CVNP Farming
Recovering the Cuyahoga Valley's Rural Heritage

The Countryside Initiative is a joint venture of Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) and Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy (CVCC). The Conservancy is a non-profit organization created in 1999 to conceptualize and help implement a management program for the picturesque but deteriorating old farms still surviving within the boundaries of CVNP. Named the Countryside Initiative, that program involves rehabilitation and revitalization of some 20-25 farms over a period of 10-15 years.

The Cuyahoga Valley’s rural landscape and character have largely disappeared because the primary activity which created and maintained it – farming – has largely disappeared. Yet here and there old farms have survived in the park which could be rehabilitated and revitalized. Remnants of some 85 farms were evaluated at the beginning of the Countryside Initiative, and 20-25 remain possibilities for being rehabilitated and returned to active farming.

The Initiative embraces the activity of farming as the fullest and most meaningful expression of the Valley’s rural heritage and character: Real farmers on real farms in real working landscape. These modern farms were and will remain small in scale, ranging from 10 acres or less to 100 acres or more. They will feature crops and livestock similar to their 19th and 20th century predecessors: fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs, poultry, pigs, sheep, goats, and cattle. But current farmers will grow them for 21 st century tastes and markets. And they will blend the best traditional farming practices with the best modern sustainable production methods.

The fullest description of how the Countryside Initiative actually works, including the process of making farms available to the public for long-term leasing, is described in a document titled Countryside Initiative Request for Proposals (RFP). Request for Proposals were issued in 2001, 2005, 2006 and 2008. A new RFP is anticipated for Summer 2009.

Questions?
Contact the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy at 330.657.2542 or email.