March 10 Summit Metro Parks board meeting
Covered by Akron Documenter Jessica Rice — see the notes here.
Summit Metro Parks saw about 5 million visitors in 2025, hosted more than 1,000 naturalist-led programs with 33,000 participants, and benefited from 18,000 hours of volunteer service.
That’s the information presented by Summit Metro Parks leadership as part of the 2025 annual report to its Board of Commissioners at a brief meeting on March 10 at the Liberty Park Nature Center near Twinsburg.
The report highlights 2025 milestones, accomplishments and the park system’s overall fiscal health.
Start of Gorge Dam removal project one of year’s highlights
One of the main milestones of the report was the start of dredging work for the “Free the Falls” project, which will remove the Gorge Dam from the Cuyahoga River. Removing the dam is critical to improving local water quality and restoring habitat for native species.
According to the report, the EPA hired a contractor to begin the slow but important task of removing almost a century’s worth of sediment from behind the dam. This work on the dam reservoir marks some of the first physical aspects of the project that the public can see.
Another major milestone was the donation of Boughton Farm in Copley from the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and the announcement that it will become the 17th Summit Metro Park, now designated as Twin Creeks Metro Park.
The report drew attention to SMP’s work during Akron’s bicentennial and its work with the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to develop a paddling and recreation site on the Cuyahoga River. Paddling and recreation locations are used to launch small, human-powered boats such as kayaks and canoes.
Improvements for access and a greener future
Other highlights include accessibility improvements for people with disabilities across the park system, facility upgrades, and trail stabilization efforts on popular paths.
The SMP added a “Greener Future” emphasis to its marketing and programming in 2025, focusing on themes such as water, trees and green energy. This includes new quarterly updates to nature center exhibits and the expansion of the SMP’s Wild Back Yards program to two additional municipalities.
Last year included a focus on park archaeology, with SMP archeologists uncovering sites with earthen ovens from before the arrival of European settlers as well as finds that help tell the story of the Great Migration in Akron.
Metro Parks fiscal summary
The SMP system continued to maintain financial stability, reporting approximately $30 million in revenue and $29 million in expenditures. The vast majority of the SMP budget comes from a voter-approved property tax levy, which brought in $25 million for the parks in 2025.
The majority of the park system budget went to staff wages, benefits and health care, with the remainder going to supplies, materials, services, development, capital improvements and other miscellaneous expenses.
The level of spending is in line with the revenue and expenditure totals reported in the 2024 and 2023 reports.
Awards and 5-Year Plan
Notably, the report recognized SMP’s 2nd-place award by the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association for its work to become an Age-Friendly Park District, an Akron-Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau Zenith Award for its work with HiHO Brewing Co., and Naturalist Joe Malmisur, who received an Outstanding Part-Time/Seasonal Interpreter Award from the National Association for Interpretation (NAI).
The 2025 report also kicked off SMP’s next 5-year Strategic Plan, centered on six strategic goals:
- Expand conservation impact
- Manage assets and natural resources
- Connect people and nature
- Strengthen community support
- Sustain financial security
- Recruit and retain talent
