CASE STATEMENT FOR A

Central Visitor Centerin Cuyahoga Valley National ParkSeptember 2013

CASE STATEMENT FOR A

Central Visitor Centerin Cuyahoga Valley National ParkSeptember 2013

LAKE ERIE

CLEVELAND

AKRON

MASSILLON CANTON

BOLIVAR/ZOAR

NEW PHILADELPHIA

CUYAHOGA VALLEYNATIONAL PARK

Ohio & Erie Canalway

Towpath Trail

Scenic Byway

Scenic Railroad

With 2.3 million visitors last year,

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

is one of the Top 10 most visited

national parks. But, it is missing

a key element that visitors

expect, seek out, and need at

major national parks —

a full-service visitor center.

More than 180 years ago, the State of Ohio canal boat made its maiden trip

down the brand-new Ohio & Erie Canal, traveling 38 miles from Akron to Cleveland through 41 locks and opening Ohio, the nation’s First Frontier, to new markets, new opportunities, and an improved quality of life.

Today this green 33,000 acre oasis along the resurgent Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland, now Cuyahoga Valley National Park, is a gateway to Ohio for a growing influx of visitors from around the nation and world.

They come to see Ohio’s only national park. They tour the historic Ohio & Erie Canalway, experience the iconic Towpath Trail, ride the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and enjoy the park’s natural beauty and its superb recreational and cultural assets, so close to urban centers.

Our national park will soon mark its 40th anniversary. Over that time it has drawn 72 million visitors. One of the Top 10 most visited national parks—with 2.3 million visitors last year—it is missing one piece of essential infrastructure that supports a visit to a major national park: a full-service visitor center.

The Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the park’s nonprofit partner, has a unique opportunity to purchase a property that will provide the ideal park visitor center. It will orient out-of-town visitors to both the national park and tourism assets of the region and will likewise be an enormously valuable resource to northeast Ohio residents—especially urban audiences, many of whom have yet to learn about and reap the value of a national park in their own locale.

We are asking for the support of major Cleveland and Akron foundations in helping to fund this critically important and missing component of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. With a full-service visitor center our national park will be positioned to further build our region’s reputation as a desirable travel destination and a desirable place to live. Capitalizing on the tremendous level of effort and financial resources that have shaped our national park over the last 40 years, the time is now to make this investment for the future.

Support the Conservancy in rehabilitating this historic Village of Boston building into the first centralized, full service visitor center for the 2.3 million annual visitors to Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Laying the Groundwork

In April of 2011 the Conservancy acquired an option to purchase the beautiful historic property now known as Zielenski Court, located in the Village of Boston. This property is ideally suited

for development as a national park visitor center. This purchase option must be exercised by 2016, which is also the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service (NPS).

To take advantage of this opportunity, the Conservancy must raise $6 million to purchase, adaptively rehabilitate, and outfit the building and site with information services, exhibits, and related improvements. The Conservancy will transfer ownership of the property to the National

Park Service, whose mission of stewardship and expertise in educating and engaging visitors has nurtured Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s burgeoning popularity. The NPS will be responsible for the on-going operation and maintenance of this property.

The Conservancy, which has a philanthropic mission to strengthen and provide support for the park, can assist the NPS by raising the funds to acquire and develop this much-needed asset at a time when federal budget realities make it impossible for the National Park Service to undertake this project on its own, now or in the foreseeable future.

Long discussed, the need to create a centrally located full-service visitor center was confirmed in a 2009 consultant study. In 2012, the project was brought before the National Park

Service Development Advisory Board, which gave formal permission to proceed with the project, contingent upon successful fundraising. In February 2013 the NPS signed a formal Memorandum of Intent with the Conservancy, authorizing the Conservancy to proceed with fundraising.

Your support for the Conservancy’s purchase and development of this property will provide the national park and Northeast Ohio with a welcoming gateway. It will guide visitors through the park and to attractions nearby in Cleveland, Akron, and points beyond in northeast Ohio. Just as the Ohio & Erie Canal once opened our area for trade and economic growth, a state-of-the-art national park visitor center will serve as a high-volume entry portal for contemporary regional tourism.

Since its inception as an NPS unit in

1974, our national park has benefited

from almost $200 million of federal

capital investment. Now $6 million

in area foundation support is needed

for this project to leverage the park’s

impact on our region and reap

economic benefits for generations to

come. It is a modest investment that

will yield big results.

Visitor Growth

Kerry Muhl is a seasonal national park ranger who introduces the park to riders on its popular scenic railroad, one of the nation’s busiest excursion railways for the past five years. In 2007,

she left the park to move to South Carolina with her husband, a teacher. When they returned in 2010 and she resumed her job, she was immediately struck by a large increase in visitors from other states and countries. She sees a lot of them on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, which carried 210,000 riders through the national park last year.

