Park foundations plan merger to create conservancy

YOUNGSTOWN

Two charitable organizations that support Mill Creek MetroParks are looking to merge and create a conservancy.

The Mill Creek Park Foundation and Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens plan to form the Volney Rogers Conservancy.

The Mill Creek Park Foundation supports the entire park system, while the Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens focuses only on the park’s gardens.

The proposed conservancy would operate as a public-private partnership. The organization’s name would pay tribute to Volney Rogers, a Youngstown lawyer who secured land for Mill Creek Park at the end of the 19th century.

The conservancy would follow the example of a conservancy created for Cuyahoga Valley National Park in the Cleveland-Akron area. Benefits of the conservancy model include the ability to leverage economies of scale and eliminate redundancies presented by multiple smaller organizations.

Friends leaders said financial headwinds make the conservancy seem like an increasingly attractive option.

“We can continue to manage decline or we can move forward in a creative way.” said Friends president Paul Hagman,

Read MORE in Friday's VINDICATOR.