Big Creek Connects

12/01/2025

https://www.cleveland.com/community/2025/11/gm-parma-metal-center-awards-community-impact-grants-towards-steam-growth.html

GM Parma Metal Center drives local STEAM growth with a $75,000 community impact grant to local nonprofits. 

11/10/2025

Truly a cause for celebration, ArtHouse!
(Reader, pls note that it's "Adam *Stalder*" and "Brinsley *Tyrrell*".)
BCC was pleased and proud to play a role.

For now, the Creative Garden is both a finish line and a beginning, a place where art, ecology, and community take root together.

09/14/2025

https://ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/odnr/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/about-ODNR/news/national-public-lands-day-2025

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) is inviting volunteers to roll up their sleeves and lend a hand at nine Ohio state parks to celebrate National Public Lands Day (NPLD).

09/03/2025

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/09/no-more-sewage-at-edgewater-beach-sewer-district-pitches-big-fix.html

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District plans to stop raw sewage from being discharged at Edgewater Beach in Cleveland.

08/14/2025

Canalway Partners is sadden to share the death of Tim Donovan, who served as Canalway Partners’ first executive director from 1990 until his retirement in 2020. Tim dedicated more than three decades to the development of the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area and the extension of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail through Cuyahoga County. He cited his proudest moments to be the successful passage of legislation in Congress that recognized the Ohio & Erie Canalway as a National Heritage Area and the completion of the Towpath Trail in Cuyahoga County. Donovan died August 13 in Cleveland.

His vision, expertise, tenacity, and ability to collaborate paved the way for a trail system that has forever improved the quality of life in northeast Ohio. The Towpath Trail will stand for decades to come as the proof of his leadership and dedication to Cleveland.

Donovan started many programs that continue to connect people to historic stories and places. Through 2025, Donovan stayed actively involved with Canalway via his participation in the planning committee for Cleveland History Days, an event he founded in 2018.

Donovan founded RiverSweep in 1989, the largest one-day litter cleanup in Ohio and still one of Canalway’s most impactful events. In its 36 years, RiverSweep has cleaned up more than 1.55 million pounds of trash, transformed more than 400 acres of land into public parks and trails, and engaged more than 23,000 volunteers.

Together with longtime colleague and friend Tom Yablonsky, Donovan co-founded Take a Hike in 2009, a program of Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corporation that guides people through Cleveland’s vibrant neighborhoods, cultural sites, and legacy architecture.

In 2019, Tim Donovan was named Community Leader of the Year by Cleveland Magazine. He was a lifelong Clevelander and an alumnus of Cleveland State University and of Saint Ignatius High School.

Canalway is forever grateful for Tim Donovan for his commitment, his grit, and his vision. He will be missed.

07/28/2025

https://ohiohouse.gov/members/sean-p-brennan/news/rep-brennan-introduces-legislation-to-recognize-cleveland-metroparks-as-ohios-emerald-necklace-136025

COLUMBUS - State Rep. Sean Patrick Brennan (D-Parma) has introduced legislation to formally recognize Cleveland Metroparks as “Ohio's Emerald Necklace” in state law, celebrating more than a century of conservation, education, outdoor recreation, and publ...

01/08/2025

https://www.cleveland.com/community/2025/01/greener-pastures-await-as-big-creek-connects-merges-with-west-creek-conservancy.html

After nearly two decades of serving Brooklyn, Parma and Cleveland, Big Creek Connects merges with West Creek Conservancy.

01/03/2025

See our BIG NEWS (and other things we've been up to)!

Big Creek Connects is proud to have accomplished much towards our stated mission since our founding nearly 20 years ago. During that time, we have also been receptive of ways to more effectively increase our capacity to develop and implement projects related to our vision.

11/14/2024

Big Creek Connects recently received a $15,000 grant from General Motors Parma Metal Center to support our Cleveland Area Schools Stream Monitoring Program.

This is the 12th year we’ve received a grant as part of GM’s Community Impact Grants Program.

We look forward to continuing to strengthen the greater Cleveland region by introducing local students to watershed stewardship and the application of science, technology and engineering with professionals during on-site stream monitoring events.

Supporting the growth of our community is core to who we are. We are grateful for our collaboration with the local GM team and our shared commitment to this area.

11/13/2024

Roughly a decade has passed since the Big Creek/I-71 relocation and restoration initiative was completed.

10/10/2024

Nice article by John Benson on our program with Lakewood and Berea students.

When Big Creek Connects isn’t hosting cleanup events, the nonprofit can be found edifying the public about local urban watersheds.

09/26/2024

Near the confluence of Big Creek with the Cuyahoga.

In the early 1940s, Harshaw Chemical started producing uranium compounds for the development of the first atomic bomb.