Working with our Community
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo creates compelling experiences that connect people with wildlife and inspire personal responsibility for conserving the natural world. In addition to working with communities to secure a future for wildlife around the world, the Zoo is also engaging communities in collaborative efforts closer to home. Whether we are working with international conservation partners across the globe or our neighbors at home, we develop programs based on community needs and activities. Engaging communities in program planning is a key part of that approach.
MINI FOREST
The Zoo partnered with Rooted in Trees in late September to plant the first-ever mini forest at a zoo in the United States. More than 800 trees were planted with help from The Holden Arboretum’s Tree Corp, members of the Student Conservation Association, and 30 8th-grade students from Cleveland’s Urban Community School. The mini forest, a small-scale, densely planted green space approximately the size of a tennis court, features 800 native trees and shrubs, including ironwoods, Ohio buckeyes, red oaks, tulip trees, viburnums, and witch hazels. The concept of mini forests, originally developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, PhD, has gained global popularity for its ecological and social benefits, including boosting biodiversity, managing stormwater, improving urban air quality, and enhancing community well-being.
The mini forest was planted in an existing green space along Big Creek, just down the hill from Rosebrough Tiger Passage. In just three years, the Zoo’s mini forest will transform into a lush, full-scale forest, providing educational opportunities and a serene space for over a million annual visitors to enjoy. Project partners see the mini forest as one model for urban green space restoration that demonstrates how innovative, community-driven approaches can make a significant impact on local environments and quality of life.
Co-Designing Programming With our Local Community
In summer 2021 the Zoo began a three-year collaborative project to help us better serve our closest neighbors. We partnered with Antioch University on an AmeriCorps VISTA project to engage our neighboring communities in a co-design process to help inform the development of future Zoo programming.
In collaboration with our neighbors and local organizations in Old Brooklyn, Brooklyn Centre, Stockyards, Clark-Fulton, Tremont, Ohio City and Detroit Shoreway, we worked to identify current community needs as well as existing community strengths and resources. With the Zoo’s mission in mind, we worked together to design relevant pilot programming to build on existing neighborhood assets and help meet community needs and aspirations. By engaging target communities in this participatory co-design process, we were able to identify and pilot programming that is well suited to and beneficial for our neighbors and their communities.
For more information about this initiative contact, Kevin James at kpj@clevelandmetroparks.com