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SP R AW L WATC H C L E A R I N G H O U S E M O N O G R A P H SE R I E S
SP R AW L WAT C H C L E A R I N G H O U S E M O N O G R A P H SE R I E S
Acknowledgements
This monograph is derived from Modules 2 and 4 of the Participants Manual for the May 2001 pilot offering of the
Conservation Leadership Network course, Green Infrastructure: A Strategic Approach to Land Conservation. Mark
Benedict and Lydia Bjornlund drafted these pilot course modules in spring, 2001. The authors would like to
acknowledge Ms Bjornlund as well as the members of the “Green Infrastructure 101”design team who contributed to
the development of these modules. The authors would also like to acknowledge the following previously published
articles that preceded and contributed to Modules 2 and 4 and therefore to the content of this monograph:
✺ Edward T. McMahon, “Green Infrastructure,” Planning Commissioners Journal, Number 37, Winter 2000
✺ Mark A. Benedict, “Green Infrastructure: A Strategic Approach to Land Conservation,” American Planning
Association PAS Memo, October 2000
Finally, the authors would like to thank the Surdna Foundation and the USDA Forest Service who have supported The
Conservation Fund’s Green Infrastructure Program. The Sprawl Watch Clearinghouse would like to thank The
Educational Foundation of America and the Surdna Foundation whose support made this report possible.
Sprawl Watch Clearinghouse • 1400 16th St. NW Suite 225 • Washington, D.C. 20036 • 202-332-7000 • www.sprawlwatch.org
Table of Contents
Preface ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 5
What Is Green Infrastructure? ...................................................................................................................... 6
What Does Green Infrastructure Look Like? ................................................................................................... 7
What’s in a Name? ................................................................................................................................... 7
What Are the Origins of Green Infrastructure? .............................................................................................. 8
Benton MacKaye’s Prescription for Urban Sprawl .......................................................................................... 9
In the 1970s, when we began working in the conservation movement, conservation organizations
worked to protect individual parcels of land. Today we realize that we must protect networks of
open space. Still, too many land conservation efforts are haphazard and reactive in nature. They deal
with whatever comes over the transom. The result is haphazard conservation and haphazard
development.
From our perspective, successful land conservation in the future will have to be:
✺ More proactive and less reactive
✺ More systematic and less haphazard
✺ Multifunctional, not single purpose
✺ Large scale, not small scale, and
✺ Better integrated with other efforts to manage growth and development.
The key to accomplishing this, we believe, is “green infrastructure”, a new framework that provides a
strategic approach to land conservation.
Just as growing communities need to upgrade and expand their built infrastructure (roads, sewers,
utilities, etc.), so too they need to upgrade and expand their green infrastructure—the network of
open space, woodlands, wildlife habitat, parks and other natural areas that sustains clean air, water
and natural resources and enriches our quality of life. The concept of green infrastructure repositions
open space protection from a community amenity to a community necessity.
Green infrastructure can even help reduce opposition to development. When citizens think all land is
up for grabs, they oppose development everywhere. On the other hand, when people have some
assurance that special places will be saved, they become more amenable to accommodating new
development.
One of the biggest challenges, of course, is MONEY. We need a lot more of it. Every state and local
government in America needs not only a green infrastructure plan, but also the financial resources to
implement the plan. Over the past three years, over $17.5 billion in state and local government
funding has been directed towards open space preservation.
This is an important step in the right direction, but we must do more. The total funding devoted to
land conservation is just a small fraction of what we spend on transportation and other infrastructure
needs. We need new sources of conservation capital, both public and private.
The final challenge is PEOPLE. We need to broaden our movement to include more people of color
and young people. We also need to remember that our work is fundamentally about people — our
children and grandchildren. It’s about the future and planning for it.
We believe that now is the time for a more strategic and comprehensive approach to land
conservation. This monograph sets out that approach.
“G
reen infrastructure” is a term that is appearing more and more frequently
in land conservation and development discussions across the country and
around the world. Green infrastructure means different things to different
people depending on the context in which it is used. For example, some people refer to
trees in urban areas as green infrastructure because of the “green” benefits they provide,
while others use green infrastructure to refer to engineered structures (such water treatment
facilities or green roofs) that are designed to be environmentally friendly.
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What Is Green
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and their partners make green infrastructure an
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Infrastructure?
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integral part of local, regional and state plans
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and policies. This Green Infrastructure Work
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Group developed the following definition for
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W
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ebster’s New World Dictionary green infrastructure:
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defines infrastructure as “the
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substructure or underlying “Green infrastructure is our nation’s
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foundation, especially the basic installations
natural life support system — an
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and facilities on which the continuance and
interconnected network of waterways,
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growth of a community depends.” When they
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wetlands, woodlands, wildlife habitats,
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hear the term infrastructure, most people think
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of roads, sewers, utility lines, and other gray and other natural areas; greenways,
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infrastructure; or hospitals, schools, prisons,
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parks and other conservation lands;
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and other social infrastructure. Taken together,
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working farms, ranches and forests; and
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these types of facilities are often referred to as
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wilderness and other open spaces that
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built infrastructure. Today, many people and
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support native species, maintain natural
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organizations are talking about another type of
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Conservation Fund and the USDA Forest The elements of a green infrastructure network
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Service, a working group of local, state and need to be protected over the long term. This
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January 1999
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What’s in a Name?
