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| May 09, 2008 |
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By Amy Souers and Betsy Otto Golden Ball Last April, a golden ball descended on New York City. In one day, this ball and its keepers floated down the Bronx River, from the outer suburbs to the inner city. People from these diverse neighborhoods, dancers, and musicians walked the ten-mile route, following the ball’s journey down the river that connects their homes. Celebrations along the riverbank welcomed the golden ball, a symbol of life, sun, world, and energy. This community art event spotlighted the renaissance of the Bronx River. The Bronx River flows through some of the most impoverished communities in the nation. For years the river was largely forgotten, hidden behind industrial buildings and piles of scrap metal, lost under highways and elevated tracks. A local woman who grew up near the river was recently quoted in The New York Times admitting, "It did not occur to me that there could be anything natural in the Bronx." br> Now that the City of New York is investing in the waterfront, the river’s natural qualities and beauty will be more apparent and accessible. More than $60 million has been devoted to restoring wetlands, cleaning up trash, and creating parks, walkways, bike paths, and piers. A new Bronx River Greenway should be completed in 2002. A $23 million plant will soon take care of overflowing sewage and stormwater. As the river comes back to life, it will attract tourists and be a place of respite for locals. It will prove that nature does indeed exist in the city. The "golden ball" day just might become an annual event. Rush to the Riverfront Rivers haven’t always been so valued. In the mid-nineteenth century, many cities turned away from their rivers as railroads made water transportation obsolete. Waterfront streets and shops were abandoned. Industries and scrap yards overtook the banks. Many urban rivers were little more than open sewers, conduits for waste. But today, thanks to the successes of the Clean Water Act, most of our urban rivers are no longer toxic or pose a direct threat to human health. And as many cities shift from an industrial to a service economy, factories, smokestacks and warehouses no longer monopolize every riverbank. Economic prosperity has freed dollars for urban renewal initiatives. Environmental consciousness is more prevalent today, fostering a stewardship ethic for natural resources. Growing interest in outdoor recreation has more people interested in what their local rivers have to offer. City planners are realizing that an attractive riverfront can act as a magnet that keeps people and businesses downtown and counteracts sprawl. River renaissances similar to that of the Bronx are taking place across the country in cities like Chicago, Denver, Portland, and Redmond. The attraction of urban rivers isn’t new—cities have been revitalizing downtown riverfronts over the past 20 or so years. What’s new is that cities are now aiming for more than economic development. Many of today’s cities are taking a more comprehensive approach, incorporating multiple objectives: ecological integrity, economic vitality, and a sense of community. These visionary cities are proving that an ecologically healthy river is the centerpiece of a successful and sustainable riverfront revitalization. But what constitutes good riverfront development? What kind of planning is best for the river? While there is no single blueprint that fits every river, there are some general principles planners should stick to. And recent riverfront projects offer lessons about desirable and not-so-desirable approaches. RiverWalk, RiverShop, RiverEat Over the past 30 years, most riverfront revitalization efforts have been driven by economic goals alone. San Antonio, Texas is a prime example of a city that used its riverfront to pump new life into its downtown economy. The San Antonio Riverwalk is, after the Alamo, the most visited attraction in the state. A good riverfront makes the most of the river’s character. It incorporates the community’s history and culture. A good riverfront captures the spirit of place and creates a distinctive, memorable experience. This is where the San Antonio Riverwalk succeeds. The city’s development and promotion of the Riverwalk’s unique character has been so successful, many other cities look to San Antonio as a model. Signage and other pedestrian-scale design guidelines maintain the style of the pathways and buildings. Visitors can walk alongside the river to shops, restaurants, hotels, and entertainment facilities. They can glide in natural gas-powered boats past storefronts, shaded rock walls and bridges. They can even take a virtual Riverwalk tour on the city’s website. But what about the actual river? Visit the Riverwalk around the first or second week of January, and you won’t see any water. That’s because the city drains the river like a bathtub around this time of year for a good scrubbing. This stretch of the San Antonio River isn’t quite a river—it’s a concrete channel. And it needs ongoing maintenance because of its artificial nature. The river’s natural bed of sand, mud, and rocks was paved and straitjacketed by a flood control project in the early part of the 20th century. The original features of this stretch of river and the native fish, birds, and wildlife are largely gone. The San Antonio Riverwalk shows how successful river-centered economic development can be. But economic vitality is only one piece of the puzzle that is smart riverfront design. While San Antonio’s Riverwalk is an economic and historic preservation success, it fails to address in any significant way the needs of the river ecosystem. From Slaughterhouses to Swimming Races For years, the Chicago River was a sewer clogged with slaughterhouse waste, a working canal monopolized by barges. In 1885, a cholera and typhoid epidemic killed 90,000 Chicagoans when a storm washed sewage from the Chicago River into Lake Michigan, the city's drinking water source. Then, in 1900, sanitary engineers reversed the flow of the river to prevent a recurrence of epidemics, giving