West Creek Preservation Committee

“Dorothy hazel irvin hazel family member”

“Prior to filing, the form 990 is presented to the finance committee, finance staff, and the executive director for review and approval, after which it is distributed to the board prior to filing with the irs. A board officer signs the 990.”

“Each year, the board members are asked to review the organization's conflict of interest policy, among other things, the policy makes it clear that all decisions of the board officers and employees of the organization are made solely on the basis of a desire to promote the best interest of the organization and the public good. The conflict of interest statement requests board members to identify to the best of their knowledge affiliations with organizations that may be potentially related to the financial or other substantive operations of the organization. They are also asked to identify circumstances involving either themselves, or a member of their extended family, that may be construed as a conflict of interest at the staff level, the organization's personnel also ensure that there are no conflicts of interest when considering the engagement of a new vendor. If a potential conflict is identified, appropriate steps are taken to both assess the nature of the potential conflict and, subsequently, to ensure that the possibility of an actual conflict is mitigated. Such mitigation is managed and the letter and spirit of the conflicts policy are upheld.”

“The executive committee annually evaluates the performance of the executive director. Compensation is based on performance and compared to other area mission-comparable organizations of similar size. This compensation is a component of the budget, which is reviewed and approved by the board as a whole.”

“The organization's governing documents, form 990, conflicts of interest policy, and financial statements are made available to the public upon request. The form 990 can also be found on several publically-accessible websites.”

“Our mission is to enrich the lives of people in greater cleveland by conserving natural habitats, restoring the ecological value and sustainability of urban lands, and expanding neighborhood opportunities to experience nature.”

“Volunteerism numbered approximately 420 participants for 2015. Such participants put in thousands of hours of work, whether at clean-ups, plantings, tours, hikes, field days, or at henninger house workdays spent painting, landscaping, or building trails. Not only do these generous volunteers help west creek conservancy forward its mission throughout greater cleveland, but we also hope that the skills and knowledge they gain while working with us can be replicated at their home or workplace. Volunteers and members are our best spokespeople, and with them taking home what they learned or saw with us, and broadcasting it to the larger community, we can initiate socio-environmental change in a greater populace.”

“Approach to water quality improvement (the houses slated for dismantling and demolition in 2016). In an effort to connect people to the reservation, wcc completed an 8-year acquisition at the end of parkhaven dr., which finally provided an east-side access point to the park (a trail has already been established giving thousands of residents access to the 16th cleveland metroparks' gem in their emerald necklace). This property is being integrated into the park in 2016, via a lease amendment. Through wcc's efforts to assist other watershed groups, the organization partnered with rocky river watershed council and the cuyahoga county soil and water conservation district to protect a 20-acre property, with nearly a mile of un-impacted stream channel, along baldwin creek, one of the most distressed watersheds of the rocky river watershed. These combined acquisitions totaled over 750,000 (a combination of local, private, and state funding). Within the tinker's creek watershed, wcc coordinated the acquisition and reclamation of a 4-acre property along bear creek, a major tributary to tinker's creek, in the city of bedford. In partnership with the city, a private donor, and the county land bank, west creek conservancy also successfully removed 4 structures (3 homes and 1 large garage) from the floodplain and riparian area; again an initiative to not only protect stream corridors, but to also reclaim land that was un-sustainably developed. Wcc now owns and stewards the land as a natural greenspace. During the implementation of the above, wcc was able to successfully negotiate the preservation of over 270 acres of urban greenspace, and procure such funding through state and private funds (with implementation/closing set for 2016). Such initiatives will put west creek reservation over the 400-acre mark, expand village of valley view park by over 100 acres, and add 26 acres (and nearly a mile of stream) to one of the nation's most visited parks, the cuyahoga valley national park; an acquisition initiative totaling over 5m in local, private, and state support, leveraged by west creek conservancy. 2015 was also a year that included facilitation of the mill creek watershed partnership, an association of stakeholders within the watershed that have the common purpose of restoring and enhancing mill creek for public benefit and enjoyment. Wcc was able to effectively leverage funding to support a watershed coordinator, a large scale stream restoration and reforestry project in the headwaters, as well as planning/engineering funds for a series of significant restoration projects. Numerous community events were held in the watershed in partnership with mill creek member communities, inclusive of plantings, clean-ups, hikes, tours, and action-oriented workshops and field days, that integrated local schools and community groups. West creek conservancy also takes great pride in managing and stewarding its lands. Throughout 2015, the west creek confluence (a previously complete large scale restoration project), was the site of another large phase of planting, adding over 1,400 trees and shrubs. Within the rocky river watershed, wcc added another phase of planting to another previously completed 2014 project, ensuring vegetation was being established. Strategic invasive specie control was maintained at all wcc-protected properties as well, ensuring that biodiversity was maintained. Also, to assist the organization, wcc created a small native plant nursery at one of its conservation sites, in order to provide plant material to be utilized throughout wcc's projects and lands. Volunteerism and community engagement remained high for the year as well, with hundreds of volunteers pitching in thousands of hours towards plantings, invasive control, clean-ups, henninger house landscaping, property surveys and so much more.”

“Special event expense 30,130 special event expense -30,130”