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Does your community have a long-range
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The term green infrastructure was selected
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transportation plan? How about a plan to to emphasize its difference from traditional
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upgrade and expand the airport, sewage
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conservation practices and the need to
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treatment plant, storm water facilities, fiber optic
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change several popular perceptions about
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cables, or other community utilities? green space planning and protection.
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Most growing communities have such plans, ✸ Where-as green space is often viewed
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but many of these same communities have no as something that is nice to have, the
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plan to preserve their essential, life sustaining, term green infrastructure implies
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natural infrastructure.1 something that we must have.
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Protecting and restoring our nation’s
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natural life support system is a
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What Does Green Infrastructure necessity, not an amenity.
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Look Like? ✸ Where-as green space is often thought
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of as isolated parks, recreation sites or
Green infrastructure encompasses a wide natural areas, the term green
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ecosystems and landscape features that make connected systems of natural areas and
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up a system of “hubs” and “links.” other open spaces that are protected
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HUBS anchor green infrastructure networks and benefits they provide to people and the
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ecological processes moving to or through it. ✸ Where-as green space is often viewed
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as national and state parks and wildlife must be actively maintained and at
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times restored.
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refuges;
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recreational values;
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Commission
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state;
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significance; and
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together and enable green infrastructure that “no single park, no matter how large and
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networks to work. They range in size, how well designed, would provide the citizens
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function and ownership, including: with the beneficial influences of nature.” Instead
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✺ LANDSCAPE LINKAGES — Large protected parks need “to be linked to one another and
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natural areas that connect existing parks, to surrounding residential neighborhoods.”2
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preserves, or natural areas and provide This idea of linking parks for the benefit of
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sufficient space for native plants and people (e.g. with a focus on recreation, pedes-
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animals to flourish while serving as trian and bicycle trails and public health) has
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corridors connecting ecosystems and evolved into the modern greenways movement.
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landscapes. Landscape linkages may also
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provide space for the protection of historic
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“A connected system of parks and parkways
sites and opportunities for recreational use;
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is manifestly far more complete and useful
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✺ CONSERVATION CORRIDORS — Less
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than a series of isolated parks”
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extensive linear protected areas, such as
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river and stream corridors that serve as — John Olmsted
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biological conduits for wildlife and may and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. 19033
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provide recreational opportunities; ○
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land managed for resource conservation Second, wildlife biologists and ecologists have
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and/or recreational use; long recognized that the best way to preserve
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✺ GREENBELTS — Protected natural lands or native plants, animals and ecological processes
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✺ ECOBELTS — Linear woody buffers that areas is a key concept for the science of
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can ease the zone of tension between conservation biology and the practice of
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ecosystem management.
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Infrastructure?
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Green infrastructure is a new term, but it’s not a interconnected green space systems represent
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years ago. Green infrastructure has its origin in of green infrastructure is vital to their sustainable
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two important concepts: (1) linking parks and future because it provides a way to link land
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biodiversity and counter habitat fragmentation. In its May 1999 report, “Towards a
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eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, land- Infrastructure as one of five strategic areas
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sustainable community development. The recreation, although trails and other
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report stated that “green infrastructure strategies recreational amenities can provide substantial
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actively seek to understand, leverage, and value human benefits and should be part of any
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the different ecological, social, and economic integrated system of open space;
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functions provided by natural systems in order to ✺ BIGGER VS. SMALLER — Green infra-
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guide more efficient and sustainable land use structure includes large ecologically important
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and development patterns as well as protect hubs, as well as key landscape linkages.
