Virtual Tour 1: By Land, By Water: Central Lake Erie Basin
Join a virtual tour of the Central Lake Erie Basin with Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Chagrin River Watershed Partners and The Nature Conservancy. Participants will virtually visit the beauty of northern Ohio’s grandest rivers and learn about how these organizations worked in collaboration to preserve a beautiful area of Ohio. This tour will highlight the value of partnerships to conserving land and water across the Central Lake Erie Basin. Each organization will showcase their individual projects and discuss the work they have been doing to preserve these natural areas and how these individual efforts led to a collaborative effort to protect and preserve lands and waters. There will be time at the end for questions.
Virtual Tour 2: Holden Forests and Gardens: Reaching New Heights
Holden Forests & Gardens connects people with the wonder, beauty and value of trees and plants, to inspire action for healthy communities. Join this virtual tour of our gardens and natural areas to learn about best management practices in research and conservation. We will discuss how this information is used to inform both the public and professionals on how they can improve stewardship of their land and community. This tour will provide a tour of our collections and see a few of northeast Ohio’s favorite attractions, the Canopy Walk and Emergent Tower. We will then go to our Working Woods Learning Forest, a 67-acre living laboratory and demonstration site, where landowners and professionals alike can see what good forest-care looks like and how to implement it on their land. Lastly, enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at Holden’s “hidden gems” and the conservation and preservation methods employed to ensure biodiversity.
Virtual Tour 3: Rebuilding Cleveland’s Vacant Lands
Cleveland was hit hard by the housing crisis and the great recession. Tens of thousands of abandoned and vacant properties filled neighborhoods. These vacant buildings lowered nearby property values and increased crime and predominantly Black neighborhoods were hit hardest. Western Reserve Land Conservancy’s innovative Thriving Communities program works with local partners to identify and remove blighted properties, replacing them with side yards, green spaces and publicly accessible parks that improve the quality of life for those living in the area. This tour will visit sites in Cleveland’s Mt. Pleasant neighborhood that have been turned from vacant houses into bustling community spaces. We will interview local business owners, foundations, community development corporations and others who are committed to rebuilding Cleveland. Racial equity and environmental justice are two guiding principles for the work of Western Reserve Land Conservancy and will be demonstrated in the stories of these urban projects.
Virtual Tour 4: A Great Lake Deserves a Great Shoreline
Northern Ohio boasts nearly 200 miles of Lake Erie shoreline, but only 17 percent of that land is publicly accessible. From Conneaut to Toledo, Ohioans define themselves by this Great Lake. Western Reserve Land Conservancy has been working along Ohio’s entire coastline to permanently protect properties that showcase the beauty and wonder of Lake Erie. This virtual field trip will travel from east to west along Ohio’s northern coast, highlighting properties in Eastlake, Euclid, Cleveland, Vermilion and more. We will guide viewers through the process of identifying and prioritizing projects that will permanently conserve our dwindling coastline, as well as discuss how our work is mitigating the effects of a warming Lake Erie – the result of climate change – and shoring up some areas of eroding coastline.
Virtual Tour 5: Deeply Rooted: Building Community Through Conservation Burial
In northeast Ohio and across the country, members of the Conservation Burial Alliance (CBA) are responding to growing demands for more environmentally responsible and meaningful end-of-life options. Through conservation burial, these organizations and their land trust partners have been able to build deep and lasting relationships with potential donors and their heirs, restore and protect acres of wildlife habitat while producing income for further acquisition, expand their reach beyond the communities they traditionally serve and provide a space for families to create an intimate connection with the land. This virtual tour will offer participants the opportunity to visit conservation burial grounds operating in a variety of regions and habitats. Through the act of burial, these conserved lands become part of the final chapter in the life stories of those they serve. CBA members will share some of these stories which offer a glimpse into their daily challenges and successes.
Virtual Tour 6: The Return of the Forest City
Cleveland was once nicknamed The Forest City, but the city has lost about half its tree canopy since the 1950s. Currently the tree canopy cover is 19% and each year an estimated 97 acres of tree canopy is lost. Cleveland is in the midst of a citywide neighborhood revitalization to improve the quality of life for all citizens and improving tree canopy is an important element in that transformation. Trees are a critical piece of our community: trees make us healthier and safer, add economic value to our homes and businesses, help us meet environmental challenges and provide critical wildlife habitat. Working hard to make this happen is the Cleveland Tree Coalition – a collaborative group of public, private and community stakeholders (such as Western Reserve Land Conservancy and Holden Forest and Gardens) that have partnered with the City of Cleveland to rebuild our urban forest. The coalition is striving to create a healthy, vibrant, sustainable and equitable urban forest by working collaboratively to implement the Cleveland Tree Plan. The Cleveland Tree Plan analyzes the tree canopy data and outlines a roadmap for rebuilding Cleveland’s urban forest to help Cleveland reclaim its identity as “The Forest City”. For this virtual tour, we will highlight the imperative work of the Cleveland Tree Coalition and tour sites that have brought CTC partners like Rid-All Green Partnership – an organization working to grow food within the community, in turn creating jobs and building healthy, green neighborhoods – and the community together to plant trees and bring the benefits to their neighborhood.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Trivia Night
Join us for a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Gallery Talk followed by an interactive trivia session. Participants will need two screens to play - a laptop or tablet to watch the live stream gallery talk and a phone to participate in the trivia. Points will be awarded and prizes will be available. Long Live Rock!