Common Ground - Western Reserve Land Conservancy

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© DAVID LIAM KYLE an active lifestyle and the positive effect trails and other recreational resources can have on our well-being. Park systems are partnering to connect trails, creating networks within the region. An example is the Stark County Park District, which has meshed its own trails with a host of others, including the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, to create one of the best systems in the region for hikers, bicyclists and joggers. In mid-2012, the park district opened the Hoover Trail in North Canton and the Middle Branch Trail in Plain Township, effectively creating a 10mile path. It took 11 years to complete. <strong>Land</strong> conservation also brings additional economic benefits through environmental savings. The bottom line is that it is less expensive to preserve the features that keep water and air clean than it is to complete post-pollution remedies. Natural streams and wetlands clean and filter our water and absorb stormwater runoff. Engineering systems to provide these same services cost us more money to build and maintain. Maintaining existing natural networks and restoring systems to natural functions saves our communities money. For example, the Cleveland Metroparks study puts the total annual value of natural hydrologic services of all its reservations at $884,325. The annual value of stormwater retention is an additional $2.4 million. Undeveloped, protected land also helps clean our air. How? Forests and natural vegetation cover help clean the 36 CHAPTER 4 THE BENEFITS OF LAND CONSERVATION Source: NASS 1924 1940 1945 1950 1954 Value of Farm Products Sold 1969 1974 1978 1982 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 $1,200,000,000 $1,000,000,000 $800,000,000 $600,000,000 $400,000,000 $200,000,000 $0
Editor has the pulse of farming community In 1985, recent Kent State University journalism graduate Susan Crowell was staffing a booth at the Holmes County Fair when she met the then-editor of Farm and Dairy, the weekly newspaper covering agriculture in eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, western New York and the northern panhandle of West Virginia. She asked him about job openings. A month later, Crowell started work as a reporter for the publication. Twenty-seven years later, Crowell is still writing about the issues that matter most to those in the farming community. Since 1989, she has been editor of Farm and Dairy, which has a circulation of about 31,000 and is one of the region’s leading voices when it comes to farmland preservation and conservation. “I think Farm and Dairy is well-respected in the farming community because we cover the issues our readers count on us to cover,” Crowell says. “I am not a PR person. I am not a cheerleader.” Crowell was raised on a small farm in Holmes County and understands the arguments in favor of agricultural easements to preserve farmland as well as those for allowing farmers to do whatever they want with their land. “My parents were land-rich and cash-poor, like so many farmers are,” she says. Crowell, who was the first female editor of Farm and Dairy, has been writing about KRISTY FOSTER SEACHRIST/FARM AND DAIRY Farm and Dairy Editor Susan Crowell has been covering agriculture in our region for 27 years. the loss of farmland since the issue surfaced in western Pennsylvania in the late 1980s and was among the first to question why Ohio did not have an agricultural easement purchase program like the one in the Keystone State. Ohio has subsequently established the Clean Ohio Agricultural Easement Purchase Program; Crowell says while the AEPP has helped preserve thousands of acres of farmland in the state, she wishes it would receive more funding. The public is more aware than ever about the benefits of buying locally produced food, according to Crowell. She says that attitude should ultimately help get more farmland preserved. “I’ve never seen as much interest from the general consumer as to where their food comes from,” Crowell says. “I think that is a very good thing. It starts the conversation about the importance of agriculture and the farms that are in our own back yard.” CHAPTER 4 THE BENEFITS OF LAND CONSERVATION 37
Page 2 and 3: © DAVID LIAM KYLE
Page 4 and 5: © DAVID LIAM KYLE 4 TABLE OF CONTE
Page 6 and 7: © DAVID LIAM KYLE At A Glance * Si
Page 8 and 9: In 1905, Cleveland was the nation
Page 10 and 11: AMANDA SKINGEL At A Glance * About
Page 12 and 13: AMANDA SKINGEL term. According to t
Page 14 and 15: KEN WOOD Bruce Springsteen played t
Page 16 and 17: Greenway now links Ashtabula, Warre
Page 18 and 19: 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 49.1% Op
Page 20 and 21: © DAVID LIAM KYLE 20 CHAPTER 2 WHE
Page 22 and 23: At A Glance * The number of acres o
Page 24 and 25: 24 CHAPTER 3 HOW AND WHY LAND IS PR
Page 26 and 27: Landowners, state protect Pymatunin
Page 28 and 29: © DAVID LIAM KYLE Dike 14, about a
Page 30 and 31: © DAVID LIAM KYLE The more than 3,
Page 32 and 33: 32 Stories of conservation 1. The 1
Page 34 and 35: At A Glance * A study showed that t
Page 38 and 39: A family’s generosity has permane
Page 40 and 41: © DAVID LIAM KYLE Each November, a
Page 42 and 43: © DAVID LIAM KYLE 42 CHAPTER 4 THE
Page 44 and 45: At A Glance * The scarcity of publi
Page 46 and 47: KEN WOOD She keeps watch over our i
Page 48 and 49: © DAVID LIAM KYLE A grave marker a
Page 50 and 51: Population 1970: 4,219,345 Source:
Page 52 and 53: 52 CHAPTER 5 CHALLENGES AND OPPORTU
Page 54 and 55: nonprofit-owned lands, as well as f
Page 56 and 57: 56 CHAPTER 5 CHALLENGES AND OPPORTU
Page 58 and 59: © DAVID LIAM KYLE 58 CHAPTER 6 CON
Page 60 and 61: 60 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS AND SUMMAR
Page 62 and 63: 62 Thank you We Ashland County Park
Page 64: 64 Printed on recycled paper with s

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