Mount Washington Community Development Corporation (MWCDC)
Start implementing a 20 mile trail plan that was created by the MWCDC and Environmental Planning and Design, Ltd., a landscape architecture firm with extensive knowledge and experience in trail design, in 2010.
Emerald View Park is Pittsburgh’s newest regional park. It includes 257 acres of land that was previously cleared of trees, used for mining and as an illegal dump site. To start implementing the 20 mile trail plan, the project was broken into several smaller projects.
Operating as Emerald Trail Corps, a program of the Mount Washington CDC, our first project was to construct a mile long trail on Mount Washington’s steep slopes. Prior to this project, most people thought the Emerald View Park initiative was a pipe dream, and that the hillside could not be integrated as a “useful” part of the park or the community.
The trail was built by a small group of committed crew members. This first project set the bar for all future projects and established a level of confidence and commitment that has remained a standard for all Landforce Crews.
The crew’s efforts resulted in a trail of simple elegance across land that was previously impossible to access. The construction of this one mile trail was the first proof that Emerald View Park would become a valued asset within the local community.
The crew’s work still continues in Emerald View Park, providing essential services that have helped turn unused and unhealthy blighted property into a healthy and treasured community asset. To date, crews have built 8 miles of trails, removed dumped garbage weighing in the hundreds of tons, and planted hundreds of trees in the park.
Landforce will be working with MWCDC at Emerald View Park again in 2016 to further restore habitat and expand and maintain the trail system.
