Congress Approves Funding For Cuyahoga Valley National Park

The Trust For Public Land (TPL), a national conservation organization, today praised members of the Ohio congressional delegation for working to secure $4 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The funding was included in the FY 2010 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which sets spending priorities for natural resource programs for the next fiscal year.

Thanks to the efforts of U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich (a senior member of the Appropriations Committtee that directed funding to Blossom) and Blossom area Congresswoman Betty Sutton, Appropriations Committee member Tim Ryan, and Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member Steve LaTourette, 630 acres of forested land are a step closer to being preserved as part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park for the public.

“We could not be more grateful for this remarkable victory by the Ohio delegation,” said Bill Carroll, Ohio State Director of the nonprofit The Trust for Public Land, which is assisting in the protection effort. “Working together, they brought back to Blossom one of the bill’s largest conservation appropriations in the entire country, clearing the way for protection of this special part of one of America’s most visited national parks.”

TPL, has worked out an agreement with the Musical Arts Association (MAA) who owns the land to protect it as part of the park. The MAA will retain approximately 197 acres containing the Blossom Music Center, to continue providing vital cultural programs for the community.

The Blossom property is a crucial acquisition because of its location in a densely populated corridor, its natural and scenic resource significance, and the likelihood of significant development if not permanently conserved. The property’s mature forests are integral to a 1,200-acre block of unfragmented forest in the park. Only a few similar areas exist within park boundaries and large-block forests and the natural communities that rely upon them are rapidly disappearing across Northeast Ohio.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national, nonprofit land-conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, and other natural places, ensuring livable communities for generations to come. Established in 1972, TPL is the only national nonprofit working exclusively to protect land for public enjoyment and use. TPL depends on contributions from supporters to continue protecting land throughout the state.