Removal of vegetation, adding of fill dirt must be reduced in building city trails if trails are to be considered a 'sustainable' feature

Please click on image to enlarge July 10, 2008, photo of small, pale butterfly on tiny wildflowers


The Iconoclast by Jonah Tebbetts

Jonah Tebbetts' The Iconoclast Web log comments on the budget for the creation of new trails in Fayetteville in a July 10, 2008, post and quotes Alderman Kyle Cook from the Northwest Arkansas Times of the same date:


Kyle Cook quoted in Northwest Arkansas Times

A point too often overlooked in the design and building of new trails in Fayetteville is the destruction of vegetation in the process. The blame for this is easy to identify when one looks at the process of acquiring right of way for trails.

The city has purchased some of the property and has received much of it directly from developers as a part of the requirements for approval of large projects. But the tradtional street-construction mentality must be eliminated from the trail-building process.
Some trails have been built in existing parks.
Stream corridors make convenient trail corridors. Stream corridors, however, often are the only wildlife corridors through many parts of our city. Protecting vegetation of all types near streams ought to be among the city's highest priorities.
For a few years, Fayetteville had a Tree and Trail Task Force that was disbanded when it completed its initial mission, to guide the city in utilizing a limited, one-time budget to purchase and perpetually protect significant green space.
At that time, many of us suggested that the group be made a permanent entity with its budget being renewed from some reasonable source. However, such as task force should exist regardless of budget.
The sidewalk and trail board, of course, can begin making the concerns of wildlife and the life in streams, requires shade, and protection of siltation into account, but a more specialized advisory group is needed, one that would take overall watershed issues into account when trail routes are selected and constructed.
The idea of walking a trail without shade isn't appealing to many people. To some of us, the idea of walking a trail where street traffic and buildings are easier to spot than wild flowers and wildlife has limited interest. Bird songs and the vocalizations of tree frogs and the barking of squirrels should be louder than human-created noise on every possible stretch of trail in the city.
The idea of multiuse trails should mean more than allowing various means of travel such as walking, using a motorized wheelchair, riding a horse or bicycle. It should mean offering not only a safe, convenient alternative to driving or self-propelling oneself along streets and traditional sidewalks but also should offer a legitimate destination for getting away from the stress of city life and experiencing the natural world.