Source: Cincinnati Business Courier, Bill Cieslewicz
Cincinnati’s parks already rank in the top 10 among the largest 100 U.S. cities by the Trust for Public Land’s Parkscore index. Now, the region is being recognized for 116,000 acres of protected greenspace.
A new initiative called “Greenspace Gems” celebrates five natural areas in the Tri-State for their outstanding scenic value, biological diversity, scientific importance or historic interest. They are:
Greenspace Gems were selected by a team of conservation experts from Green Umbrella’s Greenspace Action Team. By telling the stories of these protected places, Green Umbrella – Greater Cincinnati’s hub for environmental sustainability – seeks to grow public support for greenspace conservation and the organizations that are leading this work in the region.
“These sites not only provide valuable field study opportunities for scientists and students, but also allow visitors to observe the natural, pre-settlement communities that once covered the Tri-State region,” Stan Hedeen, emeritus professor of biology at Xavier University, said in a statement.
Green Umbrella was founded 20 years ago to conserve greenspace and unite citizens and groups concerned about preserving and restoring the abundant diversity of wildlife and plants that thrive in the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana area. Launching this initiative now, two decades later, highlights the region’s great achievement in having protected over 116,000 acres of greenspace to date.
In 2017, Greater Cincinnati was recognized as being the nation’s No. 1 metro area for sustainability by Site Selection magazine, an important resource for economic development professionals and corporate leaders looking for where to expand and locate their businesses.
For more information, click here. To recommend a site as a Greenspace Gem, send a description of what makes the site unique, who manages it and how it was protected to communications@greenumbrella.org.
