Greenways and blueways support ecological protection throughout New York
Greenways and blueways support ecological protection throughout New York
Onondaga County’s system of nature corridors provide connections between citizens and their environment.

In the stillness surrounding the water of Onondaga Lake, a blanket of quiet is broken only by calls of waterfowl and cries from seagulls swooping overhead. The assortment of families, pairs and individuals walking the trail around the lake remain spaced apart, keeping conversations hushed. While the skate park sits empty, a few children enjoy the playground set aside from the main trail while adults supervise nearby.
Onondaga Lake Park is one of the oldest greenways in the area, completed in 1933 under the vision of Joseph Griffin. Around eight miles long and termed the “Central Park of Central New York,” it includes four separate trails: East Shore Recreation, Shoreline Walking Trail, Lakeland Nature and the West Shore, according to Onondaga County Parks.
A “greenway” loosely refers to a linear stretch of trail that acts as a walking or cycling path along a natural resource, such as a river or forest. It is also associated with creating walkable corridors between protected environments. These corridors promote carbon-free transportation, give community members the opportunity to engage with their environment and typically involve legal protection of the land they cover.

In a similar vein, blueways are essentially trail paths on water. These aquatic corridors often involve clean-up efforts to maintain low levels of pollution and ensure safe water quality.
The Erie Canalway Trail is another popular local greenway with the majority off-road trail extending for 360.3 miles and connecting the New York cities of Rochester, Syracuse and Utica. Visitors can bring leashed pets to walk, bike or run the path, as long as they respect trail etiquette and refrain from littering or otherwise polluting the environment, according to the Canal Corporation.
Onondaga Lake Park and the Erie trail are cornerstones of Onondaga County’s initiative to expand its greenway and blueway network. According to Plan Onondaga, this type of green infrastructure can mitigate flood risk, improve air and water quality, provide habitat for native wildlife and help the local economy. In addition to their aesthetic and scenic appeal, greenways and blueways are spaces for a variety of recreational activities, such as boating or kite surfing.
Director of the Onondaga County Department of Planning Troy Waffner broke down the county’s approach to this expansion from two directions. First, the county will focus on the creation of a greenway and blueway master plan informed by consultants who will inventory the current system and identify ecologically sensitive areas. Additionally, it will release around $1.1 million to municipalities to help kickstart their own greenway and blueway development.
The largest steps that have to be taken before the implementation of this plan involve figuring out the best course of connectivity and handling issues of private property. However, Waffner is optimistic about the expansion plan developing successfully.
“You can do anything you want as long as you have enough money to do it,” Waffner said. “Those are the biggest obstacles, but they’re all achievable, we can overcome all of them.”
The term “greenway” was coined by urban designer William Whyte in his 1959 publication “Securing Open Space for Urban American: Conservation Easements.” Although the idea of linear parkways existed long before this, putting a brand on this type of corridor helped garner support for projects.
Robert Searns, author of “Beyond Greenways: The Next Step for City Trails and Walking Routes,” noticed urban planners started using greenways as a common reference around the time he worked on the South Platte River corridor’s development in the 1970s.
“In the decade, the couple decades that followed, the greenway notion kind of spread like wildfire, not only through the U.S. but worldwide,” Searns said.
As time went on, the greenway and blueway concepts evolved to include more intentional environmental benefits instead of achieving them as by-products. Searns started to see new potential in his development of a riverside greenway by the late 1980s.
“We began to look at, could this idea of getting people to pay attention to the rivers again, could that kind of pull along with it greening places up in a more ecological way?” Searns said. “So we began to look at the concept, and consulting with wetland ecologists and that sort of thing to reestablish vegetation.”
What Searns calls “fourth-generation greenways” prioritize ecological goals and combine them with recreational attractions. In his view, these objectives go hand-in-hand when planning effective land and water corridors.
For example, the creation and maintenance of a blueway requires both removal of pollution — an environmental issue — and the creation of whitewater “staircases” for boaters to safely bypass dams — a recreational issue.
Modern greenways and blueways in Onondaga County exemplify this approach, with some even emphasizing environmental conservation over public recreation. Waffner explained that land for greenways is fully purchased or put under easement — a legal restriction on use of the land — and cared for to ensure the survival of the natural habitat.
“Conservation greenways are great for just securing ecologically sensitive areas,” Waffner said. “People might not necessarily be able to tromp through on a trail, but it’ll secure that habitat for another century.”
Waffner has observed a positive trend in attitudes towards greenways as more people take advantage of their benefits. Enhanced public awareness of greenways has also placed more attention on how the nearby land is developed, whether for agriculture, housing or other projects.
“I think you see more people coming out, and being out in the fresh air, being out in nature exercising, walking, using the trails out there,” Waffner said. “We’re blessed with a number of lakes in Onondaga County, and protecting the watersheds in each of those lakes, and how we do it, and how we go about it, and having plans that’ll work — you’re seeing a lot of support from the local community for all of that.”
Onondaga Lake Park has its own ambitions, according to its informational trail marker: “An in-water causeway from this point to the Inner Harbor area and bluff trails connecting to the New York State Fairgrounds is on the horizon.” As is, this greenway successfully offers a natural refuge to those who seek it — human and wildlife alike.
“We’ve been a motorized society for 100 years,” Waffner said. “It’s nice to see people get back out and enjoy biking or walking or whatever it is on these trails. And just enjoying nature and understanding nature and what it means.”