City Parks and Recreation Director Sherri Proud said the project will be the first of four . . .

City officials also are working with the University of Iowa Civil and Environmental Engineering Department to install a system near the water that monitors the level of bacteria in the creek from day to day.

“That is really cool,” Proud said. . . .

The Clear Creek trailhead also is a part of the Clear Creek Master Plan, Proud said. The plan calls for the preservation of the 300 acres of green space between UI property and the interchange between Interstate 80 and Interstate 380.

– Kathryn Fiegen, “Coralville planning for multi-use Clear Creek trailhead; Set to be built next year; will be first of four such structures,” Iowa City Press-Citizen, March 20, 2008, p. B1.

Over 150 years ago far-sighted New York legislators bought what is now the 843 acres in downtown New York we call “Central Park.” Their $5 million investment is now worth over one-half trillion dollars. Today there are Iowans who are equally far-sighted.

These Iowans’ creation of open spaces, wildlife habitats, parks, urban boundaries, wetlands, “smart growth,” and prairies — whether from private gifts or voluntary sales — are all a part of a fast-growing movement that has brought together hunters and animal rights advocates, farmers and small businesses, liberals and conservatives, old and young, joggers and birders, environmentalists and realtors, those pedaling bikes and paddling canoes, county commissioners and religious leaders.

This site is dedicated to, and offered as a resource for, all of the above — as well as a source of ideas regarding the possibilities of what are called “greenbelts.”