Naming where we are

When we began our first issue of EcoCity Cleveland with the following words:

Start by erasing the artificial lines on the map. Block out all the human-drawn boundariescity limits, county lines, census tracts, roads. Then look at what's leftthe land, water, plants, wildlife, peopleand think again about where you live. What is your home territory on the planet? What's your bioregion?

Since then, we have been asking subscribers to include their bioregional name on their subscription coupons. (We then put it on mailing labels so they actually get mail addressed to their bioregion.)

Periodically, we like to publish the list of these bioregional names. We think the names tell a lot about life in Northeast Ohio. Some of the names are serious; others are whimsical or sarcastic. Some define very small areas (the creek in the backyard); others names are expansive (the Great Lakes basin). But whatever the motivation, each name is a personal declaration of what's special about this place on the planet.

Here are some of our current favorites:

1870 Farm House w/ Condos Bioregion
Akron Audubon Bioregion
Allegheny Escarpment Bioregion
Amish-Turf Bioregion
Appalachia Bioregion
Appalachian Escarpment
Appalachian Foothills
Appalachian Plateau Bioregion
Asphalt Jungle Bioregion
Asphalt-Forest Edge Bioregion
At the Edge of Sprawl
Beaver Creek Flood Plain
Beech-Maple Forest Bioregion
Belvoir Creek Watershed
Big Creek Watershed
Biosphere Bioregion
Black River Watershed
Black Swamp Bioregion
Bluffs O'er the Mills Bioregion
Broadway Neighborhood Bioregion
Brown Squirrel Bioregion
Buckeye & Lilac Bioregion
Cain Park Ravine Bioregion
Canesadooharie Bioregion
Cedar-Lee Highlands
Center of the Heights Bioregion
Central Ohio Farm/Wilderness Area
Chagrin River Bioregion
Chagrin Valley Bioregion
Chaotic Montrose Bioregion
Clay 'n Weeds Bioregion
Crooked River Bioregion
Cultural Ignorance Bioregion
Cuyahoga Basin/Lake Erie Shores
Cuyahoga Bioregion
Cuyahoga Highrise Bioregion
Cuyahoga River Watershed
Cuyahoga/Black/Rocky Bioregion
Cuyahoga/Euclid Creek Divide
Cuyahoga/Lake Erie Bioregion
Cuyahoga/N.E. Ohio Bioregion
Cuyahoga/Tinkers Creek Divide
Deciduous Arbors Bioregion
Disturbed Area Bioregion
Doan Brook Watershed
Doan Brook/Cuyahoga Bioregion
Downtown Bioregion
Dugway Brook Watershed
Eastern Arabica Bioregion
Eastern Deciduous Bioregion
Eastern Inner Ring - Cleveland Bioregion
Eastern Temperate Postglacial Bioregion
Ecological Crossroads Bioregion
Ecological Literacy Bioregion
EcoVillage Bioregion
Edge of Rocky River Bioregion
Edgewater/Cuyahoga Bioregion
Erie Bioregion
Erie Edge Bioregion
Erie Shore Bioregion
Erie Shores Bioregion
Erie-Cuyahoga Bioregion
Erie/Ontario Lake Plain
Euclid Avenue Runoff Bioregion
Euclid Creek Watershed
Flat Lake Plain of Berea
Flatlands of the West Bioregion
Foothills of Appalachia Bioregion
Forest Hill Watershed
Fragmented Mesophytic Forest
Free Cuyahoga Bioregion
Fresh Water & Sunshine Bioregion
Frontier of Sprawl Bioregion
Geauga Highlands
Geauga Maple Syrup Region
Glacial Moraine Bioregion
Glacial Potholes Bioregion
Glaciated Great Lakes Plain
Glaciated Plateau Bioregion
Grand River Valley
Grand-Chagrin Bioregion
Grand/Erie Shores Bioregion
Great Black Swamp Bioregion
Great Lakes Basin
Great Lakes Bioregion
Great Lakes Watershed
Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Bioregion
Gull, Goose and Grebe Gathering Place
Habitat Bioregion
Hawthorn Heaven Bioregion
Headwaters Bioregion
Height's Edge Bioregion
Hemlock Ravine Bioregion
Hiram Lobe Bioregion
Holden Arboretum Subregion
Homo Sapien High Density Bioregion
Hudson Bioregion
Impermeable Bioregion
Industrial-Cuyahoga River East
Inner-Ring Burbs Bioregion
Killbuck Watershed
Lake Cliffs Bioregion
Lake Effect Bioregion
Lake Erie Basin
Lake Erie Bioregion
Lake Erie Central Temperate Bioregion
Lake Erie Coast
Lake Erie Lacustrine Plain
Lake Erie South Shore
Lake Erie Watershed
Lake Erie/Ohio Bioregion
Lake Erie/Our Gift Bioregion
Lake Kelso Lowlands
Lake Plain Bioregion
Lakelands Bioregion
