Since 2011, we’ve shared the vision
of a trail with site manager Julie Kutruff, who has expressed support for the
idea while cautioning that it will take many years to come to
fruition.
This past July, we launched the
Shepherd Parkway Call to Action, which says, in part, “We support for the
construction of a network of hiking trails to make the natural beauty of
Shepherd Parkway safely accessible residents and visitors.”
Every time someone signs onto the
Call, it generates an email to National Capital Parks-East (NCPE)
Superintendent Gopaul Noojibail and
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, among others. Eighty emails were
plenty to get their attention.
In late
August, members of the Committee to Restore Shepherd Parkway met with the
Congresswoman’s staff and shared our vision for Shepherd Parkway, and a week
later we met for the first time with the Superintendent and many of his
deputies. They were open to the idea of a
trail, but reiterated that a long and complex bureaucratic process would have
to play out first.
When we
asked whether any master plan existed for Shepherd Parkway, we were given a
copy the Fort Circle Parks Management Plan that
was completed in 2004. The plan includes a wealth of
information about the Fort Circle Parks generally, but were little specific to
Shepherd Parkway.
The “Management Actions” section of
the plan states that
"A new trail will be developed to
link most of the fort sites and to connect the green corridor of the Fort
Circle Parks system… In the Shepherd Parkway area, the trail will go primarily
along city sidewalks to avert the impacts of a new trail in narrow wooded
corridors and to avoid important wildlife habitat."
Say what? First off, a “hiking
trail” that follows a city sidewalk it not a hiking trail; it’s a sidewalk. We
have enough of those already.
Interestingly, the map on the
following page shows a dotted line going through the center of the Parkway,
with a legend that reads “Self-guided walking tour (Rehabilitate trail where
necessary- route shown is conceptual).”
Shepherd Parkway is the only area
singled out for exclusion from the trail system, and no evidence is offered to
support the claims made.
Shepherd Parkway is wider than
several other “narrow wooded corridors” that currently have hiking
trails. Of course it has “important wildlife habitat,” but so do many of
the other parks with trails. Even designated wilderness areas within major
national parks have trails through them, but Shepherd Parkway is too fragile?
The notion that public must be kept
out of the park in order to protect the natural ecosystem is antithetical to
the mission of the Park Service, which is to “preserve unimpaired the natural
and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the
enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.” What
enjoyment, education, and inspiration can this generation get from Shepherd
Parkway if it is closed off and inaccessible?
Without signage, programing, or
access to wooded areas, residents have had no reason to see the park anything
other than a dumping ground. As a result of this abandonment, trash and
invasive species have already degraded the ecosystem there.
It is ironic: now that a group
of citizens is working tirelessly to restore the park, the same agency that has
neglected the park for decades stands in the way of our vision of reconnecting
Ward 8 residents with the land.
Many questions remain: Who is behind
that decision ten years ago to build trails everywhere except Shepherd Parkway?
What institutional biases are at work? What will it take to overcome this
opposition and blaze a trail forward?
Stay tuned for more as the plot
thickens...
