District One Natural Resources Assistance Council
Round Three (2004) Projects
Canal Basin Park
Total Project Cost: $944,200
Clean Ohio Request: $434,200
Acquisition: 0.5 acres
The City of Cleveland seeks to purchase a half an acre of industrial land near the flats for a future park. This acquisition will set the boundary for the Canal Basin Park.
The purchase is part of a larger plan to create a major visitor gateway park called the Canal Basin Park. The park has not yet been designed, but the park will be tied directly into the developing Towpath Trail system, the existing Canal Way Ohio National Scenic Byway and the future extension of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
The project supports comprehensive open space planning, provides multiple recreational, economic and aesthetic preservation benefits and enhances economic development that relies on recreational and ecotourism in areas of relatively high unemployment and lower incomes.
Beecher's Brook Forest: North Chagrin Reservation
Total Project Cost: $1,340,000
Clean Ohio Request: $1,005,000
Acquisition Amount: 17.4 acres
The Cleveland Metroparks will purchase 17.4 acres of an old growth beech and maple forest as part of a 27.7 acre total acquisition and protection initiative for North Chagrin Reservation. The forest links the bottomland hardwood forests and emergent wetlands of the Chagrin River Valley to upland hardwood forests.
The project will preserve and protect wildlife habitats and water quality, preserve flood plain and stream side forest functions and natural stream channels.
This land was approved for lot subdivision on February 2, 2004, but development is being held off because the Metroparks, several municipalities and other agencies authorized the Trust for Public Land to acquire the parcel. Consequently, if the Metroparks is unable to purchase the land, the forests will be cleared, resulting in destruction of habitat, increased water runoff, increased stream sedimentation and urban intrusion into the forest.
Rocky River West Branch Riparian Corridor
Total Project Cost: $435,000
Clean Ohio Request: $326,250
Acquisition Amount: 20 acres
The Rocky River West Branch Riparian Corridor acquisition is part of the West Branch of the Rocky River riparian corridor preservation initiative, which is a preservation area for a greenway connector between the mainstem of the Rocky River, the East Branch of the Rocky River, and the West Branch of the Rocky River, all part of or connecting to the 2,552 acre Rocky River Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks.
This riparian corridor will protect about 20 acres of open space in the floodplain of the Rocky River and includes both forested areas and open files and meadows. The Metroparks will preserve and enhance the land and wildlife habitats and restore the degraded landscape. The program also offers multiple recreational, economic and aesthetic preservation benefits.
GATES MILLS LAND CONSERVANCY
Beecher's Brook - Hemlock Ravine and South Ridge
Total Project Cost: $660,000
Clean Ohio Request: $495,000
Acquisition Amount: 10.3 acres
This acquisition is part of a 27.7 acre total acquisition and protection initiative for North Chagrin Reservation. The project would ensure the protection of water quality in Beecher's Brook Stream, ravine slopes, old-growth hemlock forests and mature upland woods in the Chagrin River watershed. It also protects wildlife habitats and rare, threatened and endangered species.
New hiking and walking trails will also be built as the Cleveland Metroparks has committed that Park District personnel, volunteers, and/or retained contractors in coordination with Gates Mills Conservancy, may be utilize to create the trails.
VILLAGE OF HUNTING VALLEY
Chagrin River Corridor Acquisition
Total Project Cost: $5,103,417
Clean Ohio Request: $950,000
Acquisition: 54 acres
The Chagrin River Corridor Acquisition project is located on Chagrin River Road in Hunting Valley. The project is the first phase of a larger project aiming to acquire a total of 76 acres of open space and riparian corridor.
The project emphasizes protection of habitats for rare, threatened and endangered species, preservation of high quality, viable wildlife habitat, and preservation and restoration of floodplain and streamside forest functions.
WEST CREEK PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
West Creek Greenway: Linking the Neighborhoods
Total Project Cost: $961,180
Clean Ohio Request: $701,797
Acquisition Amount: 47.51 acres
The West Creek Greenway project finances the acquisition of property in the West Creek Watershed in order to create a continuous public accessible riparian corridor and to protect open space and endangered wetlands.
The project is part of a larger multi-community effort to preserve a 500 plus acre preserve and greenway. So far, this effort has yielded the dedication of 252 acres to the West Creek Preserve; the lands acquired in this project will also be integrated into the West Creek Preserve and Greenway.
The project emphasizes habitat protection, inclusion as part of a stream corridor-wide or watershed-wide plan, provision of multiple recreational, economic, and aesthetic preservation benefits, preservation of floodplain and streamside forest functions, preservation of headwater streams, and the restoration and preservation of aquatic biological communities
TOTAL ACRES: 149.71
