Chehaw: "Nature's Playground" in Albany, Georgia

Model for Knoxville?  700 acres is a lot.



Welcome to Chehaw | Chehaw, Nature's Playground | Albany, Georgia:

With over 700 acres of pristine, conservation land and a wild animal park dedicated to education, Chehaw is a unique attraction for South Georgia. Being one of the only two accredited zoos in Georgia, aside from Zoo Atlanta, Chehaw continues to be devoted to the three areas it was founded on: conservation, preservation and education.

For comparison, the Urban Wilderness is reportedly 1,000 acres.

Knoxville Urban Wilderness, a recreational, cultural, and historic preservation initiative championed by Legacy Parks Foundation, incorporates 1,000-forested acres along downtown’s south waterfront. It creates an exceptional recreation and historic corridor inviting residents and visitors to experience the special character-defining assets of our city. With over 40 miles of multi-use trails, 10 parks, four civil war sites, incredible views, and unparalleled natural features, this unique area provides a premiere outdoor experience.

City Greenways Data

Good morning,

I have a commission from Mayor Rogero to serve on the city Greenways Board from 2015 - 2018.

I'm doing a spatial analysis and am creating my own spatial data delineating city greenways and parks by referencing 1 ft orthoimagery from USGS National Map Viewer, Google Earth, and KGIS online map viewer.

I am aware that KGIS data is more robust - particularly when I have to "guesstimate" a greenway's path when obscured by forest cover.

Do you happen to know if Knoxville Parks and Rec has access to the same spatial data for greenways as is presented in your "topography" layer?

I suppose what I mean to ask is, is there a fee-for-service for city departments as described at <http://www.kgis.org/portal/Products/DigitalData/PurchaseInformation.aspx>?

Thanks,

Tanner

Toward Improved Public Health Outcomes From Urban Nature

Toward Improved Public Health Outcomes From Urban Nature:

There is mounting concern for the health of urban populations as cities expand at an unprecedented rate. Urban green spaces provide settings for a remarkable range of physical and mental health benefits, and pioneering health policy is recognizing nature as a cost-effective tool for planning healthy cities.

Related article:



http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/04/08/doctors-orders-take-two-nature-doses-and-call-me-in-the-morning/

Is it time to re-think greenway safety in Knoxville following homicide?

Terrible news from the Third Creek Greenway: a woman has been fatally stabbed, suffering from multiple stab wounds.

It happened around 7:30 PM near West High School. A suspect was reported to be at large, with witnesses who were able to describe the assailant.  A "person of interest" was detained for interviews, but no additional details were made available.

Commenters on local news sites have pointed out that this looks like the "spur" of Third Creek Greenway connecting sutherland Avenue to the Third Creek Greenway.

Later reporting from Knoxville News Sentinel confirmed this:

The attack was reported at 7:24 p.m., about an hour before dark. Responding officers discovered the deceased victim with multiple stab wounds about 150 yards down the greenway from a trailhead parking lot on the 3100 block of Sutherland Avenue, Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk said.

I've followed the comments on the stories and notice a lot of people are talking about the need for a concealed carry right in public parks.  Politics of that debate aside, I'm not sure that's realistic, simply because guns are expensive and as former Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam has pointed out, greenways and parks are often adjacent to or cross gun-free school zones.

UPDATE: Police have a person of interest in custody in connection to the stabbing this evening on Third Creek Greenway. We now know a woman died from multiple stab wounds. DETAILS: http://on.wbir.com/1FJoq70

Posted by WBIR Channel 10 on Sunday, May 3, 2015

BREAKING: We are at the scene of what KPD says is a stabbing at a greenway in Knoxville http://6.wate.com/1bTAHK1

Posted by WATE 6 On Your Side on Sunday, May 3, 2015

Police are now investigating a stabbing on the Third Creek Greenway as a homicide. DETAILS -->http://www.local8now.com/home/headlines/Police-investigating-homicide-on-Knoxville-Greenway-302367101.html

Posted by WVLT Local 8 on Sunday, May 3, 2015

Unfortunately not many people seem to be aware that we have a dedicated parks and greenway patrol unit in the City of Knoxville.

In fact, KPD always has a representative at our greenways commission meetings to provide input from the law enforcement community's perspective.

As of 2013 when the unit was officially launched, the unit had 9 officers patrolling 7 days a week.

That's excellent.

However, I think it's time that we add more officers.

Part of the point of the parks and greenway patrol unit is to deter crime.

Sgt. Sammy Shaffer has stated that just the sight of an officer on a bike can deter illegal activity.

But logistically speaking, the deterrent would be more effective with more officers.


I'm unsure of the costs of adding on more patrols and more officers - it seems like greenway patrol would be a popular detail, though.

