CHESTERFIELD – For more than 35 years, a proposal to build a greenway trail system along the White River from Anderson to Muncie stayed buried in the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Now the Mounds Greenway Trail system, covering 2,300 acres, has been embraced by opponents of the proposed Mounds Lake Reservoir as an alternative plan.
The Indiana Department of Resources did a 1979 study of the recreational potential of the White River between Muncie and Anderson as a protected corridor. No action was ever taken on the study by the state agency.
Approximately 100 people gathered Wednesday evening at a meeting, sponsored by the Madison County and Delaware County League of Women Voters at the Millcreek Center, to discuss the reservoir and greenway proposals.
Both League of Women Voters organizations have come out in opposition to the Mounds Lake reservoir project but has not taken a position on the greenway alternative.
The Corporation for Economic Development in Anderson first proposed the reservoir project in 2013.
With a projected cost of $450 million to create, the Mounds Lake Reservoir would stretch approximately from East Lynn Street in Anderson east by northeast around Chesterfield and Daleville into Delaware County, ending just north of Delaware County Road 300 South.
Opponents contend the reservoir won’t hold water because of existing sand and gravel lens, imperil portions of the historic Mounds State Park and cause damage to the ecology along the river.
Tim Maloney, senior policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council, said the reservoir proposal has revived interest in the Greenway Trail system.
“The reservoir reawakened interest in the idea of protection of the river,” he said.
Maloney said the concept is to link the existing trail systems in Muncie and Anderson and eventually be extended through Hamilton County to Indianapolis.
As being proposed, the trail system would be on the south side of White River and end at the Rangeline Nature Preserve where it would connect with the trails in Anderson.
“People that use the river for recreation recognized that the river had been left alone over the years. It is now under threat,” he said.
Maloney said the cost range to construct the Mounds Greenway is between $15 million and $40 million, depending on the cost to purchase land and to construct the trail system.
He said local residents and government entities will have a voice in its planning. If a property owner doesn’t want to sell or grant an easement, the trail will have to go around the property, Maloney said.
“This could be a state and local project,” Maloney said. “There will be a rationally planning process for a linear park and trail system.”
If the greenway becomes the prevailing proposal for the White River between Anderson and Muncie, the details will fall into place, he said.
Maloney said the Hoosier Environmental Council doesn’t support the use of eminent domain, taking property by government agencies for public good, for conservation projects.
Maloney said it would be done only by acquiring land from willing sellers. He said the funds could come from federal and state grants and private land trusts.
Maintaining the White River could provide a novel approach to sustaining economic development in the region through canoeing, sport fishing and forest lands, opponents of the dam contend.
“Communities around the country are embracing greenways and trails as a way to revitalize their communities,” he said.