Greetings all - Linda Sternheimer, development manager of the port authority, just contacted me to excitedly relay that tomorrow is the official opening of the new trails at Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve/Dike 14. At noon on October 29th, meet at the kiosk behind the ranger building located at 8701 Lakeshore Boulevard. Bring your lunch and Port of Cleveland will provide cider and donuts. For more information, call 216-241-8004. The new trail system allows access to the ENTIRE nature preserve (including the east side) with a long Perimeter Trail around the entire property, as well as the addition of an excellent connector-boardwalk and an incredible grass field in the middle of the property (that has already harbored thousands of sparrows and Short-eared Owl this year) and an attractive overlook point (viewing Gordon marina, East 72nd, and Lake Erie) on the far southwest end. Birder support is MASSIVE AND IMPORTANT, as the nature preserve is one of our key prime lakefront hotspots in the CLE region, and is an important tribute to the work of many organizations working together to preserve and manage this land. best - jb Jen [log in to unmask] Cleveland, Ohio 330-701-6452 Bird Illustrator / www.jenbrumfield.com Birding Tour Guide (Ohio), Local Patch Birding / www.jenbrumfield.com Birding Tour Guide (worldwide), Tropical Birding / www.tropicalbirding.com Naturalist/Artist, Cleveland Metroparks / www.clemetparks.com LEICA Birding Optics Prostaff / http://en.leica-camera.com/sport_optics/NorthNW Lake Erie blog / www.northnw.wordpress.com ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]