The Milwaukee River Greenway took decades to build. But it has become the wilderness in our own backyard.

The wonder hasn`t worn off. Every time I visit the Milwaukee River Greenway — on foot, by bike or in a canoe — I’m amazed that this sprawling urban wilderness exists. Any community would be overjoyed to have nearly 900 acres of public green space and an eight-mile stretch of equally public river frontage within its corporate limits. The remarkable fact about this particular wilderness is that it begins just one-and-a-half miles from Milwaukee’s City Hall. Accessible to all and protected in perpetuity, the Greenway is one of our community’s greatest natural treasures...