Cleveland, once known as the “Forest City,” currently has a very low tree canopy of just 18%. Many neighborhoods throughout Cleveland, particularly those which were previously redlined through racist lending policies, have even fewer trees. However, grassroots efforts such as those at the Rid-All Green Partnership, a nearly 19-acre urban farm in the Kinsman neighborhood, are working to grow the greenspace and tree canopy in Cleveland neighborhoods where the need is greatest. This includes a tree-nursery partnership with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy which started during the summer of 2021.
Rid-All was founded 13 years ago by Damien Forshe, Keymah Durden III, Randy McShepard, Marc S. White, Timothy Lewis, and Dave Hester (known to many as Dr. Green Hands). Overall, Rid-All encompasses many greenhouses with a variety of uses from growing crops for farm-to-table food to composting, a seed nursery, and a tree nursery. Hester explained that he has been working with gardens and plants ever since he was two years old. Inspired by his grandmother, a farmer, he has always had a passion for and felt connected to the earth. For Hester, who is also a former member of the United States Marines, the greenhouse dedicated to veterans who are looking for a place to connect is especially close to his heart. Hester personally designed and created the space to be filled with many bright colors and aesthetically pleasing, exotic plants.
Rid-All expands to add tree nursery
Recently, thanks to a partnership between Rid-All and the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, they’ve added a greenhouse filled with 4,000 total trees as part of the complex. When the trees reach the point where they can be planted in the ground, they’re grown on Rid-All’s expanding acreage. (Rid-All started on just over an acre; it’s now nearly 19 acres.)
These trees, which are of numerous native varieties, can be purchased by people who visit Rid-All Farm. Prices, which are meant to be affordable, typically range from $30-50 for young trees in 5-7 gallon pots. Many of the purchased trees end up being planted in surrounding Cleveland neighborhoods, and Rid-All has also hosted events where trees were planted and distributed.
In addition to its retail tree nursery, Rid-All is undertaking larger tree contracts. LAND Studio has already bought 1500 trees to be planted at Irishtown Bend Park, said co-founder Keymah Durden. Until LAND Studio is ready for them to be planted, Rid-All will continue to care for them at the Kinsman farm.
The tree nursery partnership between Rid-All and Western Reserve Land Conservancy made sense, said Durden. Durden is a board member at WRLC, which has long had a goal of improving tree cover in Cleveland. At the same time, the founders of Rid-All already knew the value of greenspace and tree canopy as a source of support for mental and physical health, said Hester. Working together, the two nonprofits have been able to seek grants and other funding for the tree nursery initiative.
Supporting a greener Kinsman and beyond
Hester says community is at the center of what Rid-All does and that he and his co-founders grew Rid-All into what it is today by learning and focusing on the wants and needs of the community. This meant attending and listening at community meetings. At the same time, says Hester, Rid-All was then able to effectively spread awareness about the lack of greenspace, green jobs, and tree canopy in the area.
The work goes beyond the Kinsman neighborhood, too. Since the summer of 2021, the Rid-All Green Partnership has worked with both the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and the Cleveland Tree Coalition to make Cleveland as a whole a “greener” city. A greener city means not just planting new trees, says Rich Cochran, president and CEO of WRLC, but also maintaining the trees that are currently alive and in good health in local communities. The second step, he says, in improving the tree canopy is to bring public and political awareness to the subject.
Cochran explained that without the awareness and support of the public and political leaders, improving upon the diminished tree canopy in urban neighborhoods will be a tall task. In addition, to effectively carry out this plan, it needs to be funded “on the order of $10 million a year,” according to Cochran. More specifically, to reach the goal of a 30% tree canopy by the year 2040, the goal of trees planted per year is 28,000. Further, in 2018, WRLC set a goal of $50 million to achieve their goals and as of this past year, they have raised $47 million towards this goal.
Samira Malone, director of the Cleveland Tree Coalition, is on the same page as Cochran. One of the coalition’s main goals is to educate and empower the community to get involved in the move to increase Cleveland’s tree canopy to the 30% goal.
The coalition is also working to increase access to “green path” jobs. The folks working at Rid-All are holding some of these new green path jobs and training others for more, and Malone expects the expansion to continue more broadly. “There is going to be a significant expansion in workforce development” in the area of urban forestry, she says, noting further that investment in the coalition from the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation, NOPEC, and other partners. In the future, the coalition will also be receiving money for urban forestry efforts from President Biden’s $1.5 billion Inflation Reduction Act.
Growing greener
Through many years of hard work and persistent effort, Rid-All was able to turn one acre of land and one greenhouse into nearly 19 acres of land filled with many greenhouses, green space, crops, and tree nurseries. The area was transformed from “blighted to viable” over the years, says Hester. He goes on to explain that his advice for other people who want to improve the greenspace and tree canopy in their community is to follow those steps of making the community aware, making connections with leaders who can help you, and maintaining a passion for what you are doing.
Clearly, both grassroots efforts and large organizations in Cleveland recognize the need for greenspace in every neighborhood throughout the city. If these efforts are able to continue through the coming decades, we, as a city, will be on our way to returning to our namesake as “The Forest City.”
Rid-All Green Partnership is located at 8129 Otter Drive, Cleveland, and can be reached by phone at 216-307-4069. The restaurant is on the Rid-All grounds at 2889 E. 81st St. and can be reached by phone at 216-465-2001. It is open for Taco Tuesday 12-2 p.m. and Fish Fry Friday 12-4 p.m. Vegan brunch is the fourth Sunday of each month from 11 a.m.-1 p.m and must be ordered in advance by emailing keymah777@aol.com. For more on special events, check out Rid-All’s Instagram and website.
Anthony Messina was a participant in The Land’s community journalism program.
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