ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
THE FORMER FORESTER will coordinate efforts to build a series of greenways that people can use for biking, hiking and walking.
With money in the bank toward its first greenway project and funding from four Roanoke Valley governments, a committee of activists has hired the area's first greenways coordinator.
Elizabeth Hawk Belcher, a Roanoke County resident and former forester in the Jefferson National Forest, began working full time in the $27,500 position Aug.1. She will coordinate efforts to build a system of linear parks in the Roanoke Valley that activists have been planning for nearly two years.
Belcher, who holds a master's degree in forestry and outdoor recreation from Virginia Tech, was chosen from more than 20 applicants around the state.
"We've got a wonderful person," said Helen Smythers, chief of community development for the Fifth Planning District Commission and a member of the committee. "We looked all over the state and found the perfect person living right here in Roanoke."
Greenways are paved and unpaved linear parks that people use for biking, hiking, walking, for recreation or point-to-point transportation. There have been several greenway-planning efforts in the valley during the past 90 years, but none has materialized.
Belcher's goal, Smythers said, is to get greenways under way in all four jurisdictions in the next year.
"Under way means we want to walk on it, or bike on it, or roller-blade on it," Smythers said.
Belcher's office is in the commission's headquarters on Luck Avenue Southwest. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Her salary, plus office overhead, travel and conference fees, is funded out of $60,000 in contributions made by Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton. Prodded by greenway activists, the four Roanoke Valley governments this year appropriated the money during their budget processes. The fund is administered by the Fifth Planning District Commission.
Belcher and her family live on Grandin Road Extension just outside the city.
She worked as a forester with the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1978 to 1985, and during that time she wrote the Forest Service's plan for Mount Rogers National Recreation Area.
She also has worked as a planner for the Appalachian Trail Conference and wrote the Virginia Appalachian Trail Management Plan. Belcher also served on the board of directors of Trail People Inc., a small business that contracts with government agencies for trail design and construction.
She holds a bachelor's degree in English from St. Lawrence University. Besides her master's from Tech, she has completed graduate courses there in forest recreation and public administration.
"Her experience and education make her ideally suited for the job," said Lucy Ellett, chairwoman of the Roanoke Valley Greenways Steering Committee. "Through her leadership, we are confident that greenways will soon become a reality in the Roanoke Valley."
The steering committee was formed late in 1984 to lobby Roanoke Valley governments on developing an interconnected system of trail parks.
After a series of public workshops, the committee last year chose as its first project a greenway from the City Market to the Mill Mountain Star. As part of its path, that park is expected to follow the old Mill Mountain access road off Walnut Avenue.
Eventually, it would be extended from Mill Mountain Park to Explore Park.
Early this year, the city applied for a $483,364 grant to develop the greenway. The Commonwealth Transportation Board last spring awarded slightly less than half of that - or $240,000 - for the project.
Smythers said the city is trying to figure out if it can make the project work for that sum, or if additional funding must be found.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Belcherby CNB