What Do Trails Mean To You?

After the last year, many people are discovering the value of trails in and around their neighborhoods, for transportation and for recreation, as they try to find safe ways to spend time away from enclosed spaces. In recognition of this need, the City of Iowa City has committed to clearing snow from trails that have typically been left for "winter recreation" so more pedestrians and cyclists can enjoy them throughout the winter. 

My earliest memory of a "trail" is the paved bike path through the woods near my house growing up in the Chicago suburbs. It was just far enough from the house to be exotic, but still near enough to reach without having to drive to an access point. In the winter we would rent cross country skis and work up a sweat, excitedly coasting down the gentle hills, laughing when someone clumsily tipped over or slid down a hill they couldn't get back up. At that time, I didn't pay much attention to the wildlife surrounding the trail; I couldn't tell you about any birds we saw or what kind of spring ephemerals were to be seen before the trees leafed out. It was simply a way to move and be active with my family.

There are other trails: dirt paths worn around an old quarry, scenic trails through state and county parks. But (and maybe I am betraying my suburban softness) my favorites are those wide, smooth trails constructed for easy movement rather than exploration. Gravel and dirt are fine for adventure, but for casual enjoyment a nice asphalt or concrete adds a touch of civilization. 

Those smooth paved trails, however, are an investment. They are costly to construct, and can be costly to maintain. We don't have "trail use taxes" that pay for their construction and upkeep. Every new trail built is an investment in a community, perhaps without an obvious fiscal return on the costs but with both measurable and immeasurable benefits to the people in that community.

People want to live near safe, convenient trails. They are good for health: a safe place for walking, running, and cycling away from vehicle traffic. They provide transportation options for people without cars. They are built on a human scale, for human bodies, where so much of our infrastructure is designed not for people but for automobiles.

Trails allow us to get close to our cultural and historic places on a human level: think of trails alongside old canals, or old railroad tracks repurposed into trails. Our Iowa River Trail takes us right past Hancher and City Park, and along the Iowa River. 

Trails connect communities and provide a conduit for business: imagine a day trip from Iowa City to West Branch via bicycle, or up to Cedar Rapids, with stops at small-town cafes or ice cream shops along the way. What if there were a trail across the state, away from the highways, where you could safely ride from town to town and see all the sights, like a single-serve RAGBRAI. 

We love trails, and it's easy to see the good they do. Be sure to let your elected representatives know as well. Funding for trails comes from federal and state spending, and as our senators and representatives plan budgets, make sure they understand how important trail infrastructure is to our communities. 

 

Contact your representatives:

• Look up your Iowa state legislators and their contact information
  
•  Find your US senators and representative
  

Follow the Rails to Trails Conservancy to learn about other ways you can advocate for trails.

How Many Gallons?!

Over the past few days as we ring in the new year, Iowa City has received somewhere in the neighborhood of a foot of snow blanketing our yards, streets, and parks. We know the drill: enjoy the fluffy flakes falling gently, then head out to shovel the sidewalks, and repeat as needed. 

We watch the birds swarming backyard feeders as the snow blocks access to some of their regular seeds, and follow the tracks of neighborhood dogs, cats, rabbits, and others where the white powder is soft enough to hold prints.

Then, as the days warm, the snow melts. And melts. Where does that foot of snow go?

Just like rainfall and other precipitation, snow melt would typically infiltrate into the ground, where it can help replenish recharge our groundwater supplies, or find its way to wetlands or other areas that can accommodate fluctuating levels of water. 

Our cities and suburbs, however, often interfere with this process. All our paved areas--streets, driveways, parking lots...backyard basketball courts--can prevent water from infiltrating into the ground where it lands and instead diverts it into municipal stormwater systems. These are typically underground tubes that channel water to existing creeks and rivers or specially-constructed basins to collect the water. In these systems, not only the water but everything else on those surfaces finds its way into those waterways: chemicals from treated lawns, oil and trash from streets. Heavy rains can swamp the  rivers and ponds they drain into and cause flooding. It's an imperfect solution to a created problem.

The Sycamore Greenway is an example of an alternative to that imperfect system. Instead of channeling water directly into our rivers and streams, rain and snowmelt from the neighborhoods around the Greenway are instead channeled into dozens of one-acre cells that allow it to infiltrate the ground. From north to south, the cells are stepped down so that excess  water flows down into the outlet basins near Kickers Soccer Park, The entire system can store up to 1.21 million cubic feet of water after a heavy rain.

Bear with me while I do a little sloppy math:

• Ten inches of snow yields around 2715 gallons of water per acre*, so estimating a foot of snow we would get 3258 gallons per acre. 
• My own little suburban yard is around 1/6 an acre, so my property will contribute around 543 gallons to our stormwater system from the recent snows.
• Converting the Greenway's capacity to gallons we get a little over 9 million gallons (estimating 7.48 gallons/cubic foot = 9,050,800)
• Using my yard as an example, the Greenway could accommodate the snow from 16,668 similar properties! 

Obviously these numbers just give a general idea of the services the Greenway provides in removing all this water from our neighborhoods. Because we have transformed the landscape so drastically, we have been forced to construct infrastructure to take care of things that would normally be handled by a functioning natural system. The Sycamore Greenway takes care of the South District in so many ways, not least of which is handling all the rain and snow that falls on us throughout the year.

*Source: USGS Water Science School