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Davey Resource Group
September 2015
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
The Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve
(CLNP) is an 88-acre site located on the Lake
Erie shore, just east of the Burke Lakefront
Airport and downtown Cleveland. The site is
near Bratenahl in Cuyahoga County, Ohio and
is managed by the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County
Port Authority. Home to a variety of plant and
wildlife species, CLNP (formerly known as Dike
14) is accessible through public trails.
Left to naturalize on its own since filling
operations at the former confined disposal
facility ceased in 1999, CLNP has flourished,
with large areas of the peninsula dominated
by tree and shrub cover that have naturally
established. While much of the vegetation at
CLNP is healthy, native naturalized growth, the
nature of the site and the dredge materials used
to form it have also allowed for growth of many
non-native, invasive plant species.
As part of an ongoing commitment to provide
the public with improved lakefront access
and support environmental initiatives, the
Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority
assembled a committee of experts from local
parks, conservation districts, and surrounding
community organizations to collaborate and
develop a long-term land management plan that
aligns with the vison and goals for the preserve.
The committee members and their affiliations are
listed in Table 1 below.
This management plan has been developed to
provide guidance and an overall vision for CLNP.
The goal of the Port Authority is to enhance CLNP,
create a wildlife sanctuary that local residents
and visitors of the Cleveland area can enjoy, and
protect the area from loss of wildlife and plant
diversity by actively managing the preserve for
healthy native habitat.
In order to develop this plan, a field-based
vegetation survey was performed by Davey
Resource Group biologists. In this survey,
approximately 50 acres were noted as having
some level of infestation of non-native, invasive
vegetation. The study area contains upland
open fields, shrub thickets, and successional
woods. Maps showing the location and size of
the primary invasive vegetation populations and
their associated percent cover can be found in
Appendices A and B.
MEMBER NAME MEMBER AFFILIATION
Jim Bissell Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Renee Boronka Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Sarah Cech Nature Center at Shaker Lakes
Claudia Fulton Garden Club of Cleveland
Susan Gallager The Ohio Lepidopterists Society
David Goerig Davey Resource Group
Tim Krynak Cleveland Metroparks
Corine Peugh Davey Resource Group
Renata Brown Cleveland Botanical Garden
Jan Rybka Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District
Linda Sternheimer Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority
Harvey Webster Cleveland Museum of Natural History
TABLE 1
Cleveland Lakefront Preserve
Advisory Committee Members