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ecosystems.”4 Statewide projects in Florida and Greenways, on the other hand, typically
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Maryland; recognition by the President’s Council focus on trails, narrow conservation
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on Sustainable Development; and other inno- corridors and other linear features;
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✺ FRAMEWORK FOR GROWTH — Green
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vative initiatives at the state, regional and local
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levels have led to a rapid increase nationwide in infrastructure can be designed to shape
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the use of the term green infrastructure and the urban form and provide a framework for
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application of its concepts and values to meeting growth. It works best when the framework
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has influenced green infrastructure planning Green infrastructure as we know it today has
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and implementation. It has brought together been influenced by these four factors: linking
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many important players who had not previously parks for people; linking natural areas to counter
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landscape. Although green infrastructure and identifying and protecting interconnected open
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greenways share a common origin, green spaces systems to benefit wildlife and ensure
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infrastructure differs from greenways in at a sustainable future; and building upon the
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Benton MacKaye, the founder of the well adapted for camping and primitive travel
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urban sprawl. In 1928, he explained in “The . . . This series of open areas and ways would
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Planning” how green space could be used to realm (or near-primeval) — the opposite realm
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curb development in a hypothetical community: from the metropolitan. These open ways (along
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“The outstanding topographic feature consists the crestlines) mark the lines for developing the
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of the range of hills and mountains encircling primitive environment, while the motor ways
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the locality, together with the four ridges mark the lines for extending the metropolitan
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reaching toward the central city. This could be environment. The motor ways form the channels
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reserved as a common public ground, serving of the metropolitan flood, while the open ways
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the double purpose of a public forest and a (crossing and flanking the motor ways) form
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public playground . . . It would form a linear ‘dams’ and ‘levees’ for controlling the flood.”5
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Why Do We Need to Plan
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and 1997, the amount of urbanized land in
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and Protect Green
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the United States increased by 47 percent
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Infrastructure? …During this same period, the nation’s
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population grew by only 17 percent.”8
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L
and is being developed faster today than ✺ The amount of working lands in the
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ever before. This accelerated consump- United States has declined by nearly 20
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tion and the resulting fragmentation of percent — more than 200 million acres over
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open land are the primary conservation the last half-century. Further, the rate of
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challenges facing our nation today. The conversion has doubled over the last five
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following statistics illustrate the problem: years. We are now developing almost 2
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✺ According to the December 2000 update million acres of farmland and half a million
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of the Natural Resource Conservation acres of private forest land each year.
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Service’s National Resources Inventory,
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over the 15-year period from 1982 to 1997, In many major metropolitan areas, green space
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is rapidly disappearing. For example, the
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the total acreage of developed land in the
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United States increased by 34 percent (25 Atlanta metropolitan area has lost 25 percent
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million acres). From 1982 to 1992, land of its tree cover since 1973; the 350,000 acres
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was converted at 1.4 million acres per that have been developed translates to nearly
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than 1.5 times the previous 10-year rate.6 counties closest to Chicago experienced a 35
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✺ The 1997 American Housing Survey percent increase in developed land, but an
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conducted by the Census Bureau and increase in population of only 4 percent. Over
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2.3 million acres of open space were suburbanized during this time.10 Some of our
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converted to new single-family homes most threatened lands are in rapidly urbanizing
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each year. Almost 90 percent of this land counties where we produce nearly 80 percent
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conversion occurred with lots of one acre of our fruit and vegetables and more than half
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or larger. These lots were purchased by of our dairy products. Rural communities are
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✺ According to a July 2001 report by the new homes built from 1994–1997 were built in
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Center on Urban & Metropolitan Policy at communities of less than 40,000 people.11
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Midwest 7.06% 3 2 .2 3 %
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South 2 2 .2 3 % 59.61%
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West 32.21% 4 8 . 94 %
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Over the past several decades, growth has open space, which greatly alters the way
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leapfrogged beyond cities and older suburbs in which natural systems function.
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into many areas that were once rural. Today Fragmentation increases edge habitat and
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to other uses at an increasingly rapid rate. Too the number and diversity of natural plant
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often, this is done without firm land-use plans and animal species.
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urban sprawl.
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of the environment.
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natural areas. For example, about 25,000 viability for wildlife by reducing genetic
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acres of wetlands continue to be lost each diversity and limiting wildlife movement.
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so does habitat diversity. The result is both In addition to these ecological effects, there
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a decline in the number of species and are also social and economic consequences of
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fewer individuals of those species that the consumption of open lands and the
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Natural systems provide important services, Cost of Service Analysis
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such as flood control, stormwater manage-
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Numerous studies across the nation show
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ment and the filtration of pollutants. The that farmland, forests and open space
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loss of natural systems increases the risk of
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generate taxes but require few services.
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flooding and natural disasters. This, in turn, For example, a 1992 American Farmland
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costs communities billions in mitigation Trust study of three Massachusetts towns
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efforts and in disaster relief and recovery. found that residential development costs
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✺ INCREASED COSTS OF PUBLIC SERVICES more in services than it earns in tax
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— Haphazard development often increases revenue, while open space generates more
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in taxes than it costs to service. Sometimes it
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the cost of public services by requiring
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makes more economic sense to purchase
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huge investments in new roads, sewers,
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schools and other public infrastructure. and preserve open space than it does to
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allow it to be developed. In the early
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In addition, the loss of farm and forestlands 1990’s, for example, the city of Huntsville,
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affects a community’s bottom line. Many studies Alabama purchased a 547-acre tract on
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Mount Sano for $3.3 million. The annual
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show that farming and forestry generate
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maintenance costs for the land were about
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considerably higher revenue than the amount of
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$75 an acre. Residential development
public services they require. Residential would have cost about $5 million for roads,
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sprawl and the inefficient use of land and $2,500 an acre per year.
