Green Landscaping: Greenacres
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How do Land Use and Development Practices Affect the Environment?
Where development occurs and how developments are planned and
built have very significant consequences to natural resources and
the environment. Habitat can be lost or fragmented as important
areas are converted from forests, grasslands, or wetlands to
residential, commercial, or industrial uses. The functioning of
natural systems can also be disrupted.
With
natural features and natural drainage patterns, most of the rainfall
in a watershed will seep into the ground, replenishing the ground
water table. With large expanses of impervious surfaces, instead of
infiltrating into the ground, storm water runs across the ground and
discharges in a very short time into streams and rivers. This
increases peak flow amounts and peak flow velocities. These high
flows degrade the stream channel, scour the stream bottom and erode
the stream banks, and degrade water quality – sediments and other
pollutants picked up as the storm water runs across the ground are
delivered directly to the stream. The result is the water becomes
increasingly polluted, and the health of aquatic communities
declines.
By giving careful consideration to where development occurs, city
and county officials and developers can plan projects that will
protect sensitive areas and direct growth and development to areas
best suited for industrial, commercial, and residential uses.
Property owners and developers can also help protect natural
resources by giving sensible consideration to how developments are
planned and built. Conservation Development is an approach
for development that seeks to protect and preserve natural resources
from development impacts. Conservation site plans are prepared
reflecting existing site topography, soils, vegetation, natural
drainage patterns, and other landscape features. Conservation
development sites may feature common open space and clustered
compact lots. Conservation development also integrates storm water
Best Management Practices (BMPs) throughout the site to protect and
restore natural hydrology, prevent flooding, and protect habitat and
water quality.
Sustainability has many definitions but the basic principles
and concepts remain constant: balancing a growing economy,
protection for the environment, and social responsibility, so they
together lead to an improved quality of life for ourselves and
future generations. Common use of the term "sustainability," in the
context of modern environmentalism, began with the publication of
the World Commission on Environment and Development report, Our
Common Future, in 1987. This report characterized sustainable
development as "development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs."
As it is applied to the built environment (buildings, roads,
communities), Sustainable Development encompasses the
concepts of conservation development and Low Impact Development
(LID), and incorporates additional consideration of how sites and
buildings affect natural resources and the environment. For example
a sustainable development project may feature energy-efficient
buildings, and/or the use of recycled and non-toxic materials in
construction.
An additional focus is being built into the Conservation and Native
Landscaping Awards Program beginning in 2005 is to recognize developments which
bring to life the principles of Conservation Development and
Sustainable Development. Projects can be nominated for recognition
using the web link provided below.
Evaluation Criteria
The criteria that will be used to evaluate conservation development projects nominated for 2005 awards will be the Principles and associated implementation checklists outlined in the document, "Sustainable Development Principles for Protecting Nature in the Chicago Wilderness Region." The eight Principles cataloged in this document are as follows:
- Promote infill development and redevelopment where transportation facilities and utilities already exist in order to minimize the development of open lands, such as natural areas and farmland. Encourage development that is compact and contiguous to existing community infrastructure.
- Locate and plan new development in ways that protect natural resources and habitat and provide buffers between sensitive natural areas and intensive use areas.
- Use the development process to enhance and restore streams, wetlands and lakes, and to enhance their potential as recreational and aesthetic amenities.
- Preserve permanent open space as an integral part of new development to both protect critical natural areas and to provide opportunities for recreation and environmental education. Design developments to create open space linkages to adjacent and regional natural areas so that nature exists not as islands but as connected habitat.
- Recognize the value of water as a resource and manage it to protect downstream water bodies and wetlands, prevent increased flooding, preserve groundwater resources, and maintain natural hydrology.
- Minimize changes to natural topography, soils, and vegetation to preserve land, water and soil relationships that are essential for sustaining plant and animal habitat. Where sites have been previously altered, attempt to restore natural conditions to the extent possible.
- Establish procedures that assure the ongoing management of natural areas within developments as part of an overall strategy for achieving sustainability.
- Design development to achieve the broader sustainability of human and natural communities, including the social and economic dimensions of sustainability.
The full document, "Sustainable Development Principles for Protecting Nature in the Chicago Wilderness Region" can be viewed and/or downloaded via the web link provided below. Please note a site does not need to be exemplary in terms of all eight of these criteria in order to be eligible for recognition. Projects which are superior in terms of two or more of the criteria will be considered for recognition.
Links
- Sustainable Development Principles for Protecting Nature in the Chicago Wilderness Region (PDF) (6pp, 289K)
- Conservation Development in Practice
- Sustainability and the Built Environment
- Smart Growth
- Changing Cost Perceptions: An Analysis of Conservation Development Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission, Chicago Wilderness, Conservation Research Institute
- Low Impact Development
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Community Planning and Land Use Management
- An Innovative Tool for Managing Rural Residential Development: A Look at Conservation Subdivisions 2002 by Anna Haines, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point