The Cleveland Museum of Natural History first began preserving habitat in 1955 with the creation of a 640 acre nature preserve on Kelleys Island (shown in photo), and their Natural Areas Program was established the following year. Over time, the program grew and today owns and stewards approximately 12,500 acres of pristine habitat for rare and endangered species. The CMNH invited the Sustainable Economies team to facilitated a strategic planning process for the Natural Areas Program.

The planning process was designed to be collaborative, including a core project team and a Strategic Planning Task Force with additional Museum leadership and Board Members. The project was divided into five phases:

Phase 1, Assessment: Stakeholder Engagement and Qualitative Analysis, Positioning Analysis, Benchmarking Interviews, and a Cost Assessment of the existing 66 nature preserves

Phase 2, Outcomes and Goals: Development of Theory of Change, Setting 10-year and 3-year goals and outcomes

Phase 3, Strategy Development: Risk Assessment Completed and Strategies Developed and Prioritized

Phase 4, Metrics and Portfolio Review: Metrics Established for each Goal and Objective, Resource Needs Assessed, Portfolio Review Completed

Phase 5, Communications and Launch: Round 2 of Stakeholder Engagement, Communications Plan and Messaging, Plan Launch

The project is currently underway. We will report back with the impact results once the project is completed. Stay tuned!