Smart growth uses the term “open space” broadly to mean natural areas both in and surrounding localities that provide important community space, habitat for plants and animals, recreational opportunities, farm and ranch land (working lands), places of natural beauty and critical environmental areas (e.g. wetlands). Open space preservation supports smart growth goals by bolstering local economies, preserving critical environmental areas, improving our communities quality of life, and guiding new growth into existing communities.

There is growing political will to save the "open spaces" that Americans treasure. Voters in 2000 overwhelmingly approved ballot measures to fund open space protection efforts. The reasons for such support are varied and attributable to the benefits associated with open space protection. Protection of open space provides many fiscal benefits, including increasing local property value (thereby increasing property tax bases), providing tourism dollars, and decreases local tax increases (due to the savings of reducing the construction of new infrastructure). Management of the quality and supply of open space also ensures that prime farm and ranch lands are available, prevents flood damage, and provides a less expensive and natural alternative for providing clean drinking water.

The availability of open space also provides significant environmental quality and health benefits. Open space protects animal and plant habitat, places of natural beauty, and working lands by removing the development pressure and redirecting new growth to existing communities. Additionally, preservation of open space benefits the environment by combating air pollution, attenuating noise, controlling wind, providing erosion control, and moderating temperatures. Open space also protects surface and ground water resources by filtering trash, debris, and chemical pollutants before they enter a water system.

Resources

This Is Smart Growth Showcases Development at its Best

Many people want to know what smart growth looks like. This Is Smart Growth, a publication from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the Smart Growth Network, illustrates and explains smart growth concepts and outcomes. This full-color booklet describes how, when done well, development can help create more economic opportunities, build great places where people want to live and visit, preserve the qualities people love about their communities, and protect environmental resources.

Viewpoints, Scenic America's Quarterly Newsletter

Viewpoints, Scenic America's newsletter, covers the latest developments in scenic conservation.

1000 Friends of Wisconsin ''Ten of the Best'' Awards

As part of its 10th year celebration, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin is recognizing ''10 of the Best'' individuals, organizations, companies, and efforts to promote better communities through land use and transportation ideas, policies, projects, and investments.

2003 AFT Steward of the Land Awardees

John and Lorraine Merrill of Stratham, New Hampshire, have won American Farmland Trust's (AFT) 2003 Steward of the Land Award, the largest nationwide award for land stewardship.

2003 Metlife Awards Case Studies

Community Safety Initiative (CSI) staff have produced case studies for seven 2003 MetLife Awards projects; these case studies are available online in PDF format at the Local Initiative Support Corporation website.

2004 American Community Survey

Smart Growth America and the National Association of Realtors® prepared this survey in October 2004 on Americans’ preferences for the type of communities they want to live in and the policies they support for creating those communities. The preferences and other opinions expressed in the survey suggest a direction for solving the conflicting pressures of the desire to develop and the wish to preserve communities.

2004 Most Endangered Sites

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named eleven historic areas in the United States to its Most Endangered Sites list for 2004. From Utah's Nine Mile Canyon to New York City's Columbus Circle, this year's list calls attention to the natural and cultural landmarks of the United States that are at risk.

2005 AFT Steward of the Land Award -- Profile

The American Farmland Trust (AFT) profiles Steve Sinton and his 18,000-acre California ranch in their Steward of the Land awards. Sinton, who received the AFT's 2005 Steward of the Land award, has dedicated much of his time to developing conservation strategies for his land and other California ranches.

2005 APA Planning Awards

The American Planning Association (APA) has announced the winners of its 2005 National Planning Awards. These awards honor the cutting-edge achievements of the planning profession and those involved in creating communities of lasting value.

2005 Better Community Awards -- Florida

Each year, 1000 Friends of Florida honors successful efforts to save special places, fight sprawl, and build better communities in our rapidly growing state. The 2005 Better Community Awards recognizes individuals, organizations, public-private partnerships, local governments, and agencies that, through visionary leadership and planning, have brought about positive and lasting change in their community or region or the state.