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Photo: Gentry/USFWS
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to make better use of existing infra-structure
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The United States grows by 2.7 million people
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and to encourage more compact, walkable,
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every year requiring at least 1 million new units
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mixed use communities; they also need a
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of housing each year. As a result, the real framework for shaping where growth will go.
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question is not whether we will grow, but
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This can be provided by green infrastructure.
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how and where.
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In recent years, an increasing number of Smart Conservation
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communities have attempted to better plan
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Smart growth programs are designed to address
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development through smart growth initiatives.
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Smart growth has been defined as development the problems of haphazard development and
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that is economically sound, environmentally sprawl. Likewise, we also need smart
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friendly and supportive of community livability conservation programs to strategically direct
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— growth that enhances our quality of life. conservation practices. Smart conservation
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Certainly the sprawl that has resulted from promotes resource planning, protection, and
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and the haphazard spread of strip malls and ✺ proactive not reactive;
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Smart growth advocates point out that we can ✺ holistic not piecemeal;
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have development that is more attractive, more ✺ multi-jurisdictional not single jurisdictional;
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efficient, more affordable and more environ- ✺ multifunctional not single purpose; and
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study of New Jersey by the Center for Urban Green infrastructure offers a smart solution to
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Studies at Rutgers University found that the our land conservation challenges because it
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roads, sidewalks, and water and sewer facilities conservation together in a way that is
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could be reduced by $400 million a year by consistent with natural environmental patterns.
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developing in a more compact, less land- In doing this, green infrastructure promotes
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consuming manner.
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Institution and others show that the pace of Green Infrastructure Functions and
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Simply put, some places are better for benefits: enriched habitat and biodiversity;
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development than other places. The first maintenance of natural landscape processes;
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where we should not develop. Green opportunities; improved health; and better
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infrastructure planning can help communities connection to nature and sense of place. Well-
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figure this out. Taken together, smart growth planned green space has also been shown to
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Smart Growth & Smart Conservation in the State of Maryland
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In 1997, Maryland launched its Smart Growth GreenPrint Program aims to identify and protect
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and Neighborhood Conservation initiative, the state’s most ecologically sensitive lands.
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which is designed to rejuvenate existing
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Although the State of Maryland has worked
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communities while preserving farms, forests and
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diligently to conserve its finest natural areas for
other open spaces. Central to the success of this
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decades, until the creation of GreenPrint, the
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initiative are two related ideas. First, the state
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efforts were not part of an overall long-term
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would no longer provide financial support for
strategy. GreenPrint identifies the state’s green
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haphazard development, but would instead
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infrastructure — a statewide network of large
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redirect all of its financial resources to existing
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ecologically significant hubs bound together by
communities and areas approved for growth.
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greenway corridors or links. The state has
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Second, Maryland would take a much more
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allotted $145 million over five years to protect
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aggressive and strategic approach to preserving
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these hubs and links.
open space.
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The new strategic approach to
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of public infrastructure and public services, Two nonprofit organizations, the Center for
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including the costs for stormwater management Neighborhood Technology and Urban Logic,
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Investing in green infrastructure can often be 1999, the Government Accounting Standards
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more cost effective than conventional public Board (GASB) issued comprehensive changes
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billion on new water filtration and treatment 34,” require governments to develop, maintain
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plants by instead purchasing and protecting and present capital accounts in their balance
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has dramatically reduced the cost to taxpayers and others to explore using GASB-34 to help
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of disaster relief and flood damage repair by capture our natural environment’s inherent
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Green Infrastructure
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Approaches
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Planning
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Just like our built infrastructure, our green
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Trends Influencing the Shift to
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infrastructure should be carefully planned,
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Green Infrastructure
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designed, and invested in far in advance of
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development. Green infrastructure planning
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I
n the past, many communities considered
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should be the first step in the land-use
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open space to be land that has not yet
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planning and design process. Green infra-
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been developed. The legal and philosophical
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framework of our land use system assumed structure planning should also be coordinated
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with planning for gray infrastructure — roads,
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that land was a commodity to be consumed.
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bike trails, water, electric, telecommunication
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Communities that did plan for open space
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and other essential community support
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focused almost exclusively on preserving land
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for parks, which were viewed as a community systems. Integrated planning and design
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should connect the two in a more effective,
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amenity. Most open space preservation efforts
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○ economic and sustainable network.
were site-specific and were not undertaken in ○
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planning include:
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sustainability.
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transportation system, green infrastructure parcel level this could mean designing homes
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should be designed to link diverse green and businesses around green space. At the
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space elements into a system that community level this could mean creating
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functions as a whole, rather than as greenways to link existing parks. And at the
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separate, unrelated parts. statewide level this could mean protecting
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✺ PLANNED COMPREHENSIVELY — Like broad wildlife movement corridors to connect
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our electric power and telecommunication state and national forests.
