The Parklands

March 5, 2012

For more than a century, the 45-acre plot of land along Floyds Fork was farmed, most recently for corn and soybeans. But today, the tiny roots of nearly 31,000 tree saplings are taking hold in the field’s rich soil made soggy by seasonal rain.

With federal funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a crew from 21st Century Parks is seeking to restore a native woodland on the site by planting northern red oaks, pin oaks, pecans, persimmon, black cherry, black walnut and nine other native Kentucky species.

They are connecting the future forest to other woodlands in Turkey Run Park, the largest in a string of parks and protected open spaces in the developing Parklands of Floyds Fork.

“This is as clean as we have been in two weeks,” said Andy Oost, who was covered in mud along with Jason Grigsby and Corinne Witzel, the crew working the tractor and tree-planting machine in the field on a recent soggy morning.

“You are using the dirt on your sleeve to wipe off the mud on your face,” Witzel said, adding that she looks forward to bringing her children to the field in the future to watch the forest take shape.

The nonprofit 21st Century Parks is responsible for fundraising, land acquisition, construction, operation and maintenance of the new park system.

The Parklands project is developing a recreation corridor along 27 miles of the creek between Shelbyville and Bardstown roads. It is scheduled for completion in 2015.

The saplings planted in recent months look like sticks now, with leaves still hidden inside their winter buds. They rise just a foot or two from the ground and have been planted in rows eight feet apart.

Volunteers will plant the final 100 trees destined for the field on March 17. In all, 21st Century Parks will plant about 45,000 trees this year, including 15,000 in a bottomlands areas of Beckley Creek Park at the northern end of the recreation corridor, said parks director Scott Martin.

The goal of the Turkey Run project is to connect the largest existing block of forest within the Parklands with the Floyds Fork stream corridor.

Martin said the field where the crew was working had likely been farmed for 100 to 150 years. The Parklands master plan calls for maintaining about 300 acres of the property as farmland to showcase the area’s heritage, he said.

The land where the trees were planted was once owned by Squire Boone, Daniel Boone’s brother, and the original deed was signed by Thomas Jefferson when he was governor of Virginia, Martin said.

At some point, the Turkey Run creek appears to have been moved to the side of the field, which was a common practice for Kentucky settlers, Martin said. There are no immediate plans to restore the creek’s original course, he said.

Trees that like moist soil have been planted in the wetter areas and those that like drier soil have been planted in appropriate parts of the field, said Gary Rzepecki, 21st Century Parks natural areas manager.

He said the Kentucky Division of Forestry assisted on the tree species selection, with a goal of improving wildlife habitat, reducing soil erosion, providing shade and improving air quality.

“This is very fertile; it’s great soil for growing trees,” Rzepecki said, adding that much of it would flood during high water on Floyds Fork.

Kurt Mason, a conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the project is part of a $69,000 grant to 21st Century Parks. He said the tree plantings will also represent “a land use that is sustainable” and will be a gift to the next generation.

The newly planted trees may grow 15 to 25 feet within 20 years, depending on the species, he said.

“The burr oaks take forever, but in 100 years, you have the most majestic trees in Kentucky,” he said. “We’re committed to that 100-year vision for the land.”

-James Bruggers

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Fredrick Law Olmsted had a bigger influence on the greening of Louisville, Kentucky, than anyone else. He designed three flagship parks, a series of parkways, and dozens of campuses and private gardens throughout the city.

Now, a group of Louisville residents is aiming to advance Olmsted’s legacy out to the city’s suburban fringe. Four interconnected parks, known collectively as the Parklands, would hug much of the northeastern and southern edge of the Louisville/Jefferson County line. Totaling nearly 4,000 acres, five times the size of New York’s Central Park (which Olmstead also designed), The Parklands will include a variety of recreational areas and, hopefully, a major new civic realm in Louisville’s largely undifferentiated urban fringe.

“The guiding principal with what Olmsted did in Louisville’s parks or what he did with Central Park in New York, is that you create a different trajectory for growth,” says Dan Jones, CEO of 21st Century Parks, the non-profit that’s been assembling the parcels and leading the development of the The Parklands.

Designed by Philadelphia-based landscape architects WRT, the parks will include over 50,000 new trees, restored creek beds to improve water quality in both the Fork and the Ohio River, and over 300 acres for community garden plots, orchards, and field crops like corn. Jones plans to partner with environmental, farming, and educational groups to program the agricultural areas, as well as provide space for farmer’s markets. Some historic structures will be retained and reused within the parks: a grain silo, for instance, will be turned into a climbing wall.

