The Greenway's opening marked a turning point in the history of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. The miles-long riverfront park features paved bike trails, Frisbee golf, cross-country ski trails and pedestrian bridges across the Red River.
Today, it's on the short list if residents' favorite Grand Cities attractions. It's a powerful piece of evidence that the cities emerged from the 1997 flood "better than ever."
And it shows the incomparable value that recreational amenities can provide.
North Dakota should take note.
Minnesota learned this lesson long ago. As a result, the Minnesota state park system ranks among America's best.
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In contrast, North Dakota has less public land than almost any other state. As mentioned before in this space, only Rhode Island devotes less acreage to its state parks -- and Rhode Island is 1/70th North Dakota's size.
In the past, the Conservation Reserve Program has helped make up for this shortage of public land. Land kept in CRP provides terrific wildlife habitat and has made North Dakota a destination for hunters from throughout the Midwest.
But today, hunters face the potential loss of 80 percent of the CRP acres by 2015, participants at a Bismarck conference on "The Future of Hunting" learned last week.
The next farm bill will have to be especially generous to convince farmers to keep conservation land out of production. But what if it isn't?
If it isn't, then North Dakota should consider making up some of the difference itself.
The federal program has proved its worth time and time again. North Dakota has derived tremendous benefits from it -- enough so that the program should be kept strong, even if some of the federal funding falls through.
After all, the program not only provides healthy habitat for wildlife and recreational value for hunters, but also it does so without the government having to buy the land. That makes it a comparative bargain, and a place where North Dakota's traditionally prudent use of dollars could go a very long way.
-- Tom Dennis for the Herald