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systems, our green space systems need to
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be planned comprehensively to provide
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Benefits of Integrating Green
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ecological, social and economic benefits,
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Infrastructure Into the Land Planning
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functions, and values. Process
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✺ LAID OUT STRATEGICALLY — Like our
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roads and water systems, our green space Just as there are many benefits to green
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systems need to be laid out strategically infrastructure, there are many benefits to
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to cross multiple jurisdictions and utilizing a green infrastructure approach to
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incorporate green space elements at each conservation and development planning. Green
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level of government. ○
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infrastructure planning:
✺ PLANNED AND IMPLEMENTED ✺ Recognizes and addresses the needs of
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input from and involvement of the public, ✺ Provides a framework for integrating
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— Like the design and planning of our development are placed where most
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landscape architecture.
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✺ FUNDED UP-FRONT — Like other ✺ Provides a broad, unifying vision for the
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infrastructure systems, our green space future that diverse people and organiza-
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with other essential services, rather than ✺ Helps provide both communities and
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with money that is left over after all other developers with predictability and
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Green infrastructure planning should take place be planned in harmony, not in opposition
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Green Infrastructure
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They are intended to help provide design,
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Principles
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planning, acquisition and other decision-
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making guidance for community-based
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ll across America states, regions, sustainable development. It is our hope that
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communities, private landowners,
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planners, developers, landowners, state and
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public agencies, and conservation
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local officials, and others will use these
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organizations are working to conserve and
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principles as benchmarks for incorporating a
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restore our country’s natural life sustaining green infrastructure approach into existing and
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system. Although these projects go by many
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future plans and policies as well as future land
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different names (greenway planning and
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conservation and land development projects.
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design, ecosystem management, watershed
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protection, conservation development, habitat
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restoration, stream improvement, greenprints), PRINCIPLE 1: Green infrastructure
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successful initiatives are based on common should be the framework for
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principles and share similar strategies. ○
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conservation and development.
What follows are six guiding principles and Most of our nation’s land conservation
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strategies that have been identified as critical programs over the last century have focused
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initiatives. Taken together, these principles preserves, or other isolated areas that have
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provide a strategic approach and framework important natural or cultural resources. Today,
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for conservation that can advance the conservation biology teaches us that these
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sustainable use of land while providing an “wilderness” islands are unlikely to meet their
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interconnected system of green spaces that conservation objectives. This is because wildlife
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Photo: Hollingworth/USFWS
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and ecological processes cannot function if man-made wetlands and other restoration
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natural connections are severed. By contrast, projects can cease to function over the long
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roads and other forms of gray infrastructure term, planning for and protecting green space
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upon which America’s communities depend — systems should come before development
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and that provide the framework for future whenever possible. But in situations in which
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growth and development — are planned, built development has already occurred, it is still
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and maintained as a system of inter-connected important to assess where restoring green
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parts. infrastructure would benefit people and natural
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systems. A green infrastructure plan will focus
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By making green infrastructure the framework
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acquisition and restoration priorities and help
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for conservation, communities can plan for
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communities take advantage of opportunities
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and protect interconnected, green space systems. to reconnect isolated habitat islands as existing
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And where isolated “islands” of nature already developed areas and built infrastructure age or
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exist, green infrastructure planning can help
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other redevelopment opportunities occur.
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them identify opportunities to restore the vital
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ecological connections that are necessary for
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the survival of those protected areas.
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CASE STUDY
Having a green infrastructure strategy also
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corridors and the loss of riparian and other Montgomery County (population 800,000)
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ground and surface water supplies, slow and stream valley park system in advance of the
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absorb stormwater runoff, and replenish soils. county’s rapid growth. The county began
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Protecting green infrastructure up front ensures buying land along all of its major stream
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are seen as part of the community’s essential before land development and population
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PRINCIPLE 2: Design and plan green system with a 10-year, $100 million
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Restoration of natural systems is far more farmland, stream valley parks, ecological
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preserves.
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The desired outcome for all green infrastruc-
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ture initiatives is the creation of a green space
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network that functions as an ecological whole,
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not as a random assemblage of separate,
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unrelated parts. The strategic connection of
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Photo: Gentry/USFWS
different system components — parks,
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preserves, riparian areas, wetlands, and other
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green spaces — is critical to maintaining vital
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ecological processes and services (e.g.,
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carrying and filtering stormwater runoff,
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storing and cleaning fresh water, cleaning
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urban air) and to maintaining the health and
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biodiversity of wildlife populations. In addition, STRATEGY: Make connections between
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green infrastructure requires linkages to be ○
green infrastructure initiatives and other
activities within and beyond the community.
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mental organizations, and the private sector. Linking green infrastructure efforts to statewide,
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The Ecological Network of Florida’s Statewide regional and local smart growth programs
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are examples of green infrastructure network programs that focus on growth and development
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design that is based on this principle.13 will aid state and community efforts to protect
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functions across multiple jurisdictions
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and at different scales.