In addition to the parks themselves, Jones and his team have lobbied to include the parks inConerstone 2020, the city’s long-range land use plan. Louisville has a merged city and county government, so suburban development within the county falls under that plan. The Parklands will be one of the first open space initiatives carried out Cornerstone 2020, providing a major public amenity in a part of the county largely defined by private subdivision development.

21st Century Parks has recently acquired three stalled subdivision sites adjacent to The Parklands, which will be developed to support the project’s endowment (developed largely through private fundraising, Parklands is meant to be self-supporting, with no additional tax burden for Louisville residents). To date, the foundation has raised $13 million for its endowment, with a goal of eventually raising between $50 and 60 million.

After purchasing the 550 acre development, the 21st Century Parks Endowment donated a portion of the acreage to the parks for connecting bike trails. Jones also plans to make sure tree-planting, sidewalks, and building orientation address the parks. The second subdivision covers 117 acres, and will be developed as a denser “conservation subdivision” with 199 housing units, along with connecting green spaces. About half of the smallest development parcel will be used for an Endowment-owned restaurant or event space. “With these sites, we hope to both support the endowment of the parks and directly influence development in adjacent areas,” Jones says. “We wanted to capture some of the value of these parks.”

With over 3700 acres acquired, and a small first phase opening last summer, the Parklands is rapidly becoming a reality. Put together almost entirely with private funds, the project has encountered little opposition. If anything, in this city Olmsted helped to define, the Parklands has been embraced, though the scope of its impact will undoubtedly unfold for decades to come.

Keywords: Louisville, Parks, Suburbs, Sustainai

Alan G. Brake is the midwest editor of The Architect’s Newspaper and has written for Architectural Record, Metropolis, New York Times and other publications.

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March 1, 2012

Over the past four years, photographers Bob Hower, John Nation and Ted Wathen have been working with 21st Century Parks to document the creation of The Parklands of Floyds Fork.

With more than 4,000 acres, the park is being funded in part by 21st Century Parks and has been heralded as one of the country’s largest urban park projects. In an exhibit opening today, “The Vision of a Generation: Photographs From The Parklands of Floyds Fork,” there are 36 photographs by this trio of photographers with images of different seasons and the diverse landscapes.

It’s showing at The Green Building Gallery, 732 E. Market St., through April 27. There is a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the gallery. For more information, call (502) 561-1162 or visitwww.thegreenbuilding.net/gallery or theparklands.org.

— Elizabeth Kramer, The Courier-Journal

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February 25, 2012 

Kentucky fishery officials have added Floyds Fork to the state waters that will be stocked with trout this year.

Floyds Fork, which cuts through eastern Jefferson County before joining the Salt River near Shepherdsville, is slated to get 2,500 trout in March, 2,500 in April and another 2,500 in October. They will be stocked at the canoe ramp at Miles Park Lake and near where the stream flows beneath I-64.

All trout stocked will be what the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources describes as “catchable size” rainbows — typically 10-12 inches.

The I-64 access is not yet open to the public, according to Scott Martin, parks director of the 21st Century Parks project, a nonprofit group working to develop a system of trails and other publicly accessible amenities along a 27-mile stretch of the creek.

Martin hopes some of the 21st Century Park facilities will be open this fall, adding that canoeist, kayakers and other paddlers already can access the area by boat.

Trout are a cold-water species and become stressed when water temperatures climb into the 70s, so the stream will be managed as a put-grow-and-take trout fishery. The statewide daily limit for rainbow trout is eight, with no minimum size restriction.

Stocking dates have not been announced.

Trout stockings already are under way at several of the Fishing in Neighborhoods lakes, including Jefferson County’s Cherokee Park Lake, Fisherman’s Park lakes 3 and 4, Miles Park lake 4, Tom Wallace Park Lake, Watterson Park Lake and Waverly Park Lake.

In addition to a state fishing license, a trout permit is required to keep trout.

The Creekside Playground will reopen on Saturday — the restrooms will remain temporarily closed. Thank you for your patience.

The Creekside Playground is closed due to a water main break. We will keep you updated as soon as we are able to reopen, if you have any questions, please call (502) 584-0350.