With the rapid conversion of land from open space to developed parcels, in Iowa and across the United States, greenways are becoming a popular and important tool for protecting land resources. Greenways are linear open space corridors, usually vegetated and often along rivers. They can serve as wildlife habitat and movement corridors, as recreation via trails, and as a place to get away from the city. Recently, a greenways framework plan was developed for Central Iowa, including Dallas, Polk, Story, and Warren Counties. The initiative for the plan was led by the four county conservation boards, cities of Des Moines' and West Des Moines' Parks and Recreation Department, and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation; these groups are collectively known as the Central Iowa Greenways (CIG) Committee. The plan involved various stakeholders in the area, but was the first time a regional greenway plan has been developed in Iowa. The purpose of this study was to expand the work started by this plan by understanding the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of the stakeholders in the area. The information from the study is meant to aid the CIG Committee in implementation of the project. A series of interviews was conducted with both the CIG Committee and stakeholders. The interviews helped to gather information about the people's understanding of greenways, priority of greenways compared to other community issues, and support for particular greenway implementation strategies were obtained. Information regarding the planning process that was undertaken to complete the framework plan was also obtained. A comparison of the planning process, resulting plan, and the information from the interviews was completed. The result was a critique of the plan and a set of recommendations to help the Central Iowa Greenways Committee in their pursuit of a regional greenway as well as an in-depth data set relating to understanding of and support for greenways in Central Iowa among the stakeholders.