The Riley Institute at Furman, in partnership with Upstate Forever, was pleased to host Charles A. "Chuck" Flink, Founder and President of Greenways Incorporated, an environmental planning and landscape architecture company established in 1986 and based in Durham, North Carolina. Widely regarded as one of the nation's leading greenway planners, Flink has completed comprehensive greenway, trail and open space plans for more than 100 communities within 32 States and in the US Virgin Islands, Argentina, Canada and Japan. He was elected to the American Society of Landscape Architects Council of Fellows in November 2003. His address titled "The Economic Benefits of Greenways for Greenville County" was held on November 28, 2006 at 8 PM in the Younts Conference Center at Furman University.

Flink co-authored Greenways: A Guide to Planning, Design and Development, in partnership with The Conservation Fund. This book received a 1994 Merit Award in Communications from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), Washington DC, and is cited by the American Planning Association as “the best single reference” on greenway development. Flink also co-authored Trails for the Twenty First Century, with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Washington, DC. Trails for the Twenty First Century received a 2001 Merit Award in Communications from the NC Chapter of ASLA.

Flink has been featured in prominent national and international publications including National Geographic, Triangle Business Journal, Private Clubs, Landscape Architecture, Walking, American Planning, Good Housekeeping, Buzzworm Environmental Journal, Southern Living and American City County. In 1995, Flink received an Environmental Excellence Award from the US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration for the Swift Creek Recycled Greenway, the nation's first greenway built from recycled trash. In 2001, Flink received a Merit Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for his involvement with the Grand Canyon Greenway project.

Flink has lectured on the creation of greenways at more than 125 national and international conferences since 1986. He is a graduate of North Carolina State University's School of Design and served as an Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture. He served three consecutive terms as Chairman of the Board for American Trails, Washington, DC and as a member of the North Carolina Greenways Advisory Panel, which was established by Governor James Martin. He is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees for the East Coast Greenway, a 2,600 mile urban trail that extends from Calis, Maine to Key West, Florida along the Atlantic Seaboard of the United States.

If you would like to learn more about Upstate Forever, click here.

To view an article written about this event by Jason Strand, a Furman Alumni Fellow, click here.

Jason Van Driesche, Director of Clean Air & Water Program with Upstate Forever introducing Chuck Flink

Chuck Flink, Founder/President, Greenways Incorporated

Chuck Flink discussing possiblilities for Greenville County

Flink's presentation

Chuck Flink