Doan Brook Park is a few blocks north of Shaker Square, near the Cleveland-Shaker Heights border.
I’m not the biggest hiker and my attire shows that. I’m wearing a button-up shirt and sneakers instead of a rain jacket and hiking boots.
Gnats and mosquitoes are buzzing through the thick, humid air. The ground is caked in mud and sludge from the last rainfall. Each jagged tree branch and smooth stone on the path present an opportunity to slip and fall. The sky is gray and cloudy, ready to open up with more water, but the exploration begins.
Today’s tour guides are Greg Van Niel and Mindy Kuth, two members of the Doan Brook Watershed Partnership, a collection of local organizing groups and individuals with a common mission to preserve the park's biodiversity. Both are also part of a small team responsible for restoring Doan Brook Park and making the trails more appealing to would-be explorers.
History of Doan Brook
Doan Brook is a 7-mile stream running from the Shaker Lakes in Shaker Heights to Lake Erie. The brook has been central to this part of town for over 200 years.
It’s named after Nathaniel Doan, a blacksmith and settler who built a hotel and tavern on the corner of what is now Euclid Avenue and E. 107th Street.
The stream powered a mill for the Shaker religious community — known for shaking during worship — and the surrounding gorge was home to a sandstone quarry. Billionaire industrialist John D. Rockefeller originally owned the land and gave it to the City of Cleveland in 1896.
Why restore Doan Brook Park?
Van Niel, Kuth and their small restoration team are focusing on a mile-long stretch of the trails. This is one phase of a multi-phase plan to revitalize the area and provide a usable green space for Cleveland’s East Side. The volunteers work diligently to remove invasive species and clear branches and overgrowth to make the park more approachable for community members.
This park holds a lot of sentimental value for people in the community. Van Niel refers to it as an “oasis of nature cutting through an urban area.” Kuth has fond memories of picnics and bike rides with her family through the trails of Doan Brook Park when she was younger.
“We typically set out for the Shaker Lakes and the area by Coventry,” Kuth said. “Our job was, we had to prepare the picnics, and so that meant peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”
Those are the kinds of memories that the DBWP wants other community members to make in the park.
Charles McShane, a Cleveland native, used to sit on the bus on the way to school and wonder what was inside the thickets of Doan Brook Park when he was younger. When he was older, he discovered the park while on a run through Lower Shaker Lake. Now, he stops by the park at least once a day, taking pictures of wildlife and sketching scenes of the brook.
“Every time I come out of here, there's something different,” McShane said. “Either I'm meeting people or you're seeing a different aspect of wildlife or nature in action. It's a good thing.”
Outside of making memories, the park can also provide health benefits, both physical and mental. McShane goes running or walking through the park to stay in shape.
“I know some people like to run on concrete or hit the treadmill or go to a gym, but this is a workout,” McShane said. “It's like 4 miles all the way around. And if you walk it, it works you out. It gets you in shape.”
McShane is right about health benefits. A study from the University of Exeter in England found that people who spent two hours per week in green spaces were more likely to report good health and psychological well-being than those who didn’t. This is one study in a growing body of research concerning the positive health benefits of immersing one’s self in nature. Cities are taking note and are investing in low-cost ways to produce green spaces for their communities.
Concerns of disparity and green gentrification
However, this isn’t all sunshine and roses. There is a deep disparity when it comes to green spaces. Lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color are less likely to have access to green spaces.
An article from the Center for American Progress shows that, without green spaces, these neighborhoods often suffer from worse water and air quality, higher temperatures, greater exposure to disease and less resilience to the impacts of climate change.
McShane, who is a Black man, is a little apprehensive about the new changes at Doan Brook Park. In his eyes, these improvements show signs that displacement and gentrification may be on the horizon. He’s noticed new developments popping up in formerly Black neighborhoods on Cleveland’s East Side, even in his hometown neighborhood of Hough.
“I don't think it's a coincidence that they started cleaning up the trails here,” McShane said. “I mean, it's a good thing in a sense, but it's like the people that were born and raised there and their children, they're being displaced.”
A number of U.S. cities have suffered this form of green gentrification, where restoring green spaces increases property values and prices low-income residents out of their communities. In Portland, Oregon, one researcher for the U.S. Forest Service found that increasing a neighborhood’s tree cover by 1% boosted the average home sale price by $882.
That's not an argument against planting trees in lower-income neighborhoods, according to researchers, who noted the threat of green gentrification should be acknowledged and combatted with affordable housing and rent stabilization.
In the meantime, Van Niel and Kuth said they’re already seeing the fruits of their labor. Their neighbors are taking an interest in the outdoors and are looking to get involved, but even with all the excitement, the group is taking its time to get it right, Van Niel said.
“We’re also careful to work incrementally, and not to encourage people to come in and have a bad experience,” Van Niel said. “We’re kind of building it slowly and I think when we add signage and do some other things, I think we’ll be more ready to welcome people into here.”
The park is open, just a little rugged. And a quick note to anyone heading to Doan Brook: check the weather and don't forget your boots.
