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Liz Belcher retires, celebrates success of our popular greenway network.
After guiding the direction of the Roanoke Valley Greenway network for a quarter of a century, Liz Belcher retired last month.
Her tenure as the greenway coordinator dates back to 1996 when the greenway effort was part of the Fifth District Planning Commission. The agreement that established the network stipulated that the greenways would be owned and operated by the localities in which they were located. Given the fact that there were four separate localities initially involved, someone was needed to coordinate the effort. That’s when Belcher, who previously worked for the Forest Service, stepped in.
Belcher remembers that it was difficult to warm people up to the idea of a greenway during the network’s early days. “People didn’t really know what a greenway was,” she says. In order to get community buy-in, those involved worked to establish a presence in all four localities.
Now, the greenway network stretches over 400 miles throughout five localities, including the City of Roanoke, Roanoke County, the City of Salem, the Town of Vinton and Botetourt County.
“The community has taken a lot of ownership of the greenway,” she cites as one of her primary accomplishments. “People love the greenway. They’re out there all the time.”
As for the future of the greenway network, she anticipates it will continue moving full steam ahead. Specifically, she says, the Roanoke River Greenway will be completed from Green Hill Park to Explore Park.
Frank Simms, chair of the Roanoke Valley Greenway Commission says, “Thanks to Liz Belcher and many partners, the Roanoke Valley Greenway system has become a reality.”
Although she is now retired, Belcher has a full slate of activities planned for the foreseeable future. She will be traveling to all of Virginia’s state parks and preserves, which total more than 100.
“I want to discover more of our natural areas,” she says.
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