The Cleveland Foundation’s interest in preserving the unique natural and cultural heritage of the Cuyahoga River Valley dates back to its support in the mid-1970s of the Cuyahoga Valley Association (CVA), a citizens advocacy group that played a key role in the creation of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in 1975. In addition to providing operating funds, the foundation supported CVA’s efforts to protect the perimeter of the newly established park from commercial exploitation.

Over the years the foundation has helped the park enhance its infrastructure and programs. Perhaps the most innovative of these improvement projects is the Countryside Initiative, which was undertaken to preserve the rural heritage of the Cuyahoga Valley. Planning for the project began in 1999 with a Cleveland Foundation grant of $100,000. Believed to be the only endeavor of its kind in the country, the initiative has nurtured the return of agricultural food production to historic farmlands located within the boundaries of what is now the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and provided park patrons with opportunities to visit a working farm.

The Countryside Conservancy, the project’s manager, set a goal of rehabilitating the 20 or so old farmsteads within the park’s boundaries and leasing them to persons committed to practicing sustainable agriculture. Long-term leases are awarded on a competitive basis, and the first request for proposals went out in 2001. A second foundation grant of $80,000 in 2003 gave the initiative, which was still in its formative stages, time to prove its effectiveness. To date, 11 farms have been placed back into fruitful production.