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KEY POINT #I:
<br />Creating an interconnected system
<br />of parks and open space is manifestly
<br />more beneficial than creating Barks
<br />in isolation.
<br />No single park, no matter how large and how well designed,
<br />would provide citizens with the beneficial influences of nature;
<br />instead parks need to be linked to one another and to sur-
<br />rounding residential neighborhoods. —Frederick Low Olmsted'
<br />The recreational and social values of city parks are well
<br />known. However, linking parks, greenways, river corridors,
<br />and other natural or restored lands together to create an
<br />interconnected green space system provides far greater
<br />benefits for people, wildlife, and the economy. It helps
<br />connect people and neighborhoods, provides opportunities
<br />for exercise that can counter today's trends in obesity and
<br />adult onset diabetes, and enhances emotional well-being
<br />by bringing nature "close to home." A network of parks can
<br />also provide pathways for wildlife moving from one isolated
<br />natural area to another. And just as it is necessary to design
<br />and construct road networks and other built infrastructure
<br />in advance of metropolitan growth, it is also important to
<br />plan and protect urban green infrastructure as a city grows.
<br />Montgomery County, Maryland, initiated green
<br />infrastructure planning in the 1940s by planning a stream
<br />valley park system far in advance of the county's rapid
<br />growth.The county began buying land along all of its major
<br />stream corridors in the 1940s and 1950s—well before land
<br />development had made it impossible to preserve these
<br />ecologically important areas.Today all of the county's major
<br />stream corridors are public parks. In 2001,the county began
<br />adding to this system with a 10-year, $100 million initiative to
<br />complete a county -wide network of open space
<br />composed of protected farmland, stream valley parks,
<br />ecological reserves, trail corridors, and green space preserves.
<br />KEY POINT #2:
<br />Cities can use parks to help preserve
<br />essential ecological functions and to
<br />protect biodiversity.
<br />When managed to maintain and restore natural ecological
<br />communities, city parks can help protect the biological diver-
<br />sity of local plants and animals.When connected strategically
<br />with riparian areas, wetlands, and other urban green spaces,
<br />the ecological value can far exceed the value of any one
<br />park -This is because isolated natural areas can "leak" native
<br />plant and animal species and suffer from the disruption of
<br />natural ecological processes, while connected parks can
<br />thrive as a wildlife habitat system and help to restore and
<br />maintain vital ecological functions and services.
<br />Portland, Oregon: Forest Park, Covering more than
<br />5,000 acres and containing old growth trees and many types
<br />of wildlife, Portland's Forest Park is one of the largest natural
<br />forested urban parks in the U.S. A 1982 wildlife survey identi-
<br />fied more than 112 species of birds and mammals in the park'
<br />It serves as the anchor for Portland's regional parks, trails, and
<br />greenspaces system.The Metropolitan Greenspaces Master
<br />Plan, adopted in 1992 by the Metro Council, describes a vision
<br />for a unique regional system of parks, natural areas, greenways,
<br />and trails for wildlife and people.The plan, being implemented
<br />by local park providers, schools, businesses, and citizen groups,
<br />identifies 57 urban natural areas and 34 trail and greenway
<br />corridors that define the green infrastructure for the Portland
<br />metropolitan region
<br />Chicago Wilderness is a regional system of nature reserves
<br />that includes more than 200,000 acres of protected natural
<br />lands from southeastern Wisconsin through northeastern
<br />Illinois and into northwester Indiana.The protected lands
<br />include forest preserves, state parks, federal lands, county pre-
<br />serves, and privately owned lands. Chicago Wilderness is a
<br />coalition of more than 160 public and private organizations
<br />working together to protect, restore, study, and manage the
<br />precious natural ecosystems of the Chicago region for the
<br />benefit of the public.Their vision, as described in the
<br />Biodiversity Recovery Plan, includes "a network of protected
<br />lands and waters that will preserve habitat for a complete
<br />spectrum of the region's natural communities... A critical mass
<br />of sites will be large enough to maintain a sustainable complex
<br />of interdependent species and natural communities. Carefully
<br />monitored habitat corridors will connect sites, both small
<br />and large, opening paths for ancient patters of migration
<br />and dispersal.."'
<br />2 OF 4 American Pla.nn.ing Association
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