Another option might be to have more "greenway rangers" acting as eyes and ears for existing officers, who might not have the same training as an officer in terms of law enforcement, but who could assist with ensuring safety.  Regular, dense patrols would be an excellent deterrent to crime on greenway trails.

This latest incident is particularly troubling to me because it is the fourth local incident of a woman being the victim of crime on a greenway.  One incident near Ijams on the Will Skelton Greenway happened in August 2013; another soon after in September, 2013 - the student assaulted said she saw the man again a half our later.  Then within the same 3 week timeframe, another incident - this time a man with a knife threatening a woman - on a West Knoxville Greenway. Outside the Knoxville area, a woman was assaulted on a walking path between Sugarlands Visitor Center and Gatlinburg in June 2009, and in Maryville's Greenbelt in 2003 and 2008.  These are just the ones in recent memory and that have been reported - is it any wonder that women might not feel safe on greenways?

We need to make sure all our residents are safe on greenways, but especially women.  Enjoying the city's greenway trails must not become a terrifying prospect to women. Fear and safety concerns risk cutting off half of the city's residents from greenways.

Every solution incurs a cost - from mere dollars to broader issues like erosion of civil liberties from increased surveillance.

However there are certainly ideas out there worth pursuing.

For example: an emergency alert system for runners and joggers.

A simple approach would be to use Twitter to deliver timely alerts to mobile phones via text message:

I toyed around with this idea for a time for my neighborhood.

Basically, when something happens, a Tweet goes out to my neighborhood alert twitter account.

Those who subscribe via simple message service (SMS), aka "text message," would get a weekly alert for crime updates - OR - in the case of an emergency - a special message.

This can be useful for a couple of reasons:

First - ensuring safety.  If you're about to start your evening run, you don't want to head out on the trail if there's a criminal on the loose.

Second - it can assist with apprehending a suspect - picture or text description.

Third - alerting nearby trail users to a person in need - a fellow hiker or runner might be closer than a first responder.

It's unfortunate that we don't have an alert system in place from city government - which could be useful for trail emergencies of all types, including natural hazards.

A second major solution might be to install emergency "blue light" call boxes at regular, predictable intervals.  In an emergency or panic situation - a cell phone might not be the most reliable option.  But, knowing an emergency call box was within reach - which are often equipped with large buttons that can easily be pressed in a panic - could go a long way to adding piece of mind and functional help to those in need.

Along these lines, we could look at cameras.  While there are concerns about surveillance, the incident at Ijams and the Great Smoky Mountains both required a police sketch. A camera might help not only with deterrence but with apprehending assailants.  Witnesses were key to preventing a second assault from happening at Ijams - but witness descriptions require someone to be around.  Cameras are always around!

Finally, we need more officers in the city's Greenway Patrol Unit.  Officers are the single best deterrent to crime - and they are also first responders to injuries.  We only have 9 officers in the unit right now, and although they patrol 7 days a week and even after dark, with 4,000 patrols made in the first year (2013 - 2014)



But the fact is, our trail mileage and Park acreage is greater than what our officers can reasonably be expected to patrol at the level of intensity that might be optimal to deter and prevent crime. Officers on the trails increases our police visibility, which hopefully will deter crime and help increase perceptions of safety.  It also directly impacts safety:  officers on the trails get to know the trails and can respond to problems and accidents just like on our roads.



Now, a request that has come from KPD is that our trails have better markers.  The city needs to undertake to assist our officers in responding to emergencies and problems is a system of mile markers, similar to what we see on the Interstates in Tennessee - emergency reference markers.

The Knoxville Track club added greenway mileage markers. I'm not exactly sure, but if memory serves these are placed every quarter of a mile.  A higher density might be useful - but mile markers are particularly important in the urban wilderness for helping route emergency responders. Of course there's a cost, but I've been thinking that with all the beer drinking Knoxville biking community does, it'd be easy to save the aluminum cans, use tin snips to cut off aluminum, and emboss mileage and trail names to place out in the Urban Wilderness and at tighter intervals on city greenway trails- at least as a temporary fix.

A more permanent fix may be to order trail markers from Voss Signs (full catalog).  Signs could also feature the relevant emergency numbers and can help connect to the appropriate first responders (Sevier County versus Knox County, for example). (Note: Always call 911 when you feel threatened or in danger).

The very sad and tragic news item is linked below - I think we owe it to our community's women to seriously take up the issue of safety on greenways and try eveything we can to be sure that "exercising while being a woman" is not a risk factor for victimization in our community.

Police investigating homicide on Knoxville Greenway:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT)- Police in Knoxville say a woman was stabbed to death on the Third Creek Greenway.

