Greenways… do not themselves solve the problems of downtown blight, suburban gridlock, the inappropriate development of outer cities, the rural roads of ruin. But these social and environmental issues have clearly informed, if not inspired, a growing movement in creative land conservation which is really quite novel. It is to develop an entirely new infrastructure category, no less, a system of grenways- down rivers and streams, across ridgelines, over abandoned railroads, along scenic and historical routes- which, in terms of any quality of life measure worth considering, may be one of the most significant people-oriented efforts in civic improvement to be mounted in the post-war era.
The Greenway Priority
The greenway movement in the Willamette valley was actually the first of
multiple efforts that led to Oregon's statewide, nationally recognized,
land-use planning system. Tom McCall's executive order,
Willamette Greenway Proposal, in 1967, was the first time the term "Greenway"
was used in Oregon State policy, which codified governmental efforts to
preserve the Willamette River corridor. The Oregon legislature in
1973 enacted the Greenway Act bringing forth statutory regulations "to
protect and preserve the natural, scenic, and recreational qualities of
lands along the Willamette River" and furthermore "…it is in the
public interest to develop and maintain a natural, scenic, historical and
recreational greenway upon lands along the Willamette River to be known
as the Willamette River Greenway." On December 6, 1975,
the LCDC adopted Goal 15: "The Willamette River Greenway" to be implemented
through the Willamette River Greenway Program which Goal 15 establishes.
The Department of Transportation (DOT), the department responsible for
implementing the Greenway, established the guidelines for the program.
The guidelines created a minimum setback line of 150 feet and 320 acres
maximum per river mile of adjacent riverfront land, consideration of significant
terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, and site specific policies in all local
municipal plans to coordinate the establishment of these statewide
guidelines. Oregon State Parks and Recreation, who was later granted authority
over the Greenway, established five parks along the river to begin the
Greenway. Other lands have been sought after by the process
of condemnation or through acquiring and buying scenic easements.
As of 1997, ninety city and county parks, 64 state parks or state-owned access points, eight Army Corps of Engineers parks, six national wildlife refuges and eight state parks are located in the banks of the Willamette . The Greenway program in Oregon is working, but not well enough when the River is now listed with federal protections for endangered species in perpetual decline. The program, really, has only just begun.
What Are Greenways?
Greenways are innovative and effective methods to preserve riverfront land
and restore regional ecosystems. They have been formed along
riverfront lands, along ridgelines, as hedgerows dividing farmlands, as
greenbelts around cities, restored railways through Rails to Trails programs,
and many other areas. "A greenway is, in simplest terms, a linear open
space." The unique and quite innovative feature of greenways
as that they are linear spaces, not just blocks of land set aside as
landscaped parks or untouched wilderness areas that lead to fragmented
habitats, isolation and extinction. Their linear design is measured
in terms of connectivity as well as in the size of its space. Its
connectivity is one method of measuring the success of conservation and
ecological restoration processes.
Connecting Ecology
Traditionally, the values attached to land conservation in the form of
parks as open spaces were human values, based on esthetic, recreational,
industrial, and social needs; not necessarily values for their inherent
ecological needs. A large majority of parks weren't established to
retain ecological integrity of the surrounding environment. So, when
recreational and open space parks are created, they are isolated in and
of themselves. They typically are not connected, subsequently decreasing
the mobility of plants and animals and forcing them to traverse across
the built environment. This is the process of habitat
fragmentation, which isolates plant and animal communities reducing their
abilities to react to natural geographic and climatic changes and maintain
genetic diversity. Species isolation eventually leads to extinction.
Migratory Corridors
Connecting open spaces and habitats, greenways work as migratory corridors
. The levels of mobility vary greatly amongst animal and plant species.
Migratory corridors allow birds, animals and plants to move from one region
to another, for food and water, and for survival. Especially
within urban areas, greenways can bring biological diversity to the city
center, engaging people on an everyday basis to connect with nature, while
not allowing urban growth to fragment habitats.
The Urban Heat Island
Effect
Greenways in urban areas can reduce the urban heat island effects.
Urban heat island effects occur because built environments do not take
in solar energy like natural ecosystems, they reflect most energy away
from the earth raising the temperature of the urban area. The proportion
of incident sunlight reflected by the Earth's surface is known as
the albedo . The depletion of natural vegetation and green space
subsequently raises the albedo level, heating the land mass disproportionately.
