BRECKSVILLE, Ohio —  The Cleveland Metroparks is one of the largest park systems in the state of Ohio, with over 25,000 acres of land across 18 reservations.

This season, the Cleveland Cavaliers donated $10,000 to the Cleveland Metroparks trail fund. 

What You Need To Know

Members of the Cleveland Cavaliers organization cleaned up new trails at the Cleveland Metroparks on Earth Day

Earlier this season, the Cavaliers donated $10,000 to the Cleveland Metroparks trail fund

Cleveland Metroparks officials say trail maintenance is crucial to allow rare species to continue to use the parks as a habitat

The Cavs organization used Earth Day as an opportunity to continue positively affecting northeast Ohio’s parks. 

Members of the front office and other employees hit the Cleveland Metroparks trails on Wednesday morning. 

Danielle Doza, the Cavaliers’ Vice President of Sustainability and Environmental Service, helped lead the organization’s Earth Day cleanup of new trails at the Brecksville Reservation. 

“The Cavs are celebrating Earth Day out in the beautiful Brecksville Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks,” said Doza. “We are doing some trail maintenance, helping the Metroparks really build out a new trail. We’re kind of deep into the reservation doing some cleanup, doing some raking, cleaning graffiti off of the stones to keep this place beautiful.”

Erica Hirsch with the Cleveland Metroparks said maintaining trails is crucial not only for people who use the parks but for animals that rely on them as a habitat.

“This area has a lot of rare species around, so we want to be able to protect that,” Hirsch stated. “People were working down here anyway, trying to get down to the creek. We were able to come through with our crews and lay out a new trail system.”

While volunteers with the Cleveland Cavaliers used Earth Day as an opportunity to support the environment, Doza said sustainability is a year-round commitment for the organization. Team members within Rock Entertainment Group volunteer over 7,000 hours of time per year.

“It’s not just Earth Day, it’s not just Earth Month,” said Doza. “Over the summer, you’ll probably see us out on the Cuyahoga River with trash fish, cleaning out plastic pollution from the rivers and trying to clean up our waterways as well. We’ll do other beach cleanups and no doubt will be out in the Metroparks again.”