the city the world's only river that flows backward (sent south via a canal to the Illinois River). Today, however, the Chicago River and other area waterways are on the rebound, thanks to water quality improvements and a large-scale restoration effort. The local conservation group, Friends of the Chicago River, even holds annual swimming races. The City of Chicago has big plans for its riverfront, with economic vitality as one of the goals. But the city is also insisting on high water quality, increased public access, enhanced wildlife habitats, and better recreation opportunities. Now, in addition to industrial barges, the river also hosts families in pedalcraft, couples sipping champagne in gondolas, pedestrians strolling on riverside walkways, herons perching on the banks, and even though the fish aren’t safe to eat just yet, fishermen hauling out bluegill and bass. "People in Chicago used to perceive the river as gritty and grimy," says Laurene von Klan, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River. "Now, the local television news anchors sit in front of a picture of the city with the river flowing through it." And the Chicago Tribune recently observed that the river is "about to challenge Chicago’s lakefront and the Loop for the heart and soul of the city." Von Klan acknowledges that restoring an urban waterway has its challenges. "Rivers like the Chicago that are used for commerce have been substantially deepened—the substrate has changed, the shape of the bottom is different. So physical habitat restoration can be difficult in some of the really urban areas," she says. Even so, a wide variety of projects on the river and throughout the watershed are ensuring that the river’s health—the foundation for all of this vibrant riverfront activity continues on the upswing. Easy, safe, and affordable public access is critical to any good riverfront plan. Access via foot, bike, public transit, or boat should be available to all. And the river should be visually accessible (frequent, interesting views from parks, picnic areas, shops, and restaurants) as well as physically accessible. In the Chicago public housing development of Lathrop Homes, access was one of the riverfront restoration goals. Residents created a riverside path, re-graded the steep bank, built graceful steps down to the river edge, and added benches so they could sit under riverside trees. Local children planted hundreds of new grasses and shrubs and created a meandering wood-chipped path—a plus for the residents and a plus for the river, as well. Smart riverfront designs use a minimum of concrete sidewalks and other forms of "hardscaping." These hard surfaces create stormwater runoff that degrades river water quality and causes bank and in-stream erosion. Porous materials, like mulch, gravel and sand allow rainwater and snowmelt to absorb into the ground rather than rushing directly into the river. This area is now one of the most popular spots in the housing development. "The river continues to validate the community...There’s a sense of pride in the community that this is our river," said David Jones, Friends of the Chicago River’s community planner. In addition to connecting people with the river, a good riverfront design connects the neighborhood with the larger community. A network of pathways should link surrounding homes, shops, offices, and recreation areas. The Lathrop Homes revitalization project includes a pedestrian pathway to nearby shopping centers. "It connects this community to the rest of the Northside of Chicago, to the watershed, to the Great Lakes...it puts them on the map," says Jones. The Chicago River is also getting a boost from several wetlands restorations. Wetlands are essential parts of a river ecosystem and should be protected or enhanced in any riverfront plan. While wetlands can’t filter out certain urban pollutants like salt, lead, and mercury, they are very effective in improving overall water quality. In a suburb north of Lathrop Homes, volunteers helped restore wetlands in Prairie Wolf Slough to manage stormwater. This site in the Chicago River floodplain now contains 28 acres of restored wetland and wet prairie as well as 14 acres of restored forest. Prairie Wolf Slough now retains excess water and helps reduce flooding. It also filters out pollutants from nearby commercial and residential developments. Playing on the Platte Old mattresses, rubber tires, grass clippings, and diesel oil. Concrete trucks backing up and flushing out their mixers, releasing a gray lava-like flow onto the riverbank. Not so long ago, these were the common sights on Denver’s South Platte River. Today, visitors are more likely to see mallards, catfish and kids along the river. Denver’s $45 million South Platte River Project is rehabilitating the South Platte, creating new parks and greenways, restoring wildlife habitat, and providing natural flood control. A centerpiece of the riverfront revitalization effort is the 20-acre Commons Park. Riverside parks and their associated grass, open space, and trees are always better for a river ecosystem than, say, a riverside parking lot. But some parks are definitely better for the river ecosystem than others. A good park essentially serves as a bulwark between developed areas and the river. The outer zone of the park can work well as an area for athletic fields, bike paths, and playgrounds. The area closer to the stream should be wooded and is a good place for trails and shaded picnic areas. The wooded area along the stream bank should remain relatively undisturbed, but can provide benches, trails, and limited water access. This buffer of native vegetation along the stream is a simple and effective way to protect water quality and provide habitat. But just how big does this vegetated buffer need to be? That depends on the size of the river, land use and topography, and what you want the buffer to do. If the stream is small and the goal is simply to stabilize eroding banks, a 35-foot wide buffer of native grasses, shrubs, and trees should do the trick. If you want the buffer to remove pollutants, it should be no less than 100 feet wide. If the goal is to protect wildlife