GAINESVILLE - The trails at the Linwood Nature Preserve are ready for hikers, walkers and nature lovers of all ages and skill levels as officials with the Red Bud Project and Gainesville Parks and Recreation cut a vine to open the trails Friday morning.
The department and non-profit worked together for several years to make the preserve just off Thompson Bridge Road a reality.
"The Linwood Nature Preserve is the Red Bud Project's model for environmental conservation to get people into the woods of Hall County/Gainesville that are so spectacular with native plants. It's a unique area of the United States, and when we realized that, we decided we better do something about preserving it, smart growth and sustainable development, because we were being highly developed," said Margaret Rasmussen, executive director of the Red Bud Project.
"Then we were looking for a place to get people in to the woods so they would understand what we were talking about... then Parks and Recreation, Michael Graham, the deputy director said, 'I think I have a place for you. In 2002, the city bought 14 acres of the Linwood Nature Preserve, with green space money from the government, and didn't have the money to develop it. So Red Bud Project, you can do it.'"
Judge John Girardeau, Vision 2030 Green Space Initiative chairman delivered the keynote address. Girardeau has lived in Gainesville since 1973, and said he's seen huge changes to Hall County. He said the growth is expected to continue, which means more people and more buildings. "We must recognize that all of our land is destined to be put to some human use. If any of it is to be preserved in its natural condition, it must be as a deliberate setting aside of it for our human use."
"Georgia has 22 million acres of private forest. That forest, which includes the soil, the plants, the birds, animals and insects, provided $37.6 billion in water filtration, flood prevention and carbon sequestration. An acre of trees here in Linwood will absorb enough carbon dioxide over a year to equal the amount produced by a car driven 26,000 miles."
The Nature Preserve features several nature trails, a native plant refuge, rain gardens, arboretum of canopy trees, a prairie of wildflowers and low-growing shrubs, an invasive plant management initiative, a youth sanctuary and the Lorene and Harry Martin Re-creation Refuge at the trailhead.
