Trails will be temporarily closed between Red Lock Trailhead and Brandywine Creek from Monday, March 3, to Friday, May 2, 2025 for installation of a new Brandywine Creek culvert. No detour is available.
More
Many partners along the 100-mile Cuyahoga River are working toward its recovery. About a quarter, or 25 miles, of the river lies within Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Everything that happens upstream impacts the national park. What happens within the national park, impacts everything downstream. The Cuyahoga flows into Lake Erie at Cleveland. As a result, it is part of the world’s largest supply of surface freshwater: the Great Lakes. Water is vital to life. It connects us.
People have been trying to clean up the Cuyahoga since the early 1900s. This work has a special place in the history of the environmental movement, especially the fight for clean water. The most famous—or infamous—chapter was the 1969 fire. Now, we are writing new chapters as we heal our river, its wildlife, and its cities.
Click below to explore the national park's river renewal projects, as well as the history of how conditions have changed.
Once famous for being polluted and catching fire, the Cuyahoga River is making a comeback. Industries and cities discharge far fewer toxins into the river, and partners along the river, including Cuyahoga Valley National Park, are removing obsolete dams to improve oxygen levels and fish movement. People are enjoying the return of nesting bald eagles and other wildlife as well as new recreational opportunities along the Cuyahoga River Water Trail.
In 2007, something remarkable happened in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. A young bald eagle took flight from its nest along the Cuyahoga River. It was the first successful nest ever recorded in Cuyahoga Valley. Cuyahoga Valley National Park is part of the ongoing story of renewal for the Cuyahoga River and the wildlife that depends on it.
The Krejci Dump operated as a salvage yard and waste disposal facility from 1948 to 1980. At the time, dumps were largely unregulated. Toxic materials were buried in unlined pits and allowed to seep unchecked into the environment. Learn about the decades-long effort to investigate and clean up contamination at this site in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
They are back! The birds, bugs, and turtles are thriving. But this was not always the case. This is a story about transformations – of a toxic waste dump to a wild and species-rich ecosystem, and of a National Park Service (NPS) cleanup practice that ensures public lands are protected and restored when impacted by contamination, and that those responsible pay for the cleanup.
Sites:Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Just 50 years ago, the Cuyahoga River was heavily polluted and set ablaze. Ready to reclaim their waterway, a coalition of community members, organizations and the National Park Service collaborated to make the river a designated water trail and develop a structure to manage the waterway. Today, as Ohio's 13th water trail, the river is accessible to wildlife and recreationists while boosting economic development in surrounding communities.
Read and listen to experienced fisherman Steven Moss, who grew up fishing in Cuyahoga River. He talks about his youth growing up around Cuyahoga Valley and explains how the health of the Cuyahoga River has changed over the past few decades.
In honor of our 50th anniversary year in 2025, Cuyahoga Valley National Park is highlighting 50 key events that help define who and what we are. They showcase the many partners that have come together to preserve open space, create opportunities for recreation, clean up pollution, restore habitats, and save historic resources.
Sites:Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, Cuyahoga Valley National Park
The National Park Service (NPS) will plug, make safe, and mitigate impacted soil at three abandoned oil and gas wells at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. After removing and plugging wells, the NPS will regrade and revegetate the sites to restore natural conditions. The project will provide for visitor safety and restore natural conditions at sites impacted by oil and gas operations.
Sites:Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Grand Portage National Monument, Ice Age National Scenic Trail, Isle Royale National Park, Mississippi National River & Recreation Area, Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshoremore »
The National Park Service (NPS) will strengthen forest resilience in Midwestern parks.
Stanford Run has been modified over the years by agricultural activities, construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal, and regional development. The stream was cut off from the Cuyahoga River and a large wetland of invasive plants formed. As a result, Stanford Road regularly flooded. From winter 2019 to winter 2020, the US Army Corps of Engineers installed a larger culvert under the Towpath Trail and excavated a new meandering stream channel. Volunteers planted about 1,000 native trees. Construction has been completed, but habitat restoration continues.
Within increasingly intense and more frequent rainstorms in Ohio, our human and natural communities have struggled with the effects of flooding. To ease this burden, the National Park Service and the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park are conducting large-scale habitat restoration of the Wetmore area and installing green stormwater infrastructure. When completed, the Wetmore project will reduce stormwater runoff by an estimated 580,000 gallons per year (US Environmental Protection Agency, National Stormwater Calculator).
