Reichert introduces Greenway bill in Congress, hoping to preserve MTS Greenway for future generations

Guest post by Amy Brockhaus, information manager at Mountains to Sound Greenway

Do you ride your bicycle in the Mountains to Sound Greenway?

Chances are, if you ride with Cascade Bicycle Club or live in the Puget Sound region, you do. The Greenway is a 1.5 million-acre landscape that connects the Seattle metropolitan area, through rural eastern King County, over Snoqualmie Pass, and into the grasslands of central Washington.

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We enjoy nature on our doorstep in the Mountains to Sound Greenway, which is why the Greenway Trust is leading a bipartisan campaign to have the U.S. Congress designate this extraordinary landscape as a National Heritage Area. Congressman Dave Reichert introduced H.R. 1785 in the House with co-sponsors Adam Smith and Jim McDermott, and we hope to see a similar bill in the Senate in the near future.

Making the Greenway a National Heritage Area will convey the national significance of this landscape and ensure the Greenway remains a magnificent place for generations to come. Heritage Area framework will enable cooperative action and efficiencies among public land managers, without affecting land ownership or private property rights.

Twenty years of conservation have protected the natural heritage of the Greenway. Today, this network of parks, forests, farms and cities is both our history and our way of life. Tomorrow, imagine a world-class regional trail system without missing trail links, coordinated maps and consistent trail names. Envision cities, government agencies, nonprofits and citizens working together to create bicycle routes for both transportation and recreation.

Officially recognizing the Greenway will be a major milestone in fostering the kind of collaboration that will help preserve this place for future generations.

Now, we need your help to keep this campaign going!  Voice your support at www.greenwayheritage.org. Sign an online petition, ask your Facebook friends to sign on, submit a support letter from your organization, or contact your representatives in Congress.

Happy trails!