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Metro Greenways Program
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Linking Partners and Programs for
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Our nation’s transportation, power,
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Resource Conservation and Restoration
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telecommunication and other gray infrastruc-
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ture systems are designed to connect across
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TWIN CITIES REGION, MINNESOTA
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multiple jurisdictions and incorporate facilities
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In the past 150 years, urban development that function at different scales. Likewise, we
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in the Twin Cities region has consumed
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need to design green infrastructure systems
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nearly 96 percent of the pre-settlement strategically to connect across urban,
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habitat. Emphasizing the important role of suburban, rural and wilderness landscapes and
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natural resources, in 1998 the Minnesota
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incorporate green space elements and
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Legislature established the Metro
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functions at the state, regional, community
Greenways program and provided $4.3
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and parcel scales.
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million to plan, protect, and improve
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significant natural areas in the seven-county
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Green infrastructure strategies can be used for
metropolitan region.
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initiatives of any size or scale, including:
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Administered and coordinated by the ○
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protect and improve the natural resources Northern Illinois Regional Greenway Plan,
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that are important to them in a way that which involves six counties in and around
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earns local support. At the same time, the the Chicago metropolitan region);
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individual projects contribute to the existing statewide and national conservation and
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local and regional park systems as open space resources (e.g., the Florida
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ecosystems.
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landscapes.
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government and private landowners at
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various scales to plan and implement green
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A Conservation Development infrastructure.
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Incorporating Green Infrastructure
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Concepts and Values Our state and local governments would never
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fund and construct highway systems without
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PRAIRIE CROSSING, GRAYSLAKE, ILLINOIS a multi-year transportation plan and an
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associated public communication plan that
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Located 40 miles northwest of Chicago in
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Grayslake, Illinois, Prairie Crossing is a lays out all the implementation steps in a
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logical and orderly fashion. State and local
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unique conservation development that
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transportation agencies even provide for
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shows how green infrastructure can add
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value to residential development. Prairie volunteers to “adopt” highways. The funding,
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Crossing’s 362 homes are located on a protection and management of our green
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small portion of the site’s 667 acres. The infrastructure systems deserve the same level
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majority of the land is left in open space to of foresight and commitment on behalf of the
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prairie, 158 acres of active farmland, 13 system. Clearly privately owned land,
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Photo: Hollingsworth/USFWS
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grounded in sound science and land-
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use planning theories and practices.
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EPA’s Southeastern
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Ecological Framework
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No single science or planning discipline can
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Using Conservation GIS to Identify Green
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lay claim to the evolution of green
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infrastructure. Instead, theories and practices Infrastructure in a Multi-State Region
○
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of many scientific and land planning
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The Southeastern Ecological Framework
○
professions — including conservation biology, Project is a geographic information systems
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landscape ecology, urban and regional planning, (GIS) analysis to identify ecological
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landscape architecture, geography, and civil
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significant areas and connectivity in the
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engineering — all contribute to the successful southeast region of the United States. The
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design and planning of green infrastructure states included in the project are Florida,
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systems. Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South
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Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and
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The twentieth century included experimenta- Kentucky. The project was conducted in
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1999-2000 by the University of Florida
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tion with different approaches to protecting
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our natural resources and environment. GeoPlan Center and sponsored by the US
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○ Environmental Protection Agency Region 4.
Scientists, engineers, and land use planners ○
already function efficiently when it comes to 1. Identifying primary ecological areas that
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protecting our water supply and air resources. are protected by some type of
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program;
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habitats managed for biodiversity purposes network that connects these primary
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areas from natural disasters, can improve the 3. Identifying the important ecological
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general health of the human community, and characteristics of the ecological areas
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STRATEGY: Draw from the theories and analyzing the ecological connectivity at
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the information.
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disciplines including conservation biology and ecology principles and GIS tools. The
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landscape ecology, urban and regional planning, product of the study can be used by local,
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a critical public investment.
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The functions, values and benefits of green Green Topeka
○
Using Green Infrastructure to Reduce
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infrastructure are available for everyone. Creating
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Stormwater Management Costs
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interconnected green space systems benefits
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communities by providing land for resource
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TOPEKA, KANSAS
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protection and restoration, recreation and other
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public values. More important, strategic Topeka, Kansas is one of an increasing
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number of municipalities that are using
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placement of green infrastructure reduces the
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need for some gray infrastructure, freeing up green infrastructure to enhance the livability
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public funds for other community needs. For of their community with open spaces that
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work for people and water quality throughout
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example, one third of weekday trail users are
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the watershed. One inch of rain over the
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commuting in major urban areas with trail
city of Topeka translates to 940 million
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systems such as Washington, D.C., Seattle,
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gallons of stormwater. As the city became
Wash., and Tampa, Fl., greatly reducing the ○
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risk of floods, fires, and other natural disasters. organizations and other stakeholders that
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Recognizing the public benefits of green was created in November 2000 to address
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infrastructure is an important first step in water quality and quantity concerns. Rather
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reasons, green infrastructure is an appropriate and underground pipes, the Soldier Creek
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and necessary use of public funds. Watershed, a Green Topeka pilot planning
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and to ensure that all parts connect to one accounting standard, GASB-34, may be one
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ance and improvement of our highway systems. resources in state and federal agencies for
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public and private functions and values that involves diverse stakeholders.
