At a Glance
This site provides critical habitat for tens of thousands of migratory birds each year during seasonal migrations from breeding grounds in Canada and wintering as far south as Mexico, Central America and South America.
Project Description
Projecting into Lake Erie, East of downtown Cleveland, is an amazing eighty-eight acre landscape. Contained behind hundreds of linear feet of sheet piling and covered with over twenty-five feet of deep dredge spoils, is an important natural habitat refuge. The site is particularly important for migratory birds, as it is located at a critical resting and feeding point at the convergence of three major flyways.
Biohabitats developed a master plan by first addressing issues for protecting and regenerating the site’s ecological processes through selective invasive species removal, woodland planting enhancements, wetlands creation, and meadow management. Biohabitats gave special attention to developing the site’s habitat diversity for not only birds but also mammals, amphibians, and insects. Biohabitats then incorporated a series of public access paths and education opportunities. All efforts were directed toward fulfilling Cleveland’s Lakefront Development Plan.
The master plan included a bold proposal for reconstructing a portion of currently culverted and buried Doan Brook, an act which returns a historical waterway to the public and provides additional habitat opportunities.