment to environmental initiatives and enhancing lakefront access.  The Port plans to open the site on a regular basis and spend up to $25,000 to install an entrance gate, and make other improvements. 
 
“Since the time Dike 14 was deactivated as a disposal site for sediments dredged from the river, it has become naturalized and is now a wonderful habitat for wildlife in an urban setting,” said Port President and CEO Will Friedman.  “We look forward to continuing to work with our environmental education and government partners to establish a schedule so we can open the area for the general public to enjoy.”
 
The Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve is a former dredge disposal site located at the northern end of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on Cleveland’s East Side.  It has become a wildlife haven and provides one-of-a-kind access to the Lake Erie shoreline.  More than 280 species of birds, numerous species of butterflies, 16 species of mammals, two species of reptiles, 26 Ohio plant species, and nine species of trees and shrubs have been identified.
 
"Opening the nature preserve to the public provides an opportunity for access to Lake Erie as well as access to a remarkable diversity of birds, native Ohio plants and trees, and other wildlife,” said  Chris Trepal, Executive Director of Earth Day Coalition and a member of the Environmental Education Collaborative, a group previously organized to connect people and nature at Dike 14. 

NEW in our Watershed Strategies Resource Library:

"THE VALUE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE" -
A Guide to Recognizing its Economic, Environmental and Social Benefits (download 16M pdf) from Center for Neighborhood Technology and American Rivers.

click here for a larger image

Green Bulkheads PHASE II brings trails, trees and fish habitat to the banks of the river as the
Scranton Road Peninsula Aquatic and Riparian Habitat Restoration Project
gets underway.

Thanks to a truly collaborative effort on the part of many agencies and organizations, made possible with Clean Ohio, Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funding, the first concept plans are done and site engineering plans are underway for what promises to be a high-quality habitat for fish and a new opportunity for river access along a naturalized riverbank in the flats.

The unique project will create a living ribbon along Scranton Road, integrating 11 acres of restored terrestrial, wetland and aquatic habitats and special visitor access points off a new stretch of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail.

The site is just south of Tower City, from the Eagle Road bridge on the north to the I-90 overpass on the south, with the largest aquatic restoration area, a 2-acre lake marsh habitat on the site of an abandoned marina, just south of the Hope Memorial (Lorain-Carnegie) Bridge.

The project partners include the City of Cleveland, Ohio Canal Corridor, Cleveland Metroparks, the Cuyahoga River RAP and project manager, the Cuyahoga County Engineer. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is helping with plant choice and interpretive signage. Once completed – on schedule for 2014 – the site will be managed by the Cleveland Metroparks.

CUYAHOGA VALLEY
NATIONAL PARK

Click here for a calendar of activities.

Visit on the web at www.portageparkdistrict.org.
Enjoy the sounds of nature!

PRIORITIZING WETLAND RESTORATION POTENTIAL
in the TRIBUTARIES of the CUYAHOGA RIVER AREA OF CONCERN (AOC) (PDF download 3.5M)

This is the introduction and overview. Detailed information for each tributary watershed will be posted as individual chapters in the weeks to come.

The goal of this project is A ranking model has been developed to assist in identifying the “top wetland sites” in each tributary watershed of the Cuyahoga River AOC. By identifying wetland sites, this project will help expedite and focus efforts to meet mitigation needs, as well as make the best use of other public or private funding sources.