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address both natural and human needs and
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The stakeholders of green infrastructure
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benefit the environment and communities.
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These benefits need to be documented, both initiatives have diverse backgrounds and needs.
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in terms of their ecological values for people Successful green infrastructure efforts forge
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alliances and interrelationships among various
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and the environment and their economic
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organizations — both public and private. A few
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values to society. Just as all forms of built
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infrastructure are promoted for the wide range examples of how diverse organizations have
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of public and private benefits they provide, we been brought together for a single purpose:
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✺ The Chicago Wilderness is a grassroots
○
need to promote green infrastructure systems
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collaboration of over 100 organizations
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actively for the wide range of essential ecological,
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economic and social functions, values and representing all sectors with an interest in
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benefits that accrue to people and nature. the region.
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✺ Keep America Growing is designed to
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Green infrastructure initiatives describe and create partnerships to balance the
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define the values and functions of intercon- demands for growth and development
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nected networks of open space in a context with the protection of vital working lands
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CASE STUDY
○
In 1993, Pittsford, N.Y. commissioned a lasting and sensitive to the economic value of
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general public.
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also creating several enhanced economic incorporate the experiences and programs of
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development sites for commercial and light diverse public, private and nonprofit partners.
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the town. Landowners supported the plan infrastructure a reality. To be successful, green
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because they were compensated for the infrastructure initiatives must excite people,
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the process and forge consensus. The
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community should be engaged in seeking
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Chicago Wilderness
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ways to build on its history and existing
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assets and to extend the benefits into In 1996, a coalition of organizations
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underserved and growing areas. launched Chicago Wilderness. Their
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vision: a thriving mosaic of natural areas
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Successful citizen involvement programs go (200,000 acres of private, local, state, and
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beyond traditional methods of engaging citizens federal protected lands connected by
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greenways and wildlife corridors)
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to find informal and creative ways to get their
○
attention. Among the strategies that might be embedded within the Nation’s third largest
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metropolitan area. On its sixth anniversary,
effective are placing greenspace maps in post
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Chicago Wilderness — once seen as a
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offices, libraries, schools, city hall, etc., to invite
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contradiction in terms — is becoming a
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input, and working with the media to get out
reality, mobilizing human diversity on behalf
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the message, as was done in Anne Arundel
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of biological diversity. The partnership now
County, MD. In creating its wetlands plan, the ○
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techniques from the beginning to the end of the education, community groups, landowners,
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project to involve citizens; the city’s techniques and conservation organizations that have
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marketing posters, news releases and news- protect, restore and manage Chicago
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The Florida Greenways Commission
○
A New Vision of the Future
○
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The 40-member, Governor-appointed Florida fragmented or isolated elements of the state’s
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Greenways Commission engaged representa- green infrastructure, and that connects people
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tives of public agencies, conservation nonprofits with their natural, historic and cultural
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and the private sector in planning an heritage…A healthy and diverse green
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interconnected, statewide system of greenways infrastructure is the underlying basis of our
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and greenspaces that would benefit Florida’s state’s sustainable future.…”17
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people and wildlife. The following statements
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The Commission’s vision statement and graphic
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and graphic portray their concept of Florida’s
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guided the subsequent design of the statewide
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green infrastructure.
system and the development of its plan for
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“The Commission’s vision for Florida represents implementation.
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a new way of looking at conservation, an
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approach that emphasizes the
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interconnected-ness of both our
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GeoPlan Center
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✺ Southeastern Ecological Framework: a
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Examples
○
regional conservation assessment
○
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identifying diverse ecological green space
N
umerous conservation initiatives are
○
elements throughout the Southeast18
○
occurring across the United States
○
(www.geoplan.ufl.edu/epa/index.html)
○
that embody green infrastructure
○
○
concepts and approaches. These projects
○
(some of which have been described in this
○
Statewide Initiatives
○
monograph’s case studies) encompass a ✺ State of Maryland GreenPrint Program: a
○
○
diversity of scales and landscape types. The statewide scale conservation initiative
○
following are a few examples.
