Mountains to Sound Greenway

The Mountains to Sound Greenway is a 1.5 million-acre landscape situated in the Pacific Northwest. On March 12, 2019, it was designated a National Heritage Area, to be managed by the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, as part of the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act.[1][2] In 1998, it became the first National Scenic Byway to be designated in Washington.[3]

Mountains to Sound Greenway Logo

The corridor stretches along Interstate 90 between Seattle and Ellensburg, following several historic transportation routes and a network of bicycling and hiking trails. Its formal boundaries are along several watersheds: the Yakima to the east, the Cedar to the south, Snoqualmie and Lake Washington to the north, and Puget Sound to the west.

The Greenway was first envisioned in 1990, when a group of citizens hiked from the Cascade Crest alongside Interstate 90. In 1991, the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust was founded to prevent the encroachment of urban sprawl on the natural areas near Snoqualmie Pass and to use them to connect Seattle and Central Washington.[4] Its creation has been criticized for attracting public funds that could have been used on other ecological protection projects.[5]

References
  1. Gutman, David (March 12, 2019). "Federal lands bill creates National Heritage Area from Seattle to Ellensburg". The Seattle Times. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  2. Metzger, Katie (April 10, 2019). "Mountains to Sound Greenway designated as a National Heritage Area". Enumclaw Courier-Herald. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  3. Paulson, Michael (June 10, 1998). "Stretch of Rainier road joins scenic elite". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. B1.
  4. Carlton Harrell, Debera (June 7, 2003). "Greenway trailblazers on mountain high". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. A1. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  5. Fefer, Mark D. (April 27, 2000). "Big green money machine". Seattle Weekly. Archived from the original on October 30, 2002. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mountains to Sound Greenway.

47.41°N 121.38°W / 47.41; -121.38

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