Open Space

The Metropolitan Greensward is RPA's vision of a system of protected landscape and water bodies that distinguish the cities and suburbs of the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut metropolitan region.  These region shaping open spaces harbor the Region's most critical natural resource systems, its recreational opportunities and its working landscapes of farms, forests, and water ways.  Together, these protected open lands will help shape future patterns of growth in the Tri-State Region by limiting development at its periphery and enhancing the quality of life in its cities and suburbs.

To realize this vision, RPA undertakes landscape assessments and plans that identify critical natural resources and support the establishment of individual parks and regional institutions.  Our policy research provides insight on critical issues, especially on how conservation practice and ecosystem services can help sustain other economic uses in these landscapes.  We advocate for the long term stewardship of these places, including creating new on-going coalitions and organizations.  

Working together with hundreds of public agencies and civic leaders, RPA has seen considerable success since its campaign was launched.  These include establishment of New York State's Third Forest Preserve and the Pine Barrens Commission to protect and manage the 100,000 acre central Pine Barrens of Long Island; Acquisition of the jewel of the Appalachian Highlands, the 18,000 acre Sterling Forest and establishing a 400,000 core preservation area through the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act in New Jersey; The reinvention of the New York Harbor as a major recreational amenity, with political commitments and more than $ 1 billion of public and private funds invested in Hudson River Park, Riverside South, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Governors Island; and the creation of the 500 acre Keyspan State Park and a commitment to create a Long Island Sound Stewardship System that will help protect thousands of additional acres.  

View the Greensward Map

See the links below for more information on current initiatives in three critical region-shaping landscapes