Lakeshore Bikeway Bioregion
Lakeshore Bioregion
Lakeview Bioregion
Lakewood Bioregion
Land O' Lake and Wetlands
Land of the Eternal Gray Skies
Lawn Chemical Region
Lip of the Appalachian Plateau
Little Creek/Big Creek/Cuyahoga River
Little Cuyahoga Valley
LTV's Shadow
Mahoning Bioregion
Mahoning Valley Bioregion
Medina County Bioregion
Mentor Mall Sprawl Bioregion
Mentor Marsh Bioregion
Mentor/Lake/Northeast Ohio Bioregion
Mid-Cuyahoga River Bioregion
Middle Cuyahoga Bioregion
Midwest Plains Bioregion
Mill Creek Watershed
Mismanaged NE Ohio Bioregion
Mohican Deer-Turkey-Mushroom Bioregion
Mountains Meet the Plains Bioregion
My Organic & Wild Base Camp Bioregion
Near West Lakeshore Bioregion
Near West Side Bioregion
Next To The Brooklyn Landfill
Nine-Mile Creek Bioregion
North Central Till Plain Eco-region
North Coast Bioregion
North Coast Forest City Bioregion
North End of Appalachian Plateau
Northeast Ohio Bioregion
Norway Maple/Honey Locust/Yew Bioregion
NW Ohio Black Swamp Turf Bioregion
Ohio & Erie Canal Corridor
Ohio & Erie Heritage Corridor
Ohio Bioregion
Ohio Canal Corridor Bioregion
Ohio-Erie Summit
Old Field Community Bioregion
Old Shoreline Bioregion
On the Banks of an Urban Stream
On the Banks of the Black River
Organic Bioregon
Parking Lot Drainage Basin
Pesticide-Free Bioregion
Planet Earth Bioregion
Plum Creek Watershed
Pollutionville Bioregion
Portage County Bioregion
Portage Escarpment Bioregion
Portage Lakes Bioregion
Porter Creek Watershed
Post-Blast Furnace Bioregion
Post-Glacial Clay Patch Bioregion
Precious and Limited Bioregion
Proliferative Building Bioregion
Realtor Bioregion
Recovering Rubber City Bioregion
Reforesting Farmlands Bioregion
Rehabilitated Ex-Farm Bioregion
Rock & Roll Region
Rocky River Bioregion
Rocky River Bluff Region
Rocky River Cliffs Bioregion
Rocky River Shores Bioregion
Rocky River Watershed
Scenic Rivers Bioregion
Semi-Urban Suburb Bioregion
Severance Asphalt Bioregion
Shaker Lakes Bioregion
Silver Creek Watershed
Skyscraper Bioregion
Slimy Salamander Sanctuary
Snow Belt Bioregion
South Erie Shore Bioregion
South Lake Erie Bioregion
South of Lorain Bioregion
South Shore Basin Bioregion
Southeastern Erie Bioregion
Southern Cusp of the Metroparks
Sprawlopia Bioregion
Squirrel/Sparrow Urban Bioregion
Start of the Appalachian Plateau
Still Farm Country Bioregion
Sub-Great Lakes Bioregion
Suburban Forest Bioregion
Suburban Sprawl Bioregion
Tamarak Bioregion
Temperate Rainforest Bioregion
The Bog Bioregion
The Burbs Bioregion
The City Bioregion
The Sprawl Frontier
The Sprawling Edge Bioregion
Three Rivers Headwaters
Tinkers Creek Gorge Highlands
Tinkers Creek Watershed
Transit Friendly Bioregion
Tree-Planting City
Trumbull-Mahoning Bioregion
Turtle Island Bioregion
University Circle Bioregion
Unrealized Potential Bioregion
Upper Cuyahoga Bioregion
Urban Bioregion
Urban Jungle Bioregion
Urban Lakeshore Bioregion
Urban Near West Side Bioregion
Urban Oasis Bioregion
Urban Wilds Bioregion
Urban-Cement Bioregion
Urban/Rural Symbiot Zone
Walworth Run Bioregion
Was a Cornfield Russia Twp Bioregion
Wayne-Ashland-Medina Bioregion
West of the Wasteland Bioregion
Western Reserve Biodiversity
Westshore/River Bioregion
Wetlands Bioregion
White Picket Fence Suburbia
Woody Plants of the Western Basin Bioregion
Zebra-Musclepotamia Bioregion

...and the Place with the Tulip Trees, Trillium and Wild Ginger.

Back to top

EcoCity Cleveland
3500 Lorain Avenue, Suite 301, Cleveland OH 44113
Cuyahoga Bioregion
(216) 961-5020
www.ecocitycleveland.org
Copyright 2002-2003

Back to main Bioregional Plan

What's a bioregion?
Our bioregional names
Glacial legacies
Maps of natural features

 

Beech-maple woods in Geauga County

The naming of something is a sacred act. A name confers meaning and power. It separates out something from the blinding confusion of the world and makes it special in human eyes. That is why we should think carefully about what we call our home. As we define our home territory, we develop a unique sense of place and learn how to live in that place.