CINCINNATI —

Dozens of volunteers came together at Irving Playground in Avondale to help revitalize a blighted park and to help police with a new plan to fight crime.

“It's extremely exciting to see everybody dive in like they are now,” volunteer Michael Neade said.

About 50 volunteers planted hundreds of flowers and plants. The Cincinnati Zoo and Mad Tree Brewing accounted for the bulk of the volunteers.

“Today is not where it stops. So, it continues to grow and get better,” volunteer Catie Bechstamper said.

At the same time, there’s another plan weaved into the revitalization effort. It’s devised by police because of crime problems at the park.

“I was getting a lot of complaints about nuisance, drug dealing, crowds, violent behavior, in this exact park,” Cincinnati Police Sgt. Jeff Meister said. “We just kind of chose this, put all efforts into Irving Playground.”

Meister said they’re working with a new concept that uses environmental design to help prevent crime.

The idea is that involving the community makes them more invested in keeping the area safe. It gives them a sense of ownership in the project.

“It's all about relationships, right? Like between the pollinators in the plants, between the neighborhood and all of the organizations around, between the city officials and everybody who is involved in making this project happen,” said Cincinnati Zoo director of community partnerships and conservation Mollie O’Neil. “Spaces like this in nature really do help people root and a sense of place and then care for this area and make great memories.”

CINCINNATI —

If you haven't seen Avondale lately, it is shaping up its image in several sections of that old neighborhood often maligned because of crime and drug activity.

Hundreds of volunteers spent the day there spreading hundreds of cubic yards of topsoil and mulch for 10,000 plants in a new urban learning garden at Rockdale Academy.

Bill Witten, who has been a part of the Avondale Community for more than a generation, said, "This should touch all the youth in Avondale in some kind of way, whether it be educational, activity, whatever. There's some great stuff goin' on."

A couple months ago, it was a barren patch of brown earth. It looked a lot different today thanks to 300 volunteers and four heavy hitters who are heavily invested in its success.

Children's Hospital, P&G, the Reds and the Cincinnati Zoo.

"It's all right here," commented Cincinnati Zoo horticulturist Steve Foltz. "They can just walk right outside into the greatest lab that I think is around in the country."

A few blocks away, 3,000 free toys were being distributed as part of Avondale's makeover. The creativity spilled into the sprucing up of the nearby Boys and Girls Club.

"You don't want to just bring contractors in and say, well look, here's the investment," remarked Charley Frank, executive director of the Reds Community Fund. "You know, the more skin that the neighborhood has in the game, naturally the more they're gonna care."

Caring hands were painting a changing picture.

Artist Brent Billingsley worked on a mural of the Tuskegee Airmen.

When asked about the significance of today's community work, he responded, "Thirty-plus kids from this neighborhood help work on this. To me, that's what's important."

He mentioned how it gives children pride to participate in something bigger than themselves.

"You will run into a whole lot of hopelessness in some of these communities," he said. "Some of the kids, they're just looking for something to do. They're looking for somebody to point 'em in the right direction."

Avondale's direction Thursday was worth cutting a ribbon over. They did that around 4 p.m.

Not far from a new greenhouse bordered by Persimmon, Juneberry and Pawpaw trees, symbolic of Avondale's newfound growth.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden broke ground Tuesday on its biggest-ever construction project: Elephant Trek, a new elephant habitat that will enable the zoo to support a larger-than-ever herd of Asian elephants when it opens in 2024.

Elephant Trek will be “a spectacular five-acre landscape of habitat and gardens with engaging features for humans and animals alike,” according to press materials from the zoo’s $150 million More Home to Roam expansion program. That five-acre span will make the habitat five times the size of the current elephant enclosure, and zoo leaders hope to fill it with a multi-generational herd of Asian elephants.

“Elephant Trek will provide a 24-hour experience that meets the Asian elephant’s complex, daily needs — mentally, socially, behaviorally and physically — supporting a global conservation effort to save this endangered species,” per the latest More Home to Roam update.

But where does a landlocked zoo in the middle of Cincinnati find five spare acres to make it happen? In an existing parking lot. The planned construction of a guest parking garage to compensate for the loss of the lot has been postponed until the zoo reaches pre-COVID-19 attendance numbers.

Zoo director Thane Maynard thanked donors for supporting the More Home to Roam campaign, which has also funded the construction of new kangaroo and penguin habitats since its launch in 2018.

“Donations of all sizes make a difference and mean a lot to us and the elephants,” he said.

The zoo is dedicated to providing an environment in which elephants can participate in natural elephant behavior, such as playing, dusting and bathing, while forming social bonds with one another as they would in the wild.

This project is exceptional, according to the zoo, because many major zoo programs are phasing out their elephant habitats. The Cincinnati Zoo wants to invest in, rather than divest from, its elephant population.

“By creating a bigger space for a bigger herd of elephants to thrive, we are making a big commitment to Asian elephant breeding and conservation that will demonstrate to our visitors the power and beauty of co-existence for animals and humans,” said zoo chair Francie Hilz at the groundbreaking.

