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Reforesting the Olmsted Loop
By David Colligan
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Frederick Law Olmsted had a vision of Buffalo in 1868 which included a park and parkway system connecting every neighborhood in the City of Buffalo. To reach the parks, he designed a parkway system lined with rows of trees. The trees provided a shaded, stress-reducing approach to the parks, so that when visitors reached a park they could immediately enjoy the park’s peace and serenity.
Due to government and citizen apathy, the Olmsted parks and parkway system was allowed to deteriorate. It was clear that Olmsted’s vision might have been lost for all time. However, in 1994 a volunteer group calling themselves the Friends of Olmsted Parks, now called the Buffalo Olmsted Conservancy, commissioned a study to identify greenways in the City of Buffalo which connected not only Olmsted parks, but all the public parks and green spaces within the City. As a result of this study, the City of Buffalo adopted a Greenway Implementation Plan in 1998. This Greenway Implementation Plan recommended the replanting of trees and shrubs throughout the Olmsted park and parkway system.
In January of 1999, the Buffalo Green Fund, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to making Buffalo the greenest city in North America, formed the Reforest Buffalo Committee to assist the planning and implementation of the greenway plan, including the reforestation of the Olmsted park and parkway system. Prior to Dutch Elm disease, the Olmsted parkways were beautiful, shaded passageways under a canopy of tall elm trees. The cool shade provided by the trees made Buffalo famous for its urban greenery and pleasant summers. Olmsted loved trees and was quoted as saying, “If a man is not to live by bread alone, what is better doing well than the planting of trees?”
The replanting of trees along the Olmsted Loop is the goal of the consortium that has been formed among City Parks Department led by Commissioner Dan Durawa, the City Forestry division led by City Forester Peter Pasnik, the Erie County Parks Department, Urban Resource Partnership, the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, the Buffalo Green Fund, the New Millennium Group, the Boy Scouts of America, the Western New York Nursery/Landscapers Association, and other not-for-profit groups together with corporate sponsors such as Ecology & Environment, M&T Bank, Praxair, Inc., and with the financial assistance of private foundations including the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation and the Baird Foundation who have together raised almost $800,000 for the restoration of the parks and parkways in conjunction with a major grant by the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund. New sponsors are welcome and are joining every day. Using a new technique developed by Cornell University, full-sized bare-root trees are being planted, much as Olmsted would have wished to see, by harnessing volunteers using shovels without the need of heavy equipment used in the “ball and burlap” method.
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Frederick Law Olmsted. Photo courtesy of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy.
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The Reforest Buffalo consortium’s first effort took place in the spring of 1999 when 300 volunteers planted 100 bare-root trees along Fillmore Avenue in the City of Buffalo. Under the greenway implementation plan, Fillmore Avenue was selected to link the Olmsted parks in the north of the City with the Olmsted parks and parkway system south of the City (replacing Humboldt Parkway which turned into the Kensington Expressway). This same group in the Fall of 1999 planted another fifty trees on South Park Avenue, adding some shade and greenery to that section of the greenway passing through reclaimed brownfields.
In order to do a comprehensive reforestation of the parks and parkways, the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy found it is necessary to learn exactly what the original stock of trees and shrubs were, as well as assess the current level of plantings. In the summer of 1999, the Olmsted Conservancy commissioned a tree survey utilizing forestry professionals to inventory every tree in the three northern parks: Front Park, Delaware Park, and Martin Luther King Park. As a result of this tree survey, a plan has been developed to replant each of the parks according to Olmsted’s original design and planting scheme. All this will be done with the help of volunteers for the Reforest Buffalo coalition. This spring, 500 trees and shrubs will be planted in Martin Luther King Park according to Olmsted’s original plan and design.
In addition to the tree planting efforts currently underway in the Olmsted Loop, many other exciting developments are occurring. The City of Buffalo and the DOT are seriously considering closing the Scajaquada Expressway to commercial traffic and creating a “parkway-like” boulevard which would wind through Delaware Park and allow travelers to enjoy the beauty and greenery of the park and the outstanding architecture of the Historical Museum and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. A bike path has been designed and built along Scajaquada Creek linking Delaware Park with the Niagara River bike path.
There is also a grassroots community movement to re-establish the seven circles originally designed by Olmsted including a plan to rebuild the ones that are no longer there. A group of neighbors organized and developed Soldier’s Place circle restoration in the Fall of 1999. Currently, the City of Buffalo is working with community groups to develop a plan to re-establish and rebuild traffic circles located at Ferry and Richmond, Porter and Richmond Avenues, and Red Jacket and McKinley Parkways. When completed, all seven of Olmsted’s original traffic circles will be restored.
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Delaware Park carriageway, circa 1900. Photo courtesy of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy.
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The South Park Conservancy group is currently developing plans to re-establish the arboretum Olmsted planned for South Park. Every major city needs an arboretum where citizens, students, and out-of-town visitors can learn about the local flora and fauna while enjoying a relaxing stroll through a model forest of well-maintained trees. The South Park arboretum originally had over 5,000 plantings selected by Olmsted and maintained by one of Olmsted’s hand-picked park administrators. Many of the original plantings by Olmsted are still in the park today. To supplement these plantings, South Park Conservancy has already re-established the shrub garden under the careful guidance of David Headley, curator of the South Park Conservatory. The next phase of the arboretum re-establishment is the creation of a pinetum near the South Park Conservatory. The last phase will re-establish a hardwood arboretum and guided tour for the remainder of the park. Buffalo’s notorious climate with 93 inches of annual snowfall and 39 inches of rain each year is the ideal place to grow trees from around in the country and the world. Our climate zone six allows us to plant trees from at least 47 of the 50 states, and most of the countries of the temperate world.
Currently, the only missing link in the Olmsted Loop is the section from South Park back to Front Park along the water’s edge. This critical part of the parkway system must be designed and developed prior to any major new development of the “outer harbor” area. When Olmsted originally viewed our waterfront, he envisioned locating a green promenade along the water’s edge so all the citizens could enjoy a lakeside stroll. Unfortunately, at the time he was looking at Buffalo, our busy outer harbor could not permit such a passive use. Today, we have an opportunity to implement his original plan for the Buffalo waterfront. Developers, government, citizens, and everyone must work toward the goal of finishing the Olmsted Loop, establishing Buffalo as having the only complete Olmsted Park system designed by Olmsted, planned by Olmsted, implemented by Olmsted, and replanted for a continuation of Olmsted’s green vision for Buffalo.
David J. Colligan is an attorney in downtown Buffalo and is chairman of the Reforest Buffalo Committee of the Buffalo Green Fund
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