Trails & Green Spaces: At & Around UMD
This guide was launched October 7th, 2020 in honor of Walk MD Day
UMD's Walk Maryland Day Partners: UMD Department of Transportation Services | UMD Recreation & Wellness | UMD Arboretum & Botanical Gardens | UMD Residence Life | UMD Office of Sustainability
Green spaces on and around UMD
Our entire 1,250 acre College Park campus is a convenient and easily accessible Arboretum and Botanical Garden. At the Arboretum Outreach Center near Stadium Drive and the Denton community, you can find garden-related events and activities.
- UMD Arboretum Explorer Map
- Gardens
- Walking Tour of Outdoor Art & Gardens
- Food Gardens
- Pollinator Gardens
Taking a walk on campus? The new web-based app, Roots and Routes uses the Campus Plant inventory to show you the plants around you and along your journey. You can make your own routes or go on one of the already curated walks to see brilliant plant colors or terrific trees!
Save plants to your Field Journal along the way, take quizzes to increase your botanical knowledge, and embark on a hunt to find where a specific plant is growing.
Parks & Trails Near Campus
Fortunately, there are numerous safe and forested trails on, around, and near campus worth exploring!
- Anacostia Tributary Trail System - the campus is embedded within the extensive 30-mile trail system that spans across the Greater Washington Region.
- Paint Branch Trail- a 3.5 mile trail that runs between the Cherry Hill Neighborhood Park and Lake Artemesia (image to the right).
- Indian Creek Trail- connects Lake Artemesia to Berwyn Heights. From there you can connect to the Lake Artemesia Trail and the rest of the Anacostia Tributary Trail System.
- Trolley Trail- along Rhode Island Avenue down towards DC, 3.8 mile hiker/biker path. A permaculture garden resides on the trail in the Berwyn area.
- The Lake Artemesia Trail connects to the Paint Branch Trail, Trolley Trail, Indian Creek Trail and Northeast Branch Trail. Part of the Anacostia Tributary Trail System.
- Northeast Branch Trail- begins at Lake Artemesia and runs south of Hyattsville. Goes Past The College Park Airport And Through The Discovery District And Riverdale Park.
City of College Park walking tours, with markers at historic landmarks:
Berwyn Historic Walking Tour- Lakeland Historic Walking Tour
- Old Town/Calvert Hills Walking Tour
- UMD Ghost Tour: Spooky Sites
Recommended Parks near Campus:
- Regional Parks Map
- Greenbelt National Park (image to the right)
- Lake Artemesia
- Greenbelt Lake Park
- National Arboretum and Aquatic Gardens (6 miles from campus)
Walking & Biking Paths Lead to Sustainable Transportation
- One-quarter of all trips in the U.S. are 1 mile or less, and yet most of these trips are taken by car.
- Car trips of under 1 mile add up to about 10 billion miles per year.
- If we all chose to power half of these short trips with our feet instead of petroleum, we would save about $575 million in fuel costs and about 2 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year.
- That’s like taking about 400,000 cars off the road each year.
- The total financial savings are even bigger — almost $900 million dollars — when you include savings on maintenance and tire replacement.
- Walk to a destination you are headed to, especially if it's less than 5 miles away (the store, cafe, etc.)!
- Source: What If We Kept Our Cars Parked for Trips Less Than One Mile? | US EPA
Learn more about sustainable transportation on campus with DOTS.
Wellness
- Walking and biking can keep you healthy: reducing air pollution while spending time outdoors to enjoy some sunshine, greenery and fresh air (great for our mental health as well as physical)!
- Eliminating car trips under 5 miles round-trip would save billions in health benefits thanks to improved air quality.
- Replacing half of these car trips with bike trips could save billions in reduced health care costs by increasing physical activity.
- Source: What If We Kept Our Cars Parked for Trips Less Than One Mile? | US EPA
NatureRx
NatureRx@UMD is a new and burgeoning movement, represented by numerous individuals and units within the University of Maryland College Park community, who have come together with a shared passion for the many ways in which the landscape of our campus arboretum and other recreation spaces can heal and preserve the health and well-being of every person. Also recognized as healing spaces are the extensive network of trails throughout Maryland, as well as other natural areas within the Mid-Atlantic, including the Chesapeake Bay.
