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Healthy Communities/Healthy Economies

TPL President Will Rogers

I work for a national non-profit which for 27 years has been working on-the-ground to conserve land for people from the inner city to the wilderness. We work in partnership with communities, public agencies and landowners to bring private land into public ownership for parks, open space, playgrounds, community gardens, greenways, trails, habitat and watershed protection, and protecting the special places that give our communities their character -- that say "this is who we are."

In addition to working in partnership to protect specific properties and help communities use land conservation for their social, environmental and economic health, we work at all levels of government to try to access and create funding sources and funding partnerships to conserve land for people.

Coming from such an organization, it's not surprising that my comments today regard the importance of land use -- and in particular, the role of parks, open space, recreation lands and the protection of those special landscapes that define our communities.

Show me a healthy community with a healthy economy and I will show you a community that has its green infrastructure in order and understands the relationship between the built and the unbuilt environment.

Throughout this country's system of lands, whether in cities where brownfields are being recycled for new parks and open space or at the sprawling urban fringe and beyond where the focus is on protection of our working landscapes -- farms, ranches, timber lands -- one thing is clear. Economic, social and environmental health comes to those cities and towns that have envisioned and put into practice what we call a "greenprint for growth". By protecting the best of their landscapes they will be able to stimulate the right kind of growth in the future. They can insure that generations to come will have access to the quality of life and the connection to the natural world that must enhance our built environments. And finally, by protecting the best, communities won't have to settle for the leftovers of poorly planned growth.

Around our nation, communities are recognizing that land conservation is one place where healthy communities and healthy economies meet. This is true in many ways:

• A well-planned park system, greenways and other open space are important contributors to lively and wonderful (let's get beyond "liveable") cities and towns. In America's new service and technology economy, quality of life for our workforce has become a competitive imperative. Liveability is at the top of the list when businesses look at where to invest and locate!
• The economic value of parks and green space has long been established and demonstrated by increased demand and pricing of parkside properties.
• Parks and park programs are a very cost-effective way of addressing delinquency and crime and providing a base for youth activities and for after-school alternatives
• In more rural areas, protecting farms and ranches supports local economies.
• Acquiring watersheds to protect drinking water is often cheaper than paying to treat and filter that water.
• Acquiring riverbeds and flood plains for recreation and habitat is often more cost-effective than building levees and dams and paying flood insurance.
• And of course, land based recreation makes a significant contribution to the nation's $500-billion tourism industry.

What does it take to harness creative land conservation and bring a "green print for growth" to reality? Vision, money and partnership.

The vision is there: So many communities are moving in this direction that it is impossible to even begin to catalog them in a few minutes. But let me call your attention to just a few communities that are using land conservation as a way of creating healthier communities and economies.

--in Austin, the city council recognized that their beautiful natural environment was one of Austin's most important economic assets -- helping create the economic boom that has drawn 800 businesses to the city over the past 20 years. The city protected its Barton Creek watershed and then set about growing smart by creating a 5,000 acre desired growth zone surrounded by protected open space and containing planned parks, creek-side greenways and trails.

--in Seattle along Interstate 90, from the city east to the Cascade Mountains, governments and agencies are forging the Mountains to Sound Greenway to preserve the valuable forests and vistas along the highway and create "urban separators" between the new communities that are springing up there. Quick access to the out of doors is what Northwest living is all about, and the sense of the outdoors at their doorsteps is one of the regions big draws for businesses and residents. The Greenway will accomplish that.

--Down in Jacksonville, Florida, Mayor John Delaney is proposing a $312 million land conservation program that would dramatically improve access to open space and nature while encouraging denser development downtown. Over the next five years, Jacksonville hopes to protect between 10 and 20 square miles of land--approximately 10 percent of its remaining developable property. Some of this land would be purchased outright, while the city would buy conservation easements for other properties to protect them from development.

Mayor Delaney has made it clear that this is more than just a traditional parks measure, but rather part of a thoughtfully designed effort to guide growth into appropriate areas, reduce the infrastructure costs associated with low-density sprawl, and preserve the quality of life on which the city's economic future depends.

And the list goes on:

--whether it's the protection for recreation and water quality of Sterling Forest 40 miles outside of Manhattan whose unbuilt watersheds provide 25% of New Jersey's drinking water or the protection of Georgia's Chatahoochee River watershed that provides scenic values, recreation and 40% of that state's drinking water;

--Or protecting habitat and recreation lands outside of San Diego with a new federal, state and local land protection process designed both to protect species habitat and to provide predictability for development and growth;

--Or the remarkable revitalization of Chattanooga sparked by the glorious renewal of its Tennessee River frontage;

--Or the purchase of easement and development rights to protect farming and ranching in Marin County, California or Routt County, Colorado;

--Or the coming together of culture and nature in a new public park and sculpture garden on a recycled brownfield along Seattle's waterfront.

The vision is out there!

And as for the funding:

--there is concern in countless communities around the country about the effect of unplanned growth and what it is doing to our cities and our much-loved landscapes. This concern was voiced loud and clear at the ballot box last November where there were more than 200 ballot measures aimed at guiding growth and generating more than $7.5 billion dollars in funding to protect local landscapes.

In Washington, "land legacy", "sustainability" and "liveability" are all strong themes in the budget proposed by President Clinton. EPA Administrator Carol Browner is leading the charge on a new idea to create a new program offering communities flexible, zero interest Better America Bonds to protect open space, clean up brownfields and protect watersheds and working landscapes. In addition, there is a host of legislators floating bills to dramatically increase and make permanent federal funding for land protection through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The proposed legislation would fill the state and urban grants portion of this program for the first time in many years. And in the private sector, individuals, foundations, and community land trusts are also doing more than ever before to fund community vision and community greenprints.

And finally, let's not forget the important role of partnerships in coming up with the vision and the funding. We already have partnerships a-plenty, but the coming together of often uncomfortable bedfellows in the public, private and nonprofit sector is leading to opportunities that have not previously existed. We are now beginning to trade in polarization for collaboration and cooperation. It's a good thing: The need is great and time is short, given the remarkable acceleration of growth and change.

Partnerships can be initiated anywhere -- at the federal level with programs like the EPA's brownfields programs or Better American Bonds, at the state level where leadership is backing creating opportunities for smart growth -- in New Jersey, in Maryland, in Michigan and most recently in Georgia, to name just a few states. And an enormous amount of work -- and new partnerships -- are being initiated at the county and municipal levels -- where land use issues come home to roost. In the private sector -- the real estate industry is coming up with initiatives showing a greater commitment to infill development, to finding a better jobs-housing balance in new communities and reaching out to neighborhoods and municipalities in the vision for how we develop or redevelop our landscapes. And the nonprofits -- these dedicated national and community based organizations -- are seeing their reach dramatically extended as they initiate or participate in new broad-based partnerships.

From our perspective, both the need and the opportunity are extraordinary for new land use vision and on-the-ground results -- results that balance community health and a healthy economies and leave for the future a land legacy we can be proud of.