{"id":546,"date":"2016-08-18T00:01:51","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T04:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/usparks\/?p=546"},"modified":"2016-08-16T15:24:55","modified_gmt":"2016-08-16T19:24:55","slug":"cuyahoga-valley-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/usparks\/cuyahoga-valley-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuyahoga Valley National Park: Turning back the clock in the Cuyahoga Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>o see how the U.S. National Park Service has played a role in preserving the Cuyahoga Valley in Northeast Ohio, there are at least two perspectives.<\/p>\n

One, often shown to visitors, is a satellite view showing a verdant expanse of forest-green boxing out the speckled-gray suburban sprawl of Cleveland and Akron.<\/p>\n

Another is experienced on the ground, like in the humid early-morning hours in June on Spice Acres, a farm owned by Cleveland chef Ben Bebenroth nestled into the woods along the Cuyahoga River.<\/p>\n

Farm manager Andrea Heim showed off the hundreds of laying hens, the Mangalitsa hogs, the hops inching up their trestles, a greenhouse full of mixed vegetables, spices and garnishes \u2014 and one of the region\u2019s only ginger and fig crops. Ms. Heim explains how the hens and pigs are natural tillers, the cover crops promote soil nutrition and all waste generated by the food is recycled. Cicadas sang incessantly from the thickets.<\/p>\n

Spice Acres is one of 11 farms leasing from the federal government in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, about 33,000 acres of protected land about a two-hour drive northwest from Pittsburgh. By encouraging the same small-scale farming the valley was known for in the early 1800s, Ms. Heim said the park is \u201ctrying to bring this area back to those roots.\u201d<\/p>\n

The farm-leasing program is one of the central and more unique ways the National Park Service has played a role in resurrecting and preserving the aesthetic and culture of the pastoral river valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur job was to connect the farms to the outside world and connect the outside world to these farms,\u201d said Darwin Kelsey, executive director of Countryside Conservancy, the nonprofit set up in 1999 to run the park service\u2019s farm leasing program. <\/p>\n

\"Seedling <\/a>
Seedling trays in the greenhouse at Spice Acres, a 14-acre farm in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio on June 3, 2016. Spice Acres is part of the National Park Service’s Countryside Initiative to preserve farmland through sustainable practices. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Andrea <\/a>
Andrea Heim, farm manager at Spice Acres, tends to some celosia transplants in the farm’s hoop house in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio on June 3, 2016. Spice Acres is part of the National Park Service’s Countryside Initiative to preserve farmland through sustainable practices. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Ewan <\/a>
Ewan Neitenbach, 3, shows off the freshly laid eggs he scooped from the farm’s pen of chickens on June 3, 2016 in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Gwyneth <\/a>
Gwyneth Neitenbach, 5, displays one of the countless cicadas that hum in the woods surrounding her parents’ farm in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, on June 3, 2016. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Neitenbach <\/a>
Neitenbach Farm is a small-scale farm owned by Pamela and AJ Neitenbach and their four children nestled into the woods near Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A bicyclist pedals along the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail on June 3, 2016. The paved trail follows the Cuyahoga River near Peninsula, Ohio, a town in the heart of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"In <\/a>
In Peninsula, Ohio, the small town in the heart of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, visitors can rent bikes to ride along the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Dan <\/a>
Dan Greenfield, owner of Greenfield Berry Farm, leans into one of his several greenhouses on June 3, 2016 in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Greenfield Berry Farm was one of the first farms to sign up for the National Park Service’s Countryside Initiative to preserve farmland through sustainable practices. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Eco disaster spurs preservation<\/p>\n

When the park service first established a presence in Northeast Ohio, it came not long after one of the most devastating images of environmental degradation tugged at the nation\u2019s green conscience: the Cuyahoga River fire in 1969.<\/p>\n

\n

Cuyahoga Valley National Park<\/h2>\n

1550 Boston Mills Road, Peninsula, Ohio 44264<\/p>\n

1-330-657-2752<\/p>\n

Official website<\/a><\/p>\n