○
protecting forests, wetlands, river corridors
○
○
and other critical ecological areas as a part
○
of the state’s Smart Growth initiative
○
Continental Scale and Multi-State
○
(www.dnr.state.md.us/greenways/
○
Initiatives
○
(www.skyislandalliance.org/siwn.htm)
○
(www.geoplan.ufl.edu/projects/greenways/
○
greenwayindex.html)
○
Credit: Menke/USFWS
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Regional Initiatives
○
✺ Chicago Wilderness Biodiversity
○
○
Conservation Plan — a regional biodiversity
○
Metropolitan Greenspaces Program
○
conservation initiative developed by a
Natural Resource Conservation
○
○
public, private and nonprofit alliance and
in Urban Environments
○
incorporating green infrastructure concepts
○
○
and principles (www.chiwild.org/ PORTLAND, OREGON
○
○
biodiversity.html)
○
In the late 1980’s, a group of representa-
✺ Twin Cities Minnesota Metro Greenways –
○
tives from the metropolitan regional
○
a regional green infrastructure network
○
government (Metro), non-profit organiza-
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design that identifies, protects and
○
tions, local governments and citizens
○
restores important ecological resource formed to collaborate on greenspace
○
features in a multi-county metropolitan
○
protection in the region around Portland,
○
area (www.dnr.state.mn.us/greenprint/ Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. As a
○
○
metro-green.html) result of their efforts, Federal funding was
○
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✺ Portland, Oregon Metro Greenspace allocated to establish a formal partnership
○
between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
○
Program — a regional conservation
○
initiative that protects and restores natural and Metro to initiate the Metropolitan
○
○
areas and recreational open spaces Greenspaces Program. The program focuses
○
tions (www.metro-region.org/parks/
○
urban environments.
○
space initiative that will target and protect Program supported natural area inventories
○
Greenways/Wildlife Corridors — a
○
conservation effort that incorporates a programs and enabled the Fish and
○
○
conservation and recreational spaces that Under the auspices of the program, a
○
○
benefit both the environment and the variety of integrated regulatory and non-
○
○
○
○
www.greeninfrastructure.net/kinston-
○
○
lenoir.htm).
○
Green Infrastructure Plan
○
Linking Hazard Mitigation to Community
○
○
Conservation Developments Conservation and Recreation Objectives
○
○
✺ Prairie Crossing, Liberty Prairie Preserve,
○
KINSTON/LENOIR COUNTY,
○
Gray’s Lake, Illinois – A conservation
○
NORTH CAROLINA
○
development that incorporates green
○
infrastructure design principles and is
○
Developed by graduate students at the
○
linked to a local open space preserve that University of North Carolina, the Kinston/
○
○
conserves diverse ecological resources and Lenoir County Green Infrastructure Plan for
○
the Neuse River Floodplain seeks to
○
provides recreational trail opportunities
○
(http://www.prairiecrossing.com/). identify opportunities to maintain, restore,
○
○
and provide new green infrastructure along
○
the Neuse River floodplain and adjacent
○
○
Other Examples ○
infrastructure concepts and approaches Hurricanes Fran and Floyd. The local
○
○
www.greeninfrastructure.net
○
community.20
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Photo: Cooper/USFWS
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Green Infrastructure Versus
○
both conservation and development.
○
Traditional Conservation
○
✺ It recognizes that physical linkage
○
○
between green space elements is key to
○
any people believe that green sustaining natural ecosystems and
○
infrastructure represents the next
○
landscape processes.
○
generation of conservation action
○
✺ It emphasizes the importance of planning
○
because it forges an important connection
○
and protecting green infrastructure before
○
between land conservation and land use development.
○
planning. Traditional land conservation and
○
✺ It recognizes the need to connect green
○
green infrastructure planning both focus on
○
space elements across multiple
○
environmental restoration and preservation, but
○
jurisdictions, scales and landscape types.
○
green infrastructure also concentrates on the ✺ It focuses on the creation of a green
○
pace, shape, and location of development and
○
space vision that excites and engages
○
its relationship to important natural resources
○
people and guides implementation actions.
○
and amenities. Unlike more conventional ✺
○
It considers the needs of both nature and
○
conservation approaches, green infrastructure humans — addressing both the
○
○
strategies actively seek to promote more environmental effects of proposed
○
of a community.
○
ecosystems.
○
○
section, green infrastructure differs from for development, ensuring that developers,
○
ways:
○
community amenities.
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E
very state and local government has a long-range
transportation plan. Growing communities also
have detailed plans for improving their airports,
sewage treatment plants, telecommunications facilities
and other public infrastructure. Just as these communities
need to upgrade and expand their gray infrastructure, so
too they need plans to upgrade and expand their green
infrastructure.
Photo: Hollingworth/USFWS
conservation in the same way that long-range
transportation plans provide a blueprint for future roads
or transit lines. Green infrastructure plans can create a
framework for future growth while also ensuring that
significant natural resources will be preserved for future
generations. Green infrastructure plans can even reduce
opposition to new development by assuring civic groups
and environmental organizations that growth will occur
only within a framework of expanded conservation and
open space lands.
Savvy states and communities are starting to think about green space in a more thoughtful and
systematic way. They realize that green infrastructure is not a frill — it is smart conservation for the
twenty-first century.