Living in Cuyahoga National Park

Countryside Initiative Program

The National Park Service has created a Countryside Initiative program in partnership with Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy.  The program is designed to preserve and protect the rural landscape in Cuyahoga Valley National Park by providing farmers with long-term leases in exchange for farming the land.  Farmers must compete for a lease  of a proposed site including providing a plan to manage and farm the site through the term of the lease. Farming practices must be sustainable and the farmers are required to entertain park visitors.  There are currently ten farms in the program and three more are to be added this year.  The land is located between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio.

Fast Company quotes Craig Kenkel, superintendent of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, as saying: “What is so interesting about the program it that it has intersected well with the trends of local farming and fresh foods.  While we were focused on creating this unique program in our park to preserve the valley heritage, we were unknowingly a part of a social movement. One of the values we bring to local foods is that visitors come looking for a national park experience and have the discovery of local farms and fresh foods when they are here.”

If this program interests you, get all the details at: www.cvcountryside.org/farm-farming-home.htm

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