Many out-of-the-region visitors find out about the park through the internet, newspaper or magazine articles, she has found. Some come just because it’s a national park, including visitors seeking a “passport” stamp signifying they have visited Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

“We call them collectors – they want to collect the stamps and see all the national parks.”

The visitor from New Hampshire, puzzled by what to do in the park and driving to a conference in Dayton, stopped by the park because he is a collector. So far, he has visited about half of America’s 59 national parks.

He knew there should be a visitor center at Cuyahoga Valley, since he finds them at other national parks, but not finding one here, he and his wife went to the Conservancy’s Trail Mix store in Peninsula. There sales clerk Becky Ramnytz took them to a table, spread out a map of the park, and circled sites that they could see in one afternoon – waterfalls, a boardwalk over a beaver marsh, and walks along the Towpath Trail that follows the historic Ohio & Erie Canal.

For 22 miles the Cuyahoga River twists and turns and lives up to the name that Native Americans gave it—Ka-ih-ogh-ha, or crooked river—through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This year, 2.3 million people visited the park bearing the river’s name, some from as far as Russia, Australia, and China, along with stateside visitors from as far as California, Alabama and Connecticut. They came into the park by car, camper and RV, school bus and tour bus, and toured it by scenic railroad, bicycle, or on foot.

Regularly among the top 10 most-visited of the 59 national parks in America, Cuyahoga Valley National Park lacks a full-service visitor center, a critical service for out-of-state and local visitors alike. Given its close proximity to Cleveland and Akron, the park offers its visitors many rich choices for visiting attractions both inside and beyond its boundaries.

A full-service visitor center is vital to helping visitors both understand and use the park, and sort out their itineraries by illustrating the possibilities for visiting restaurants, retail shops, and regional tourist attractions. Visitors now making brief visits to the national park may well extend their visit to multiple days or make plans to come back another time.

As one recent visitor from New Hampshire described it, Cuyahoga Valley National Park presents a multitude of opportunities to enjoy in its long stretch of 33,000 acres, but to a newcomer, it can seem to have as many twists and turns as the crooked river.

“It’s not built like any other national park I’ve been to,” he said, pointing to a map showing its long footprint along the river. He and his wife had the same question that many first-timers ask, “What can we do here?”

The full-service visitor center now in the Conservancy’s sights will answer that question. It will fulfill the park’s vision to be a destination park for visitors from nearby and all 50 states, and achieve its goal of making good visitor experiences the park’s No. 1 priority.

She had also helped visitors that same weekday from Kentucky, California, and Texas. A native of Akron who once lived in Los Angeles, she is particularly pleased to introduce the park to visitors from California.

Once they see the park, “They always say how beautiful it is here. They’re awed by it and they wish they had one so close by to where they live,” she says.

Cuyahoga Valley had 2.3 million recreational visitors in 2012, up 6.4 percent from the previous year (compared with a 1.4 percent increase in visitors at all national park units). While a detailed survey of where visitors come from has not been done since 2005, the observations of rangers and volunteers indicate a steady surge of visitors from outside the region and all 50 states.

On July 4, 2013, in the rainy mid-afternoon, the parking lot most central in the park, at the Boston Store, was packed with cars bearing out-of-state license plates—from Michigan, New York, Tennessee, Indiana, Maryland, California, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. At the northern end of the park at Rockside Road, a volunteer on bike patrol through the parking lot spotted cars from Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, New York, Kentucky, Utah, and North Carolina.

Three days earlier, a volunteer wildlife watcher made contact with 46 park visitors in four hours, including 19 from out of state. A few days later, the same volunteer encountered 34 visitors from out of the area, a third of his total contacts, including one from Germany and four from Spain.

In the year 2000, Cuyahoga Valley National

Recreation Area was, by act of congress, renamed Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This was pivotal for the visitor upsurge, says Mary Pat Doorley, public affairs officer for the national park, who daily answers questions about our park from media from around the country.

“What a huge difference for our park,” shared Doorley. “In the past, the name recreation area didn’t draw visitors—who wants to visit an “area”? But now with the name Cuyahoga Valley National Park, we are on the map!”

Becoming a national park put Cuyahoga Valley on the “bucket list” for tourists on a mission to visit all 59 national parks and for groups such as the National Park Travelers Club, which annually holds its convention in a national park. Being included on the Top 10 national parks list of National Geographic Magazine, as well as other Top 10 lists, has publicized the park to out-of-state and international visitors.

In 1995, less than 1 percent of visitors came from out-of-state. By the 2005 survey, that had grown to 9 percent. The best estimates by park rangers and visitor services specialists are that since then, the out-of-region audience has grown to at least 15 percent, calling for new visitor services and more orientation. They expect that figure will continue to grow to 20 percent, making Cuyahoga Valley National Park a major portal for tourism in the northeast Ohio region.

