Imagine traveling on foot, bicycle or horseback through coastal Georgia, winding through arches of live oak trees on your way to tour one of many historical or recreational sites.

The Coastal Georgia Greenway Announces Board of Directors

The Coastal Georgia Greenway Inc. elected its founding board of directors in early September. The eight member board has representatives from four of the six coastal counties that the organization serves.

The Coastal Georgia Greenway lobbies for trail development at the grass roots level. It has partnered with the Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center, city and county governments and related organizations, such as the East Coast Greenway Alliance, the Gullah Geechee National Heritage Corridor and The MillionMile Greenway (MMG). The organization’s mission is to protect and acquire public access to identified trail corridors, plan for trail construction and promote the use of existing and new trails along Coastal Georgia.

Jo Hickson has worked for the Coastal Georgia Greenway since 1993 and believes that the new board will be a boost for the organization. “We now have an organization that can work to develop private sector support for the extensive trail network in coastal Georgia, whereas before most funding was derived from the public sector.

“We know that community leaders and our elected officials see the benefits that trails bring to our historic cities and towns. They know that a safe trail system allows a community to address public health, quality of life, protection of green space, and build its heritage and eco-tourism,” Hickson said.

The following members will initially serve a one-year term on the board and assist the organization with filing for non-profit status:

Dr. Drew Wade: member at large; radiologist with SouthCoast Medical Group, Savannah
Terry Landreth: member at large; owner, Camden Bicycle, St. Marys
Harvey Gilbert: Chatham County Representative; owner, Gilbert Realty Company, Savannah
Rose M. deVries: Chatham County Representative; Vice President – Private Banking, Darby Bank, Savannah
Jamal Touré: Liberty County Representative; owner, Day Clean: the African Soul; Alternate Commissioner, NPS Gullah Geechee National Heritage Corridor Commission
Al Williams: Liberty County Representative; elected State Representative for House District 165
Eunice M. Moore: McIntosh County Representative; Councilwoman, City of Darien
Anne Orr: Camden County Representative; retired attorney, St. Marys

“Current outmoded transportation and land use models are already unsupportable, and projects like the Coastal Georgia Greenway are an excellent means of transforming communities and improving quality of life,” said Drew Wade.

He added, “We have also partnered with organizations including the East Coast Greenway Alliance and The MillionMile Greenway to form a consortium of sorts to further our efforts as a group. By linking together organizations from up and down the coast, and inland Georgia, our combined momentum can better facilitate change.”

McQueen’s Island Trail Renovations

As noted in today’s SMN, the rail trail on McQueen’s Island adjacent to Fort Pulaski has suffered from tidal erosion (and likely from waves sent across from the shipping channel of the Savannah River).  Cheers to Chatham County for their efforts to restore the embattled section of trail using oyster bricks and soil cement.

photo by Richard Burkhart, Savannah Morning News

With that bidding process under their belt, we call on the county to make it a 1-2 punch by using the funding of over $1 million that has already been appropriated for the Truman Linear Park trail phase II.  The first section is already in place from Kerry Street/Dixie Avenue to 52nd along the west side of the Truman Parkway.  Once connected, there will be access for off-road nonmotorized use connecting Daffin Park and Lake Mayer.  The funding is there — let’s put it to work!

SNF-WOW Registration Open

Jacksonville Baldwin TrailAs many of you are aware, we have been working for several months now to bring a group of leaders from Coastal Georgia together on a tour of the best and less than best of trails in Northeast Florida as a tutorial on trail building.  Registration is now open, and we are looking for up to 25 leaders to join us next January.  The registration form is available at this link, or registrants can place a deposit using Paypal (though an additional processing fee applies).

The Savannah-Northeast Florida Workshop on Wheels (SNF-WOW:  notice how the hyphen moves) will convene in St. Marys January 14 for four days of riding Northeast Florida trails and the best of accomodations, all the while developing useful tools with the people working to put those trails on the ground.  Events will conclude Sunday January 18, one day prior to the Martin Luther King holiday.

Organizers for this Coastal Georgia Greenway event include EverBank Jacksonville, Florida’s St. Johns River Alliance, the First Coast Trails Coalition, and the East Coast Greenway Alliance. All-inclusive cost for attendees has been kept at $450 thanks to significant underwriting by the host committee.

Press Release

National Public Lands Day at Fort Pulaski

September 27, 2008

Fort Pulaski National Monument is teaming up with Savannah Tree Foundation to plant trees for National Public Lands Day Saturday September 27. Volunteers can expect to participate in marsh cleanup, trail maintenance, fort cleanup, painting, and of interest to all who look in on the Greenway’s progress, work on continuation of the McQueen’s Island hiker/biker trail.

Of note, Fort Pulaski has identified in their master plan a project to extend the McQueen’s Island trail from their entrance all the way to its eastern boundary at the Lazaretto Creek Bridge, all along the old Savannah to Tybee railbed. This work along with a project from the City of Tybee Island and Chatham County will eventually link Tybee into Fort Pulaski via an off road trail, assuming the appropriate treatment of the Lazaretto Creek bridge could be completed.