About Us

Northside Greenspace, Inc.: Bringing Nature Home

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.

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 — Parkers 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 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.

Who We Are Northside Greenspace Inc. is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization founded to identify, preserve, and restore natural areas in Northside and surrounding communities.

What We Do 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.

Our Current Focus Most of our present activities are directed at removing invasive vegetation in Buttercup Valley Nature Preserve and in Parkers Woods, and in planting native species propagated from local seed.

How You Can Help 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 form under the "Join us" menu and mail it in. .