Educational Outreach

The City of Westlake, Department of Engineering has teamed up with Cuyahoga County, Soil and Water Conservation District to raise awareness of storm water quality and teach a sustainable life style. 

Cuyahoga SWCD, offers various educational opportunities and resources

• Special Programs
• Workshops
• Events
• academic experiences that both engage and educate the public about current natural resource issues. 
• Weekly Blog

• Stormwater Control Measure Maintenance Tips

Educational services are also provided through print media and include the On the Land newsletter, informational brochures, posters and pamphlets.

The Root Flare Army

In honor of the 50^th Anniversary of Earth Day, the Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District has launched a virtual Arbor Day spanning the entire week, April 20-24, with blogs, videos, storytelling etc.

The organization also introduced its ‘Let the Flare See the Air’ program, designed to get citizens involved in identifying locations with poorly planted trees. During last year’s Tree Care and Root Flare workshop, participants learned how trees often are planted too low and with mulch piled around them in a volcano formation. This is so harmful to the trees and in 10 years or less they will need to be replaced!

What can you do to help:

Join the Root Flare Army and help identify locations that have improperly planted trees.

What will be done:

A member of the organization will contact the property owners to bring such issues to their attention with the intent of assisting them to correct the situation and not make these choices in the future.

To learn more about this program, follow this link:

 https://www.cuyahogaswcd.org/programs/let-the-flare-see-the-air

CANCELLED: 2020 Rain & Garden Show

The City of Westlake and the Westlake Watershed Group have cancelled the 2020 Rain & Garden Show, scheduled for April 4 at Market Square in Crocker Park. This year we had planned on extending the Kid Zone by an additional hour, with child passport stops around each corner and door prizes awarded every half hour starting at 11:30 a.m., as well as some other new event features.

Our intended theme for this year’s event was to be native plants.  Native plants are indigenous to a given geographic area in geologic time. When creating a small garden or restoring acres of land you should choose to plant native plants. These plants support local wildlife and play a huge role in soil and water conservation. Native plants offer solutions to environmental problems along with the assortment of colors shapes and textures are eye catching. 

To learn more on why you should plant native, please visit Ohio Department of Natural Resources.