The entire Contents have been included to show what additional resources are available. This manual was produced by the Department of Environmental Management, Greenways Program. It reflects the ideas, experiences, and challenges of hundreds of people and organizations in Massachusetts working to create greenways and trails in their communities, contributing to the ever growing greenway network across the Commonwealth. Imagine the Massachusetts countryside laced with ribbons of green space threading together parks, natural resource areas, and important community features, or cities sprinkled with usable open spaces and trail networks, providing opportunities to enjoy the otdoors close to home.
Today there are hundreds of greenway and trail efforts underway throughout Massachusetts.
Greenways are corridors of land and water that help protect a variety of unique resources, create many opportunities for enjoying and learning about the outdoors, and most importantly link these special places together. Creating greenways can satisfy a diverse set of environmental and social needs by connecting open areas, making them more accessible and interesting for people, or more life-sustaining for plants and wildlife, and by connecting people with nature and with each other. Greenway advocates hope that these experiences will inspire us to create new greenways and trails, and expand this essential network of green for future generations. This guidebook is intended to generate ideas and provide information to help interested citizens, civic organizations, government, and the business community work together to create greenways and trails across the Commonwealth. For ease of presentation, the process of planning and implementing a greenway is described as a set of orderly phases.