To capitalize on this, the park needs a way to efficiently orient visitors to the national park and to show them what else they can do in northeast Ohio. The 2005 survey found that visitors who did not find what they were seeking wanted maps, trail locations, event schedules, information about visitor services, and directions—information that would be readily available at a full-service visitor center.

Recently a retired German couple, Peter and Brigitte Blatt, found the park by chance while driving through Akron on their way to Niagara Falls. They followed a brown tourism highway sign and located a spot in the park where they could enjoy a picnic lunch, parking their camper, with its distinctive Deutschland license plates, in a shady spot. A few days later, another couple, from Kansas, also chanced to stop by the park. Looking for but not finding a visitor center, they corralled a volunteer, instead.

“They had read about the Beaver Marsh (a popular park attraction) on the Internet but didn’t know where it was,” he reported.

Visitors from around the country – and around the world – are easy to find these days in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Harder to find, for them, is guidance on what our area offers. With it, they could add to their itinerary nearby sites such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the fine variety of University Circle museums, the Akron Art Museum, Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, attractions all along the Ohio & Erie Canalway, and so much more. Out-of-town visitors by the thousands are already here, drawn in through the portal of the national park, and they want information on what our region has to offer that could enrich their visit.

proj.proj.Visitors from out-of-state have increased from 1% to 15% of total visitors

App

le is

a re

giste

red

trade

mar

k.

1995 2005 2013 2020

A One-Time OpportunityTo meet the needs of these new visitors, the Conservancy has a time-limited option, expiring

in spring 2016, to buy property right in the middle of the national park in the Village of Boston. Now called Zielenski Court (it was once Zielenski’s store, when Boston Mills was a mill and manufacturing area), the property includes a double-chimney clapboard two-story structure, suitable for conversion to a visitor center, and two smaller historic buildings that could be used for 24-hour restrooms and/or administrative offices, and perhaps auditorium space.

When the property became available, “We knew immediately it was the perfect facility,” says Jennie Vasarhelyi, Chief of Interpretation, Education and Visitor Services at the park.

The plan, recommended in a 2009 consultant’s report, would move the Boston Mill railroad station, now just across Boston Mills Road, to a spot nearly in front of the Zielenski property, which would be named either the Boston Mills Visitor Center or Cuyahoga Valley National Park Visitor Center.

The new visitor center would face Riverview Road, the major north-south park artery and itself officially designated as a scenic America’s Byway. It is ideal in other ways, as well:

• The site is close to exits from I-271, I-80, and State Route 8.

• It is in the Boston Mills National Historic District and is in the heart of the congressionally authorized Ohio & Erie Canalway, which connects it to Cleveland in the north and south through Akron and Stark County to New Philadelphia in Tuscarawas County.

• The main structure, built in 1905 as a commercial store, is an historic building that would require minimal structural changes. It could readily accommodate a traditional information desk as well as exhibits relying heavily on electronic media and mobile apps.

• Renovating an existing structure rather than building new is an environmentally sustainable best practice. LEED certification would be sought on the project.

• Having its visitor center located at a stop on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad (one of nine in the national park) supports the national park’s goal of having visitors use the train as transportation, rather than driving to park destinations. Currently extending into downtown Akron (and proposed into downtown Cleveland), rail service connections from the proposed visitor center to our nearby urban centers are ideal.

Auditorium& 24-hourRestrooms

CVSR Tracks

WelcomePlaza

RIVERVIEWROAD

BOSTONMILLSROAD

Site PlanN

CUYAHOGARIVER

TO THETOWPATH

VisitorCenter

RelocatedBoston Mill

RailStation

OfficeSupport

NewParking Lot & Bus Drop-Off

CURRENTBOSTON MILLRAIL STATION

The visitor center would orient newcomers to the region with the personal attention of an expert guide. “Through a conversation they can help tease out the best choices for that person. It’s welcoming,” says Ranger Vasarhelyi.

Outdoor services and exhibits also are envisioned. These would include a self-guided, one-mile interpretive trail providing an overview of the park’s themes, as well as information kiosks that can guide after-hours visitors. Information on train schedules, camping, bike rentals, restaurants, accommodations and other visitor services in and near the national park would be readily accessible, as would information on regional tourism destinations.

With separate funding the National Park Service will provide a parking lot for 54 cars, plus overflow parking for up to 180 cars and a turnaround driveway near the visitor center entrance for buses. The existing CVSR Boston Mill station will be moved by the NPS south to a location near the front of the visitor center. Additional bus and RV parking will be provided nearby. A new pedestrian bridge over the Cuyahoga River more directly linking the visitor center site to the Towpath may be contemplated in the future.

