Northside Greenspace Inc. is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization founded to identify, preserve, and restore natural areas in Northside and surrounding communities.
Northside is a neighborhood known for its diverse population, its
wonderful old houses, its hip shops and restaurants, and its civic
spirit. Many Northside organizations work together to maintain a
vibrant, safe, inclusive community.
We share information about the civic issues and environmental processes that impact natural areas. We lead field trips that provide community members with the opportunity to experience the beauty and complexity of nature. Our work projects provide hands-on learning experiences for community members and result in tangible improvements to our greenspaces. Our advocacy alerts public and private agencies and individuals to what they can do to conserve and improve our urban ecosystems.
Northside Greenspace Inc. works at maintaining a different kind of
community: the mature forests and natural areas that surround
Northside's urban core. These hillside greenspaces — Parker's Woods,
Buttercup Valley, and Badgely Run, all owned or managed by the
Cincinnati Park Board — represent some of the nicest preserves in the
city, and all are within walking distance of anywhere in Northside.
Natural communities, just like human communities, are healthy when they
are diverse — when they have many different kinds of native plants and
animals living in them. The diverse plants of a thriving natural
community form a solid base of food and shelter for the complex web of
life that represents a ecosystem: countless microorganisms, insects and
other invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians, birds, and mammals.
Most of our present activities are directed at removing invasive vegetation in Buttercup Valley Preserve and in Parker's Woods, and in planting native species propagated from local seed.
Most urban greenspaces have lost their diversity and no longer are home
to the native trees and wildflowers, butterflies, birds and other
beauties that we in Northside can enjoy any day we walk in our woods.
We are fortunate to have such high quality natural areas within our
borders, and other, larger greenspaces, such as Spring Grove Cemetery,
LaBoiteaux Woods, Mount Airy Forest, and Tanglewood-Felter Preserve,
just a little further away. There is also much unprotected greenspace
that should be preserved.
These nearby urban greenspaces are one of the most distinctive features
of Northside and are among our 
most valuable community assets. Not only
do greenspaces provide homes for native plants and animals, they
provide shelter and food for migrating birds and butterflies as they
pass through the Ohio Valley to their seasonal homes. In addition,
greenspaces make our air cleaner; in summer, they make it cooler. In
winter, they act as windbreaks. The forests block and absorb noise, and
slow and reduce the stormwater runoff that pollutes streams and causes
flooding.
Despite their value, our greenspaces are at risk. Public and private
pressure exists to use them unwisely for roads, buildings, parking lots
and landfills. Even our parks and nature preserves are threatened by
the invasion of weedy vegetation that reduces the diversity of native
trees and wildflowers and the animals that depend on them. The
preservation of our precious greenspace requires strong and continual
action by individuals as well as organizations such as Northside
Greenspace Inc.
You can help preserve and restore greenspace in and
around Northside by joining Northside Greenspace Inc. today and
participating in its activities. Just complete the membership application form and mail it in.