The Vision Plan: Existing Greenways

These results are truly impressive. They show that currently 18% of New England is protected as green spaces and greenways. There are also over 19,000 miles of trails, with statewide or New England wide significance. (Note, there are many thousands more local trails, e.g. Amherst, Massachusetts has 43 miles of trails. For the purpose of this study only the Metacomet and Monadnock (M&M) and the Robert Frost Trails of Amherst are included, because they have at least, statewide significance). The level of greenways and green spaces for nature protection, recreation and historical/cultural exploration vary significantly for each state. Maine has the lowest percentage (only 11%) and Massachusetts has the highest land area in greenway/green space protection (41%). The four other states range from 15% to 22% as follows: both Rhode Island and Vermont have 15%, Connecticut has 19% and New Hampshire has 22% of their land in greenways and green spaces (Table 1). These results need some explanation. Large-scale protection for Maine is not yet seen as significant by her decision-makers. The reason for this perception seems to be the result of little development pressure on the large landscape. Maine's population density has always been very low. The majority of her population of around 1.2 million is along the coastal areas. Yet, the size of Maine is over 21 million acres or half of New England. The primary coastal population occupies only around 10% to 15% of Maine. To date, the decision-makers of Maine do not see any urgency to protect its fragile lake country nor its sizable mountainous landscape surrounding Baxter State Park. On the other end of the spectrum, the total greenways and green spaces in Massachusetts is around 2.2 million acres or 41% of the landscape (Table 1). Massachusetts has close to 4 times as much greenways and green spaces as Maine and is double or more than double the other New England states. The question is why? The answer is simple. The Massachusetts legislature passed the Rivers Protection Act, Chapter 258 of the Acts of 1996. This act protects (or greatly limits any development) two hundred feet on both sides of every flowing river. This protects approximately 20% of the land area in Massachusetts. This protection, however, is far less than outright ownership. But this act provides the state with an ideal network of potential greenways. This type of protection would be less area in steep mountainous landscapes, such as Vermont. In addition to recreational trail potentials in these buffer areas, this network can help wildlife movement. Most importantly, this project anticipates that the state and local conservation departments will be able to negotiate public access for trail developments as needed, during the next century.