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TO ENJOY NATURE.

dontezDontez Taylor's love of the
outdoors was born in the inner city.Dontez, 16, of Medina, joined a Boy Scout troop when he was living in Cleveland's St. Clair Avenue neighborhood. The first time he went on a campout, he was hooked.


"I never had s'mores before, I'd never been around a campfire and I had never slept in a tent. I found out I liked it," he said.


Today, Dontez, a sophomore at Medina High School, is an avid camper who enjoys spending time outdoors. While he is a good athlete – Dontez is a long jumper in track, a third baseman in baseball and a small forward in basketball – he is just as much at home in nature.


"I love the smell of the campfire. The bugs, not so much," he said with a laugh. Dontez was happy to learn the Land Conservancy, Medina Township and the Medina County Park District had preserved a 20-acre tract on Weymouth Road (state Route 3) for a new county park. The land is just across the street from Blakslee Park, where Dontez plays summer baseball. "That's awesome, it really is," he said. "I just think going to a park or being outside is better than staying inside at home, playing (video) games and doing the same old things."

pie chart acres protected

Creating a network of preserved land

The Land Conservancy's service region extends from Sandusky Bay to the Pennsylvania border, and from Cleveland's lakefront to the farms of Wayne County.

 

In fiscal year 2009 alone, the Land Conservancy preserved property in seven of the 14 counties in its service region and protected land in Ashland County, a special project area. Nine of the 20 projects we completed in FY2009 involved public land; those public-land projects represented 66 percent of the total acreage preserved during the year.

 

The number of counties in which the Land Conservancy has preserved property is a reflection of our regional goal of protecting 400,000 acres throughout northern Ohio.