Buzzards Bay Greenway Trail

Why a Greenway Trail?

Update - Buzzards Bay Greenway:

The Coalition for Buzzards Bay - Bay Lands Center is taking the initiative to create a BUZZARDS BAY GREENWAY. It will connect Freetown/Fall River State Forest, Acushnet Cedar Swamp, Haskell Swamp Wildlife Management Area and Myles Standish State Forest with a protected corridor of open space from Fall River to Plymouth with coastal greenway spurs to the Bay. When completed, it will cross 10 town lines and 7 major rivers, and will link more than 25,000 protected acres by a nearly 75 mile trail corridor.

The vision for the regional greenway began in 1995 as a local grassroots initiative aided by a DEM Greenways and Trails Grant. Green Futures and Friends of the Freetown Forest planned and completed the first three-mile link through the Freetown/Fall River Forest and dubbed it the Watuppa/Wampanoag Heritage Trail. Two years later, Greater Fall River Land Conservancy and the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust laid groundwork to extend the trail through the Copicut Greenbelt another 15 miles to reach the Acushnet Cedar Swamp State Reservation in New Bedford.

Soon after the establishment of its Bay Lands Center in 1998, The Coalition for Buzzards Bay set itself to completing the vision of a regional greenway, underpinning creation of the long-distance walking trail with a regional land protection strategy that will acquire important forestlands, wildlife habitat, drinking water resource lands and river corridors within the upper Buzzards Bay watershed.
With assistance from the eight Buzzards Bay land trusts, together with technical and design expertise from the National Park Service Rivers and Trails Program, and a new DEM Greenways and Trails Grant, the Coalition hopes to get the greenway on the fast track to completion.

A series of local community greenway planning meetings in 1999 will bring greenway planning to the public throughout the Buzzards Bay watershed. Citizens will have the opportunity to participate in the process of trail routing and land protection education.

Buzzards Bay Greenway Vital Statistics:

Total Projected Greenway Corridor: 75 miles
Protected Lands in Corridor: 25,000 acres
Currently Open to the Public: 5 miles
Dedicated on May 2: 5 miles

For more info:

The Coalition for Buzzards Bay
17 Hamilton St. PO Box 3006
New Bedford, MA 02740
Phone: (508) 999-6363

www.savebuzzardsbay.org