HomeMy WebLinkAboutConnecting Trails-1995 Panel wants to link
state greenway system
❑Hundreds of thousands
of acres would have to be Area greenways
purchased to connect the
hiking trails and canoe West Orange Trail
Cady Way-Fashion Square
runs, state officials say. Trail
Wekiva-Ocala Connector
By Rex B. Hoggard General James Van Fleet
State Trail
TALLAHASSEE BUREAU Wekiva River/Rock Springs
Run State Canoe Trail
TALLAHASSEE — Florida's Central Florida Loop Trail
scenic hiking trails and canoe Seminole County-Lake Jesup
runs should be connected into one Greenway
system, a governor's commission Minneola-Clermont Rail Trail
said Friday Volusia Park
The plan would link greenways Osceola Greenway
—corridors of land that are consid- Viera Recreational Trail Sys-
ered environmentally significant tern
—into a continuous system across Flagler County's Coastal
the state,said Lt.Gov.Buddy Mac- Greenway
Kay, vice chairman of the Florida Source: State Department of
Greenways Commission. Environmental Protection
MacKay stressed the need for
local support if the project is to
succeed. the state's environmentally sensi-
"This is a very ambitious pro- tive land-purchasing program.
ject," MacKay said, "Community- The commission established no
based efforts are at the heart of timetable, but it wants to accom-
this program." push much of the work before the
The commission's proposal Preservation 2000 program ends
would connect the five-mile West in five years.
Orange Trail with a trail in Lake The St. Johns River Water Man-
County. agement District, which includes
Virginia Wetherell, secretary of most of Orange County and ex-
the Department of Environmental tends to Jacksonville, has 682
Protection, is responsible for im- miles of greenways.
plementing the program. Wetherell said the program, in
"Much of this system is going to its sixth year, will purchase hun-
depend on private landowners," dreds of thousands of acres by the
she said. "Jmal group support is time it is completed. But she
what is going to make this hap- could not estimate the total cost of
Pen." the proposal.
Although no funding has been The state already is purchasing
earmarked for the project, money large tracts of land under Preser-
will be allocated from Department vation 2000, which spends about
of Vansportation grants, private $270 million a year on conserva--
donatigns and Preservation 2000, tion and recreational lands.
9soai r