Officers say it happened at about 7:24 on Sunday night.

When officers got there they say they found a woman dead with more than one stab wound.

Witnesses were able to give a description of the suspect as he fled.

A person of interest has been detained and taken to the safety building to be interviewed.

No further details were given.

Redesigning Our Cities and Highways to Help Feed Monarch Butterflies

Could establishing milkweed plots alongside greenways benefit wildlife and reduce maintenance costs for city greenways?



Redesigning Our Cities and Highways to Help Feed Monarch Butterflies:

For this reason, groups like the Pollinator Partnership are working to convince infrastructure owners to allow the planting of milkweed in unlikely places. They aren't asking for vast butterfly preserves, simply for strips of land otherwise forgotten. For example, the Pollinator Partnership is seeking national legislation that would encourage state highways to plant bee- and monarch-friendly habitats on highway medians instead of mowing them down.

Knoxville Mercury Article Highlights First Creek Greenway Threat Posed by Proposed Development

Retaining Wall, Fuel Center, Loading Docks.  Development, or continued abuse of First Creek?

Article in the alternative weekly "The Knoxville Mercury" highlights threat to First Creek and the First Creek Greenway posed by a potential development in North Knoxville in "More Walmarts on the Way:"

In the last few years, the city spent millions to straighten a couple of deep curves in the creek to increase the flow and prevent the flooding of streets and homes. Thomas says he is also worried about how the project could affect First Creek Greenway, which he helped establish, and its planned northward expansion. 

Polestar had an informal meeting with city engineering officials last week to discuss its ideas for the site, which includes a 9-foot retaining wall above First Creek in its floodway, but no stormwater retention pond. 

Generally, a floodway is the area next to a creek that must be preserved to prevent a rise of more than a foot in the water surface level. 

But city storm-water engineer David MicGinley says building the retaining wall in the floodway won’t necessarily cause a foot rise in the water level there. On the other hand, current rules usually require a 60-foot buffer of undisturbed vegetation from the top of the creek bank or the floodway, says Chris Howley, who supervises plan review and development inspections for the city engineering department. 

The developer would be required to prevent stormwater runoff from increasing—or prove that it would actually be better for the creek if stormwater flowed out all at once, McGinley says. Even without space for a holding pond, there are other tools for reducing runoff. For example, parking lots can be built using pavers that allow water to penetrate, or underground storm-water tanks can be installed, Howley says. (Another creative option is planting a grass roof on the building.) 

McGinley points out that the majority of the site—the church portion—is already covered in buildings or pavement. “There are hurdles associated with the development, but I didn’t see any deal-killers,” Howley says.

I'm disappointed with the lack of protections that would seem to allow this development. It seems obvious to me as a trained ecologist that our laws and regulations are too permissive if nothing is a "deal-killer" in this proposal. Thermal pollution, parking lot runoff, lack of a stormwater detention pond - all of these are threats to First Creek that will only be exacerbated by this development.  But, Knoxville appears to lack local regulations that would protect First Creek - not entirely surprising, since First Creek has suffered generations of abuse.

The property the church is sited on was established in 1948; it seems obvious that whatever modifications were made to the watershed were done prior to modern protections.

The 1948 date probably explains why the property is an island "above flood zones" when the surrounding parcels are largely not.

First Creek Watershed Flood Zones from KGIS.org

Seems like zoning is the biggest hurdle, for now, although I'd prefer a requirement for new developments that mandates an easement for a greenway along the riparian buffer if this deal goes forward.  We've seen this happen at other Wal-Mart sites in Knoxville; the Walmart Supercenter at Kinzel Way in East Knoxville is an example where Love's Creek Greenway was built as part of the development.

Love's Creek Greenway at Walmart Superstore in East Knoxville

For now though there still seems like a chance to stop the development through denial of re-zoning:

"Trent says Knox Heritage plans to fight rezoning of the Howard house while raising money to buy it. She predicts the zoning question will end up in City Council’s lap, which is part of the reason for sponsoring the change.org petition—she wants to be able to convey to local politicians just how many people oppose the project."

Ijams adds zipline challenge park along Will Skelton Greenway

Note that this is adjacent to the Will Skelton Greenway.



Might this increase Greenway usage?



Can Knoxville's urban youth bike safely to Ijams to enjoy the nature center?



Not yet - James White Parkway is a safety challenge.



But, it may be possible soon.



Let's hope for continued, sustainable investment in the Greenways network.



Ijams adds zipline challenge park:



Burt said anyone ages 5 and up will be able to enjoy the ziplines anchored anywhere from 10 to 60 feet in the air. The cost will be $39 to $49 a person, depending on a person's age and amount of access to the trails.