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Greenways
Coming to the Tri-Cities
By Vern A. Pococke
Imagine traveling from Saginaw to Bay City to Midland to
Saginaw by foot, bike and canoe and all the while being immersed in a natural
environment. Area planners are now gathering resources to make this vision
become
reality.
The Saginaw Bay Greenways Collaborative has received a $130,000 grant to conduct an
eighteen month Greenways Visioning Process. They will analyze the area's green
resources then create and implement a plan. The result will be a natural corridor
connecting parks, nature reserves, cultural features and historic sites to populated
areas.
"Greenways, simply put, are a system of links and hubs," said Vanessa Farr,
Coordinator/Planner for the Saginaw Bay Greenways Collaborative. "They're
composed of a variety of different types of land. Greenways can be rail trails,
waterways, county parks, protected wetlands, wildlife refuges, state forests; in a
continuous network with a minimal amount of road crossings and other gaps."
"A community may choose to buffer a river," Farr said.
"Here we have the River Walk, Ojibway Island, Wickes Park. What's down from
there? Shiawassee Wildlife Refuge. These are the beginnings of a greenway. We can
build on that."
"The overall goal for Greenways is to re-create green infrastructure," Farr
said. "Greenways are a way to help a community become more than just a ring of
sprawling suburbs with big box retail and subdivided housing. People can develop a
community where parents don't have to drive their kids everywhere because it is now safe
for them to walk."
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"Greenways will afford the human
experience of getting back to nature," Farr said. "You will feel
wow;
wildflowers growing, wetlands, birds singing, trees shading you. You will be
standing out there under this tree cover and you will not know you are in Saginaw County.
You will forget where you are. You will be out there in the midst of
nature in a whole different world. Then you can head back and once again you're in
an urban setting with manicured lawns."
Extensive Greenways are also being planned for southeastern and northwestern lower Michigan. The planning
commission in southeast Michigan may soon
receive up to $25 million from private foundations. This is evidence of both
the popularity of these projects and the certainty that they will become a part of our
landscape.
Our local planners want your input. Please access their website at www.saginawbay.com, www.greenways.org, or write them
at:
Saginaw Bay Greenways
Collaborative
c/o 400 Court Street
Saginaw, MI, 48602.
Help them make the tri cities an even better place to live.
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