• Image of bluebells in the spring

    Cuyahoga Valley

    National Park Ohio

There are park alerts in effect.
show Alerts »

  • Canal Visitor Center Closure

    Canal Visitor Center will be closed for construction, starting Monday, May 6, 2013. It will reopen with new exhibits in early 2014.

  • Riverview Road Closure

    Riverview Rd from the Cuyahoga Falls line north to the Peninsula line will be re-paved, beginning the week of April 22. Expect delays. Flaggers will direct traffic. Final resurfacing and striping will take place following the Memorial Day holiday.

  • Bald Eagle Closure in Effect

    RR tracks, and 30 foot right of way on either side, are closed to all foot traffic from the Rt. 82 Bridge at Station Rd, north to the RR tracks at. The Cuyahoga R. downstream of the Brecksville Dam to the Fitzwater Rd Bridge is closed to water activities.

Inventory & Monitoring

Identifying species

Scientists identify species in the laboratory

NPS TED TOTH

Science in the Park
Inventory and monitoring (I&M) builds a strong scientific foundation for the management and protection of natural resources in national park areas.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) is a member of the Heartland I&M Network, fifteen parks in the Midwest sharing resources and professional expertise to inventory and monitor natural resources.

The Inventory provides a snapshot of the natural resources in a park. Monitoring tracks the health of the natural resources across time. Effective monitoring programs alert park managers about changes—both positive and negative—in a timely way so that they can make informed decisions to protect the resources.

At Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the largest inventory and monitoring project focuses on wetlands. Wetlands are a significant part of the park's natural environment. Nearly 1,500 individual wetlands cover over 1,900 acres within the park. Many of the wetlands are smaller than one acre. However, about 40 are larger than ten acres. All of these occur in the Cuyahoga River floodplain.

Inventory & Monitoring Reports and Data
Reports and data are found on the NPS Inventory and Monitoring website.

 
Citizen Scientist colleting butterflies

Citizen Scientist collecting butterflies at Terra vista

NPS TED TOTH

Citizen Scientists at Work
Volunteer citizen-scientists help survey and monitor different species in the park. The data they collect is reviewed by National Park Service scientists and added to the I&M databases. Click here to find out more about volunteering in the park.

Did You Know?

Historic photo of canal boats along the Ohio & Erie Canal.

The Ohio & Erie Canal, which runs through Cuyahoga Valley National Park, was a 308-mile waterway connecting Lake Erie to the Ohio River. This transportation route, which influenced local and national prosperity, was dug entirely by hand by mostly German and Irish immigrants.