| |
|
|
|
|
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 and forests. 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 it its cities and suburbs.
To realize the Greensward vision, Regional Plan Association is now working with a variety of public and private partners to conserve three critical region-shaping landscapes: New York - New Jersey Harbor, Long Island Sound, and the Appalachian Highlands in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. See the links below for more information a complete description.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
NY - NJ Highlands |
|
The Appalachian Highlands in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut encompass more than 235,000 acres of public open space hosting more than 14 million recreation visits yearly, clean drinking water for 12 million people, and much of the region's biological heritage, including the few remaining unfragmented forests critical to the survival of migratory songbirds.
Regional Plan Association has been working with a variety of public and private partners such as the USDA Forest Service and the Highlands Coalition to establish a greenbelt in this two million acre landscape. |
 |
Highlands To Ocean Map |
|
The 1,500 square miles of open waters and the 800 miles of urban waterfronts that comprise the New York-New Jersey Harbor are poised to become one of the Region's preeminent open space resources. RPA is working to ensure that the reinvention of the harbor enhances its incredible habitat resources, the character of existing waterfront communities, and the rights of the public to access the shoreline and waters
Current priority projects include creating parks and new uses on Governors Island, establishing an 18 mile Greenway along the Brooklyn Waterfront, redeveloping Riis Park and Fort Tilden on the Rockaways, and the promoting the preservation of the estuary environment while modernizing our port facilities.
|
 |
Keyspan |
|
Long Island Sound is one of the Region's most important and inaccessible open spaces. Only 20% of the shoreline is accessible to the general public.
RPA and a public/private work group are partnering to promote the development of a Long Island Sound Stewardship System. This system of protected sites will preserve the Sound's upland and estuarine natural systems while providing new recreation and public access opportunities for the 12 million residents of counties bordering Long Island Sound.
|
|
|
|
|