The habitat will be eco-friendly, too, according to zoo spokeswoman Michelle Curley: “Elements built into Elephant Trek, including stormwater tanks that will hold 1 million gallons of water, will actually help the zoo reduce expenses and achieve its goal to be net zero by 2025. It also has plans to convert elephant poop, and the rest of the zoo’s organic waste, to a soil supplement that will help it grow the food that the elephants eat.”

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is the best zoo in the nation, according to a USA Today 10Best article.

It was voted the top wildlife park on a list of the 10 best by a panel of experts and the site’s editors.

“It’s wonderful to be recognized for being a great Zoo and a great Botanical Garden,” Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden director Thane Maynard said in a news release. “Some people who come here to see Fiona or Rico are surprised to discover that they are surrounded by a world-class botanical garden! We thank everyone who voted for us in both categories.”

The article cites the hippopotamus exhibit and our very own Fiona, as well as the meerkat bubble and cheetah racing show, as some highlights of the zoo-going experience.

Manatee Springs’ conservation of the Florida manatee and the Night Hunters exhibit were also mentioned.

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is helping save the planet one pile of poop at a time.

And they have a lot of it.

"One of the first things that struck me is how much poop we have," said Mark Fisher, vice president of facilities at the zoo, which has partnered with a firm to process some 2 million pounds of organic waste each year into fertilizer to help sustain its facilities.

Since being dubbed the "Greenest Zoo in America" in 2010, the zoo has set a goal of producing enough of its own renewable energy to meet its annual consumption needs by 2025.

"We were just sending it to the landfill, and there's got to be a better way," Fisher said.

The zoo has partnered with a company in Ireland to use an aerobic digester to "cook" the waste material and break it down into fertilizer. The fertilizer then is used at a farm in Warren County that grows food for the zoo animals and will be available to the zoo's neighbors in Avondale to improve the quality of their own soil.

Raven Richard/WCPO

The final product's unofficial name: Fionalizer, after the zoo's beloved young hippo, Fiona.

"We'll see if that sticks, but I kind of like it. We'll see if that holds," Fisher said.

The material that could be sent to the digester includes anything organic: fish, feed, manure and grasses, among other waste matter.

Fisher said this type of technology at this scale is a Cincinnati first.

"There's no one else doing this in this town or, quite frankly, within a hundred miles that I know of," he said. "I've already gotten about a dozen phone calls from other zoos across the country saying, 'Let me know how that goes.'"

The digester solution has been a slow burn, though, and is still in its trial phase. It has taken nearly a decade to develop the technology as it's being used today, which still only processes roughly 20-30% of the zoo's organic waste.

The zoo said fertilizer could be available for neighbors in Avondale as soon as next month.

CINCINNATI — What do some Mt. Lookout 4th graders, cookie dough and endangered Asian elephants have in common? Mix them all together in a bowl, and you can bake up a whole lot of caring.

‘The baker girls,’ as they’re known, have experience. They have written proof in the form of a thank you note from the Cincinnati Zoo which reads: “Thank you so much for the bake sale proceeds – the manatees eat a lot of lettuce and kale. Keep up with the great fundraising work.”

Young Marguerite Jackson took that mission to heart – and took the idea to four other girls in Mrs. Baker’s 4th grade class at Summit Country Day.

WCPO Staff

Individually they’re known as Lucy, Mabel, Anne Marie and Ava – but collectively, they’re ‘The Baker Girls.’

After serving up the sweet stuff to raise funds for the manatees in the past – on this go ‘round, they had a bigger target in mind: the biggest land animal on the planet, in fact, the elephant.

WCPO Staff

“When we looked into it and saw elephants were getting a new enclosure, we wanted to help them,” Maribel Hartmann said.

“We did a bake sale – sold brownies, cupcakes and cake pops,” Lucy Viveros said.

“It felt great – a lot of people donated money for the animals,” Anne Marie Misrich said.

Courtesy, Lynette Grypp

All told, the four girls raised $908.

“It makes me feel good,” Marguerite Jackson said. “I thought maybe two or $300, but that’s a lot more.”

“It’s like a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Ava Boyer said.

That led to a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a chance to meet the great ladies of the elephant exhibit up close: Mai Thai, Jati and Schottzie.

And the pachyderms were just as pleased to be introduced to the young ladies as the 4th graders were to meet the tusked titans.

WCPO Staff

Zoo leaders made sure to thank The Baker Girls personally.

“When we found out what y’all did, I told the team, and they were very excited about what you did,” elephant manager Cecil Jackson, Jr. said.

That means the zoo has about a thousand dollars to put towards the $150 million it’s working to raise.

“These girls stepped up; the Baker Girls get it done,” said Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard.

WCPO Staff

The elephants will get way more room in the zoo’s ‘Home to Roam’ campaign – which should also allow them to add to the herd.

“Not all zoos will have elephants – go big or go home – keep in areas big enough to breed, have them in a multi-generational herd – so this is a big commitment,” Maynard said.

The hope is for people to understand these great animals they share the planet with are worthy of protection. It's a mission The Baker Girls are proud to be a part of, proving there’s no such thing as too young to make a difference.

Maynard and Jackson, Jr. said they want more people to come to the zoo and be inspired to help. Both men said what the girls did on a local level really contributes to the global conservation campaign.