Cost Estimates: Acquisition, Design, Construction

Buildings $ 2,518,382

Utilities $ 171,969

Welcome Plaza $ 163,780

Exhibits and Electronic Media $ 1,492,243

Auditorium $ 42,957 TOTAL $ 4,389,331

10% Project Contingency $ 438,933

Acquisition of Property $ 675,000

10% Fundraising and Administrative Costs $ 550,326

TOTAL $ 6,053,590

By attracting ever-growing numbers of out-of-state and international visitors, the national park has developed an audience that also seeks restaurants, overnight accommodations, shops, and

other retail services. Peninsula, a historic village in the geographic center of the park just two miles south of Boston, is home to two restaurants and several shops that serve park visitors. A bicycle shop on its main street has so many international visitors, it devotes part of its ceiling to a map of the world marked with colored dots showing where customers came from. Dots cover the map.

Visitor spending derived from Cuyahoga Valley National Park ranged from $56 million to $63 million each year (figured in 2011 dollars) from 2005 to 2010, according to a study by Headwaters Economics for the National Park Service. The park also supported 800 to 1,000 local jobs each year during that period.

Within its boundaries the national park hosts several major visitor attractions and facilities operated by other institutions, including Blossom Music Center, Hale Farm and Village, Boston Mills and Brandywine Ski Resorts, Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps, units of Cleveland and Summit metro parks, and two private golf courses. The park is also the home of 11 working farms owned by NPS but farmed by individuals that sell their products at farmers’ markets in Akron and at Howe Meadow, through an NPS partner, the Countryside

Conservancy. These farms are on the cutting-edge of the sustainable farming movement, and are increasingly becoming visitor destinations for both farm products and experiences for residents of the Cleveland/Akron metropolitan region.

But the impact of the national park on the region is even broader. Located midway between Akron and Cleveland, Cuyahoga Valley National Park offers recreational and lifestyle benefits that promote the region’s desirability as a place to work and live.

As a commentator in a recent issue of National Parks Traveler magazine wrote, “When national

monuments or national parks are created, they often act like magnets for both those who make

their livelihoods in those settings and those who want to live nearby for the quality-of-life benefits

that come with those places. After all, if you like to backpack, climb, or fish, wouldn’t you prefer to

live next door to a 100,000+acre landscape chock-full of such opportunities rather than drive a few

hours to reach them? And if you’re a business owner, such settings could help you lure top-notch

workers.”

Over nearly 40 years, Cuyahoga Valley National Park has attracted 72 million visitors. With your funding support through the Conservancy, the national park can capitalize on its potential as a destination for visitors from out of the area and a place where local residents can plan and organize repeat visits. A visitor center, the standard home base of other major national parks on the Top 10 list, would maximize the visitor experience at Cuyahoga Valley National Park and increase the park’s economic benefits to our region.

The foresight and persistence of citizens who worked to set aside 33,000 acres of natural beauty between two cities resulted in a truly national park, one that attracts people from our local communities, from Ohio, the U.S., and around the world. A full-service visitor center will make it more accessible and welcoming, and will inform people of the Cuyahoga Valley’s beauty, history, and opportunities for unique experiences in and beyond our beautiful national park.

“I think it’s really important because this park is a complex place. I like knowing we would have

a place to direct people to where they can get a proper park overview and where we can help them

explore and find their interests,” says Ranger Vasarhelyi.

In the 1820s, Ohio was one of the nation’s poorest states, bereft of the benefits of the nation’s

economic activity. The Ohio & Erie Canal changed that, opening the region to new people,

activities, commerce and ideas. The canal’s national park home, Cuyahoga Valley National

Park, is poised to again provide a portal to the quality of life and attractiveness of

Northeast Ohio. A full-service visitor center is the critical missing piece that can fulfill

that need.

$56-63 millionyearly visitor spending

800-1000 jobssupported locally each year

Like the Towpath that runs through it, our new visitor center will illuminate the park and region for multitudes of local residents and out-of-region visitors alike, offering a path and direction along the crooked river for decades to come.

This publication was printed at no cost toConservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Design: Christopher Hixson

Image credits (page): Ted Toth (front cover, 4, 5, 6, 9a, 11a, 11d, 11e, 14, 15, 16a, 16c, 18),

Goodyear Blimp Photographer (8), Rod Flauhaus (9b), Conservancy for CVNP (11b, 11c, 17a),

Courtesy Ray Hall (12), Google Earth (13), Bruce Winges (16b), DA Longfellow (17b)

©2013 Conservancy for CVNP

Conservancy for CVNP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

Some opportunities come along once.

Administrative Office

1403 West Hines Hill Road

Peninsula, Ohio 44264

330.657.2909

www.conservancyforcvnp.org