The Case for a Botanical Garden in War Memorial Park

Several years ago, the City of Little Rock paid consultants a good amount of money to make recommendations for War Memorial Park, an underused city park in a great, central location.  After lots of public meetings, the consultants came out with their recommendations.  One of the main recommendations was that the golf course should be closed and converted to non-designated use open space, the idea being that many more people would make use of that area for picnics, walks, bike rides, and tossing frisbees and footballs, than the small number of people who currently play golf there.

One recommendation I made at those public meetings and would like to expand on here is that Little Rock should build a Botanical Garden in War Memorial Park.  Here are some reasons why I think this would be a good idea:

1.  An open botanical garden would count as non-designated use open-space, which consultants said would get the most use by area residents.  Add to that that golf is in a long decline and War Memorial typically loses more money than the other public golf courses in Little Rock.

2.  At 50+ acres, the western part of War Memorial Park is comparable in size to botanical gardens around the country. 

3.  Fayetteville has a botanical garden and Little Rock doesn't.

4.  A botanical garden in War Memorial would have a natural connection to the nearby zoo.  People interested in animals are often also interested in plants.

5.  An open botanical garden would be relatively affordable to build.  Very little trailwork would be needed, as there are already paved asphalt trails there thanks to the golf course.

6.  UALR should have a botanical garden and greenhouses for educational and research purposes.  War Memorial Park is close to the University and will eventually be connected to it by the Coleman Creek Greenway.  Having a partner in funding the botanical garden would make it even more affordable for the city.
7.  A botanical garden in that location would give people visiting nearby hospitals a scenic, peaceful place to relax.
8.  With a creek, pond and drier, rockier areas uphill from those water features, the park could easily host a wide range of plant species.  There are already lots of native plant species present, and this diversity should increase with the trail improvements currently underway along Coleman Creek.
9.  It would be awesome to see 200' Dawn Redwoods, Incense Cedars, and other exotic (but non-invasive) tree species towering over the park.  These would make interesting landmarks visible from the Interstate.

View Little Rock Botanical Gardens in a larger map

First Impression: Fayetteville is Hilly, but has Nice Trails.

Today I went on my first long bike ride in Fayetteville since moving here for school.  From my daily commute, I already knew that Fayetteville was a pretty hilly place, but today I finally got to explore the main trail in town that all the other little trails want to be like or at least connect to.  The split personality Frisco/Scull Creek/Mud Creek Trail(s) run from southern Fayetteville up to southern Springdale.  My route is shown on the map.  While the ride took me through some scenic and not-so-scenic areas, the coolest part may have been biking through a long, dark, tunnel under the interstate.

Fourche Bottoms Park - Time to Make it Happen

Fourche Bottoms Park is an enormous city park that no one in the city knows about.  A major reason no one knows about it, is that no work has been done there.  No roads, trails, boardwalks, or bathrooms have been built.  Nothing has been done, even though way back in the early 1980's the Corps of Engineers authorized a project to preserve 1,750 acres of the bottoms and build nature appreciation features there.  Much of the Fourche Bottoms and nearby Fourche Creek floodplain are publicly owned.  The BFI landfill is now closed and will be transferred to the city once capping is complete.
In fact, we have a massive 4,000 acre area of contiguous public land that includes Brodie Creek Park, Boyle Park, the Coleman Creek Greenway, Hindman Park, Fourche Bottoms, the State Fairgrounds, Interstate Park, and the Audubon Center that could all be connected with trails if we could just get the Fourche Bottoms trails done.
This trail system could also connect to the planned Rose Creek Trail and the Swaggerty Creek Trail at Crump and Interstate Parks.

If the thought of this massive area of public land being connected with paved trails and boardwalks excites you, you are in luck!  There are already several groups planning and working to make this a reality.
Visit http://fourchecreek.org/, http://www.villagecommonslr.com, US ACE Summary, or http://www.facebook.com/southendlr for more information.  Or ask me on here.

Fourche Bottoms Park and Proposed Trails.
Grey Lines - Proposed Trails
Red Lines - Existing Unpaved Trails
Black Lines - Existing Paved Trails.

Here is a Google Map of the same area since I realize I didn't really label any roads on the map above:

View Larger Map

Building Bridges - Connecting Communities, Trails, and Parks

This year has been a big one for bridge building in Little Rock. The Big Dam bridge got a baby brother this summer when the Little Maumelle bridge was completed.  This attractive and already heavily used bridge connects an extension of the River Trail to Two Rivers Park.  For most Little Rockians, this makes Two Rivers Park much more accessible, as people living in Riverdale, The Heights, and Hillcrest can now bike to Two Rivers in less time than it would take them to drive.

Down the river on the other side of town, the Junction Bridge is expecting a sibling as well.  The Rock Island bridge is getting a face-lift and will soon play host to bikers and pedestrians travelling between Little Rock and North Little Rock or making the River Trail loop.  Unlike the Junction Bridge, this bridge has a continuous ramp, so bikers will no longer have to dismount and take lots of stairs or an elevator to get across the river.

These bridges and the trails they connect, will have (and are already having) a major positive impact on the quality of life and health of the citizens of Little Rock and North Little Rock.

Where should the next bridge be built?  Somewhere over Fourche Creek?  Between the Big Dam Bridge and the Junction Bridge?  Or would that money be better spent helping pave some of the many proposed trails out there?

Trails in Little Rock - Going Beyond Recreation

Little Rock has spent a lot of money on trails and will hopefully and likely continue to do so for years to come. So far, most of these trails are short and disconnected, making the suitable only for recreation and not for commuting. One major exception to this is the River Trail. Lots of people use it for recreation, but a sizable number of people also use it to get to work without hopping in a car. Given the health benefits of walking and biking, and the negative impacts of driving (traffic, air pollution, road rage, greenhouse gas emissions...) wouldn't it be great if our community expanded other trails and connected them to the River Trail in order to make it easier for more people from more locations in the city to get places safely by bike or foot?

Some neighborhoods are already working to make this happen. The Stift Station/Capitol View neighborhood has plans for a paved trail along Rose Creek that would connect the neighborhood to the River Trail, giving residents a scenic and safe way to get downtown while avoiding automobiles.

UALR and Little Rock Parks are working on a trail along Coleman Creek that would connect residential, commercial, and park areas to the University in Midtown.

Rock Creek, which flows from Chenal Valley essentially to UALR, already has multiple sections of paved trail along its banks. If these sections were connected, people in West Little Rock would be able to bike between their homes and nearby shopping areas or even all the way to Midtown without having to share busy streets with speeding cars.

The map below shows what these connections might look like. If you like any of these ideas be sure to share them with your friends and elected officials.