An anonymous donor has given Cincinnati Parks Foundation $1.8 million to fund a sweeping, multiyear habitat restoration and trail improvement project at French Park in Amberley Village, a gift that park officials are calling the largest conservation-focused donation in Cincinnati Parks Foundation history. The money will go toward clearing invasive plants, restoring native tree cover, and rebuilding trails across the approximately 281-acre park.
According to the Cincinnati Parks Foundation, the foundation's partnership with Cincinnati Parks will support native plantings and accessible trail work. As reported by WVXU, Cincinnati Parks considers the French Park initiative its largest forest renewal effort since the 1930s creation and replanting of Mount Airy Forest, which was established in 1911 across nearly 1,500 acres of eroded farmland as one of the nation's earliest municipal urban reforestation projects. WKRC also reported that Cincinnati Parks is planning the largest reforestation effort in a city park in nearly a century.
A Five-Year Specialist to Oversee the Work
A dedicated Natural Resource Specialist position will oversee land management and restoration progress at French Park for five years. The station's report notes that Cincinnati Parks officials say dense invasive brush currently obscures sightlines and crowds out mature tree stands across the property.
Cincinnati Parks Director Jason Barron and the Cincinnati Parks Foundation intend to use the French Park restoration as a pilot model to develop scalable reforestation practices for other city park forests, per the same account. Cincinnati Parks manages more than 5,000 acres of land across its network, and officials hope lessons learned at French Park can eventually inform work at other properties.
An Estate With Deep Roots in Amberley Village
French Park sits on land known as Reachmont Farm, the former estate of Procter & Gamble executive Herbert Greer French, according to Wikipedia's entry on French Park. French built the house in 1931 and bequeathed the land and red-brick manor to the Cincinnati Park Board after his death in 1942. The park, managed by Cincinnati Parks, remains outside the city's own boundaries in Amberley Village.
Crews have already been at work well before the gift's public announcement. Habitat restoration teams began clearing invasive understory plants across a 22-acre section of French Park in early 2026, targeting invasive Amur honeysuckle, privet, and burning bush, according to the City of Cincinnati. That field work targets dense thickets and supports trail improvements.
Why Honeysuckle Is Public Enemy Number One
The urgency behind clearing invasive shrubs is backed by research. A study published in Ecological Restoration found that invasive Amur honeysuckle alters natural forest succession and reduces the growth rate of native overstory trees by more than 50 percent, according to Ecological Restoration. The shrub was introduced to Hamilton County around 1960 and leafs out earlier in spring than native vegetation, depriving native plants of light and nutrients.
That threat isn't isolated to French Park. Cincinnati lost slightly more than 1 percent of its total tree canopy between 2000 and 2010, according to a Cincinnati Parks urban forestry page. Cincinnati's tree canopy also declined during that decade. The French Park effort fits into the city's broader Green Cincinnati Plan, which sets a goal of reaching 40 percent tree canopy across residential neighborhoods, though canopy inequities remain a concern.
Volunteers Have Already Logged Thousands of Hours
Long before the anonymous gift arrived, community volunteers were already doing much of the hands-on work at French Park. Land management there relies on people trained through the Cincinnati Conservation Stewards and Friends of French Park programs, who have contributed more than 17,900 work hours across city parks, according to Cincinnati Parks. Those volunteers assist staff with stump treatments, native plantings, trail maintenance, and monitoring invasive regrowth.
The French Park gift arrives just weeks after an August announcement that the Rosie Reds were offering a six-figure contribution to Cincinnati's park system. Together, the donations suggest a growing wave of private investment in Cincinnati's public green spaces, even as officials continue wrestling with how to scale invasive-species removal and canopy restoration across a park system that spans thousands of acres beyond French Park's borders.
