Biking has seen an increase during Covid-19 pandemic, local environmentalists say. Allison Glackin said in some areas on local greenways there was a 1243% increase in biking traffic year over year in 2020. Photo: Angeli Wright

After a year of forced changes and subsequent adaptations, Earth Day 2021 can be a time to reflect on how people have impacted the environment during the COVID-19 pandemic, Asheville environmentalists say.

Allison Glackin from Connect Buncombe, a nonprofit organization that promotes greenways, also reported extreme growth in bike traffic on Asheville greenways.

Traffic is tracked at greenway in North Asheville and the River District. At North Asheville, biking in 2020 was up 72% over 2019. At the River District, it was up 124%.

“As much as we’re sad for all the negative things that have happened, the use of greenways, people getting outside, has increased for recreation,” Glackin said. “Things like the greenways and streets and sidewalks have become community centers.”

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From Reid Wilson, Opinion columnist for the Asheville Citizen-Times.

“Fortunately, the state’s hefty cash balance offers a golden opportunity to meet the need for more outdoor recreation, and Governor Roy Cooper’s budget proposes significant increases for parks, trails, and greenways, including:

• Land acquisition to expand existing parks and trails
• Trail building and maintenance
• Construction of new campgrounds
• Grants to local governments to enhance their recreational assets
• Schools in Parks program that provides outdoor experiential learning in parks for elementary school classes
• Conservation Corps North Carolina program that provides paid jobs to young adults to improve trails and parks
• Hiring of additional Rangers and other State Park staff to meet the demands of increased visitation and new facilities
• Land and Water Fund grants to communities to protect and enhance water quality through land conservation along streams and restoration of degraded waterways and wetlands
• Community resiliency by preserving floodplains and converting them to local trails or parks

The park and greenway overcrowding revealed an obvious fact – we simply do not have enough public outdoor recreation assets in North Carolina.  Don’t get me wrong, we are fortunate to have an amazing state park system and outstanding local parks and greenways. But the status quo is falling short.

Not everyone is able to benefit from the outdoors on a regular basis. We must create more parks and trails to meet increasing public demand and to address the lack of equitable access to outdoor recreation in many marginalized communities.”

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