The What and the Why
of Greenways
The term “greenways” has evolved to refer
to an organized and inter-connected system of open space. Since the
days of Fredrick Law Olmstead, the pioneering landscape architect who designed
central park and park-like residential subdivisions in the mid-1800's,
greenways have been designed to maximize public access to the out-of-doors. |
Highbush Cranberry, a fruit enjoyed
by many birds in Michigan. |
| Although each component of a greenways
system can have its own identity and integrity, the greenways philosophy
is founded on the idea that the whole greenway system is greater than the
sum of the individual parts. That is, additional recreational and
environmental benefits are achieved by linking green spaces together to
form extended and inter-connected, linear systems. Greenways connections
can be oriented to human use, to wildlife use, or to both. In terms
of human use and enjoyment, greenways are primarily recreational in nature.
But a successful greenway system can have transportation and economic benefits
as well. A few of the most important greenway benefits are
described briefly below. |
| Benefits of Greenways |
| Economic Benefits |
| For Northeast Michigan, tourism, recreation
and natural resources are an important source of jobs and of economic stability.
The region is exceptional in the quality and wide distribution of its public
lands and environmental features. A Northeast Michigan greenways
system has the potential to increase access, exposure and information about
these resources to a wide variety of users, both within and outside of
the area. Ideally, a properly organized and advertised greenways
system could become a significant tourism draw, which would in turn encourage
spin-off business development, recreational and year-round housing development,
community enhancement and increased local tax base. Important recreation-related
businesses in the region include food and lodging, sporting goods, charter
services, clothing and gift stores, boating and recreational vehicle supplies,
and a host of other retail and service occupations. Residential property
with access to greenway amenities can increase substantially in value,
and commercial properties can beneit from increase in customer traffic. |
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Viewing the Mackinac Bridge
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Open Air Concerts
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When greenways are located in environmentally
sensitive areas, economic benefits can be derived from environmental protection.
For example, a protected greenway along a river or lake edge can protect
against flooding or erosion, support valuable fishery stocks, and enhance
surrounding property values. |
| Ecological Benefits |
| As our rural areas begin to develop, the
ecological benefits of greenways become more apparent. As land is
divided into smaller parcels, wildlife can face an increasingly difficult
challenge in moving freely between key feeding and cover areas. Greenways
can provide the connecting link that maintains viable plant and animal
habitat. Greenways can also provide refuge for rare or endangered
species that may be extirpated from other, more developed areas. |
Whitetail fawn
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Fishing from a kayak
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| Greenways, with their linear design, can
serve as the “lungs” to ventilate adjacent developed areas. The filtering,
shading and cooling effect can have positive microclimate and air quality
impacts on surrounding areas. In terms of water quality, greenways
can act as a pollution filter and temperature moderator; keeping silt out
of area trout streams, and preserving the cold water environment.
By bringing nature close to hand, greenways
can also perform an important role in environmental education. With
easy access to natural resources, the public is much more likely to support
resource preservation, and feel that they have an individual stake
in maintaining high environmental quality.
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| Recreational and Social
Benefits |
Recreational benefits are the most important
and diverse of the rewards that can come from greenways. The beauty
of a greenway system is that it can serve so many interests and activities.
Non-motorized recreational uses can include hiking, jogging, in-line skating,
bicycling, cross-country skiing, or canoeing and kayaking. Hunters
and fisherman can appreciate access to greenway resources, as well as the
wildlife and habitat improvement benefits they bring.
Cross-country skiing
It is important not to forget the scenic
value of greenways. By interweaving green space within more developed
areas, a greenway can provide views and vistas which enhance enjoyment
of surrounding residential and commercial properties. Greenways can
enhance community identity and character. Many greenways incorporate
civic, historic and archaeological sites. This can serve to simultaneously
preserve historic resources, and provide low-impact access, increasing
the overall aesthetic quality of individual sites and entire communities.
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| Transportation Benefits |
| Greenways can serve as either an independent
transportation route, or as an enhancement to other transportation facilities.
As national interest increases in non-motorized transportation options,
greenways can help put multi-modal transportation alternatives into action.
With its linear form, a greenways system is an ideal way to link people
to places, activities, and other people. Greenways can provide an
alternate route to move within a community, connecting residential areas
to work site, schools and civic amenities. By connecting community
to community, greenways can help reduce traffic congestion on major routes,
and provide alternate modes of movement. The particular mix of motorized
and non-motorized use of greenways is a matter for local policy-making.
But one important function of a greenway can be to link one form of transportation
to another. For example, a greenway can allow a boater to walk from
the harbor to the downtown business district; or allow a biker to connect
to an inter-city bus route. |
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Bicycling occurs in all seasons
along Northern Michigan Pathways
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Boardwalk near Cheboygan
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| One of the most important beneficiaries
of a greenways system can be providing residents and visitors a non-motorized
alternative to making short trips to accomplish the daily tasks of life;
shopping trips, post office visits, walking the dog, traveling to work,
or visiting friends. Many community members would prefer to make
such trips without a car, if a safe and functional alternative were available.
A greenways system can provide the alternative. By diverting the
summer-time congestion common in seasonal resident and tourist areas onto
a non-motorized greenways system, the need to expand facilities to meet
seasonal demand may be delayed or avoided altogether. |
| Land Use Benefits |
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Chairs overlooking a Northern Michigan
forest.
Establishing a greenways system can be
one key aspect of establishing a sensible land use pattern within and between
communities. Greenways can be located in and around sensitive environmental
areas. They can also be used to buffer potentially conflicting land
use areas. A greenways can provide recreational resources within
reach of a variety of neighborhoods, and can connect those neighborhoods.
As noted in the transportation section, the greenways can link residential,
commercial and civic uses in a positive, non-conflicting way. Greenways
enhance community aesthetics, sustain property values and create community
amenities. Greenways can be incorporated into planned open space
projects, and can be part of an open space preservation program.
Farms and forest resources can be tied into a greenway system. Greenways
can also be used to protect key ecological and historic features that define
community character.
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Harvest time in Northeast Michigan
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| Purpose of the Greenways
Project |
| The purpose of the Huron Greenways project
is to apply greenways principals to specific environmental and recreational
resources in the coastal portions of Northeast Michigan. The project
will inventory available ecological and recreational resources, and explore
ways in which they can be knit together into a cohesive, inter-connected
system. Missing links and weak links in the system will be identified.
Recommendations will then be made on implementing such a system in this
region.
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Butterfly on a Spotted Knapweed plant
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TABLE
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