habitat, a generally accepted minimum buffer width is 300 feet. If the river is large and you need to protect against flood damage, the buffer should cover a large portion of the floodplain. The steeper the slope, the wider the buffer needs to be so it can absorb the runoff that gains speed and force as it rushes downhill. In highly urbanized areas, however, a buffer might not be enough. According to the Connecticut River Joint Commissions, a Vermont-New Hampshire working group, "An urban buffer’s ability to treat stormwater depends on how much the flow has become channelized before it enters, and how long it is detained in the buffer." So, if a buffer receives large amounts of runoff from a street, flow-spreading devices like multiple curb cuts and spacers might be necessary to redistribute the flow. Small buildings, like pavilions and comfort facilities, and paved streets should be set as far back from the buffer as possible (at least 500 feet). No large permanent structures should be built within the 100-year floodplain. Not only do these large buildings increase the amount of impervious surface, exacerbating the runoff problem, but they increase the risk of high-cost flood damage. Creating parks and buffers that benefit the river ecosystem might mean giving up some traditional notions of what’s "pretty." Pruned geometric shrubs or overly landscaped and manicured turf lawns, for example, don’t encourage biodiversity and often require harmful pesticides. Beds of non-native flowers are not be the best food source for local insects, birds, and wildlife. Denver’s Commons Park proves it is possible for a park to be beautiful and ecosystem-friendly. The park’s west edge along the South Platte was designed to enhance the river’s natural character. Native grasses and trees, such as peachleaf willow, wild rose, and chokecherry predominate. A special "seep" or wetlands with water-loving plants like sedges and cottonwoods will handle the river’s occasional floods. The city is developing a vegetation guidebook that will identify preferred species and planting and maintenance practices. Since the restoration began, local school kids have been reconnecting with the river—in large part thanks to Mayor Wellington Webb, who grew up on the banks of the South Platte. The mayor wants kids to use the river as a playground and a classroom. Inner-city kids now have the opportunity to be trained as river tour guides and over 50,000 school children have taken field trips to the river to learn about the ecosystem and South Platte history. Good riverfront plans foster education, not just for children but for adults, too. Interpretive kiosks and signs can help people understand the river’s place in community history and current life. Education...and fun. At one of Denver’s first riverside parks, the highlight isn’t native plants, it’s whitewater. At Confluence Park, kayakers can slip out during their lunch breaks to paddle class II-III rapids. Rollerbladers, joggers, and spawners Redmond, Washington’s Sammamish River is typical of many urban and suburban streams. The river lost much of its riparian area and native vegetation when the Army Corps of Engineers straightened and reconstructed the river into a deep trapezoidal channel in the 1960s. Straitjacketing the river destroyed habitat and dealt a blow to the river’s once-abundant salmon. The Army Corps’ heavy-handed approach defied the most basic rule of thumb in riverfront planning: ‘let the river be a river.’ Fortunately, that fundamental principle is now the driving force behind Redmond’s revitalization project. Today, the river is regaining its shape, flow, and other natural characteristics. Out behind City Hall, engineers are re-creating some of the river’s meanders and curves and adding boulders, root wads, and gravel bars to the once uniform and sterile channel. Salmon have already benefited from a pilot project on another 300-foot long stretch of riverbank. Just west of City Hall, the bank was graded into a series of earth benches. The top of the bank was moved back from the river about 50 feet at its maximum point. These benches were planted with native vegetation and provide the potential for different habitat zones. They also are helping to maintain the river’s flood flow capacity. Tying these restoration projects together is Redmond’s new riverwalk, a thoroughfare of joggers and bikers and shoppers and migrating salmon. From the golden ball of Bronx to the red fish of Redmond, these riverfront revitalization projects are changing the way we see ourselves in our environments. People are reconnecting with their rivers. As Mayor of Milwaukee John Norquist wrote from the banks of the Milwaukee River, "When people walk, talk, work, eat, drink, boat, and play by the water, when it becomes part of their day-to-day life and not merely a special-occasion destination, a real constituency for clean water is created." The challenge for planners is not only to protect and restore rivers’ natural qualities in the midst of on-going development, but to allow for change, as rivers are constantly evolving and restoration is an evolving science. The challenge for riverside communities is to talk to each other; learn about the ideas and techniques that are constantly being refined and improved and then create your own unique renaissance. For more on rivers and riverfronts, visit: http://www.americanrivers.org Other useful links... Waterfront Regeneration Trust: http://www.waterfronttrust.com/docs/trustdoc/principles.html The Waterfront Center: http://www.waterfrontcenter.org Stream Corridor Restoration Handbook: http://www.usda.gov/stream_restoration/ Watersheds, Stormwater, and Stream Restoration: http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid277.asp Urban Water Resources: http://depts.washington.edu/cuwrm/ The Clean Water Network: http://www.cwn.org/ Association of State Floodplain Managers: http://www.floods.org/ River Network: http://www.rivernetwork.org Center for Watershed Protection: http://www.cwp.org/ Nonpoint Pollution Education for Municipal Officials: http://www.canr.uconn.edu/ces/nemo/index.html |
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