Plants, through photosynthesis, take in the sun's energy, maintaining a
balance in heating and cooling of the landscape. Small climatic changes
can have massive impacts on weather cycles and on the ability of plants
and animals to survive.
Benefits of Riverfront Greenways
Greenways along riverfront land, like in the Willamette valley can help
control flooding, prevent soil erosion, and help filter non-source
point pollution run-off. Non-source point pollution is currently
the largest problem affecting the quality of the river and greenways can
not reduce such toxic pollutants; solutions to that are far more complex
and lengthy to be addressed in this essay. Riparian corridors are
very diverse habitats , offering a wide variety of biological study and
education to the community, as well as esthetic values of biodiversity
along river corridors.
Integrating Social
and Ecological Values
Greenways are a means to connect the built environment to the natural environment,
which fosters an intrinsic interconnection between humanity and nature.
Open spaces and parks in the interconnected form of greenways, offer places
for people to connect with natural ecological processes and attain peace
of mind. This can be seen and experienced everyday here in Eugene,
Oregon. In the same area slated for development of the Riverfront
Research Park, many students and residents of the community regularly spend
time there. Whether walking or cycling along the riverside trail,
or just sitting down with their friends and family to enjoy the peace and
serenity of the area away from the city, many people use this scenic corridor
as a means to enjoy nature within the city. This small pocket
of remaining open space desperately needs to be restored as a functional
greenway. Unfortunately, it is a realization that the University
of Oregon and the City of Eugene have not been able to balance with overriding
economic and political pressures to develop the land.
Citizens Lead the
Way
It is important to note that most efforts of the Greenway movement, around
the nation and here in Eugene, have been citizen led . Citizens believed
that restoring the natural environment that exists in and around the community
increases the ability for people to connect with nature which can greatly
improve many qualities of life within the community. Recreation,
hiking, cycling, commuter pathways, and natural history education all provided
by functional greenways, can improve the livability of a community.
Closer to Sustainability
Greenway planning and design can bring communities closer to sustainable
development patterns of living. It is less expensive for municipalities
to let nature restore itself than to pay maintenance fees and is more sustainable
in terms of strengthening the functionality of regional ecosystems.
Studies have proven that open space and greenways actually raise property
values, increasing the city's tax base . Besides a greater
tax base, preserving green space, forests, river corridors, maintains the
necessary biodiversity that enables this planet to function, creating oxygen,
filtering carbon dioxide and other natural effluents; these processes are
not only beneficial for quality of life they are critical for life itself.
Greenways are one part of a complex interconnected set of solutions to move towards ecological sustainable development. The intentions of the other statewide planning goals, along with the Willamette Greenway, can be interpreted as efforts to move towards sustainable development. The statewide planning goals address these needs , but nowhere do explicit policy statements exist about transgressing resource planning to sustainable development. Planning efforts have emphasized maintaining economic uses more so than any emphasis on all together preserving land to have no future extractable usage, in order to fully restore regional ecological integrity. Finding the balance between ecology and economy has proven to the largest controversy, usually giving way to perceived economic necessities resulting in overall environmental deterioration. The Willamette River has suffered the consequences of economic prioritization, with reduced watershed water quality from pesticide and other non-point source pollutants, and lost fish habitats from forest clear-cutting debris and soil erosion, and others expressed in the previous chapter.
There have been major shifts in the economy to move from one primarily based natural resources to an economy based in knowledge and technology. This economic shift does not recognize sustainable development as the ends to which the means of a knowledge and technology based economy serve to strengthen. After more than 25 years of implementing land-use planning policy and goals, urban growth, pollution, environmental degradation, continue to get worse. The goals established in 1974 were ahead of their time on addressing solutions to the problems perceived at that time, but the problems have become more complex. The statewide goals need to be met first and foremost. Oregonians need to understand that the problems have increased because we have not met these standards. The solutions only become more difficult to obtain the further we move away from achieving them. Every individual, every business, every learning institution needs to be held accountable, and needs to hold themselves responsible to achieving the statewide planning goals. One possible first step, is the preservation all remaining open space along the Willamette Greenway.