Keeping our Garden State green

A Greenway is a linear corridor of undeveloped land. The corridor may be miles wide or as narrow as a footpath. A Greenway may be publicly owned or it may be privately owned but protected by conservation easements. A Greenway may be created solely for conservation purposes-focusing on stream corridors and floodplains, a forested ridgeline, or animal migration routes. It might protect a vista or scenic corridor. In other instances, a Greenway may link existing parks, preserves, or cultural features and focus on opportunities for various specific recreation activities such as biking, walking, and crosscountry skiing. Or it may simply provide an opportunity to move through a natural landscape or treelined cityscape in a pedestrian environment from one historical or cultural point of interest to another. Most Greenways address a combination of goals. No two Greenways are exactly alike. Greenways actually have been around for a long time. Urban planners used to call them greenbelts. In New Jersey, the Delaware and Raritan Canal Park, the West Windsor Township Greenbe It, and Morris County's Patriot's Path are examples of established Greenways. Today, Greenways are receiving a new look from many government agencies and private organizations, including the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut Regional Plan Association, the Monmouth County Park Commission, and the Alliance for the Delaware & Raritan Greenway. The President's Commission on Americans Outdoors made the Greenway concept the centerpiece of its 1987 report; the Governor's Council on New Jersey Outdoors strongly supported the commission's findings as part of its own strategy for adding 373,000 acres to the state's protected open space