2005 Five Star Restoration Challenge Grants

The National Association of Counties, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the Wildlife Habitat Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Community-Based Restoration Program within NOAA Fisheries, and other sponsors (e.g., Office of Surface Mining), are pleased to solicit applications for the 2005 Five Star Restoration Challenge Grants Program.

2005 Glynwood Harvest Awardees

Glynwood Center created the Harvest Awards program in 2003 to highlight work by individuals and organizations who are doing an exceptional job of supporting local and regional agriculture in order to inspire others to take action within their own communities. The Awards help to identify and disseminate “best practice” ideas which will inspire others to take action within their own communities and build urban/rural coalitions in support of responsible farmers.

2005 International Awards for Livable Communities

The International Awards for Liveable Communities is the world’s only Competition for local communities that focuses on environmental management and the creation of liveable communities.

2005 Landmark Award

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the National Trust for Historic Preservation have announced that the North Portion of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) will receive the 2005 Landmark Award during the ASLA Annual Meeting October 7-10, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

2005 National Wetlands Awards

Seven wetlands educators, scientists, and conservationists were selected as recipients of the Environmental Law Institute's 2005 National Wetlands Awards for exemplary contributions in conserving or restoring the Nation's wetlands, and will be honored at a Capitol Hill presentation on May 18, 2005 in in Washington, DC.

2005 Sustainable Tourism Awards

Smithsonian magazine and Tourism Cares for Tomorrow will co-sponsor the 5th Annual Sustainable Tourism Awards.

2005 ULI Awards of Excellence -- Americas

Eleven outstanding developments from the Americas have been selected as winners for the 2005 Urban Land Institute's first ever (ULI) Awards for Excellence: The Americas competition.

2005 Walter B. Jones Memorial and NOAA Excellence Awards Call for Nominations

Innovation, resourcefulness, leadership and a commitment to balancing the human use of America's coastal and ocean resources with the needs of the resources themselves -- these are the hallmarks of the Walter B. Jones Memorial and NOAA Excellence Awards.

2005 Wetlands Awards

Australia’s Banrock Station Wines and The Conservation Fund have announced the latest grant recipients in their ongoing commitment to save the country’s vanishing wetlands.

2006 AFT Steward of the Land Award -- Profile

American Farmland Trust (AFT) honored Tom Hutson, a dairy farmer from DeLancey, NY, with the tenth annual Steward of the Land Award on June 8, 2006. Hutson received a check for $10,000 at a presentation on the steps of city hall.

2006 Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants

The Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program provides grants to organizations working on a local level to protect and improve watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay basin, while building citizen-based resource stewardship.

2006 Conservation Awards Nominations

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) announce the second annual County Leadership in Conservation Awards Program, in partnership with the National Association of County Planners and the National Association of County Parks and Recreation Officials. This Award recognizes leadership, innovation, and excellence in local land conservation and park creation by county leaders across America.

2006 Conservation Awards Winners

Six winners and twelve finalists were announced for the second annual County Leadership in Conservation Awards sponsored by the The Trust for Public Land and National Association of Counties (NACo). The Awards recognized leadership, innovation, and excellence in local land conservation and park creation by county leaders across America.

2006 Energy Star Awards

Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency in the Energy Star Awards. On March 21, 2006, the EPA and DOE honored award winners at the 2006 ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony in Washington, DC.

2006 Energy Star Awards Nominations

Each year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. Award winners will be recognized at the ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony on March 21, 2006 in Washington, DC.

2006 Five Star Grant Recipients

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has prepared an online list of its 2006 Five-Star Grant Recipients. Twenty-four states are represented in this list of recipients in a program that provides environmental education and training through projects that restore wetlands and streams.

2006 Five Star Restoration Grants

The National Association of Counties, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the Wildlife Habitat Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other sponsors, are pleased to solicit applications for the 2006 Five-Star Restoration Matching Grants Program.

2006 Green Roof Award of Excellence -- Research

The Green Roof Award of Excellence in Research honors a person or research team who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of green roof research in North America. The nomination process is open to the private and public sector. The contest has been extended to accept nominations until March 15th, 2006 (midnight EST).

2006 Green Roofs of Excellence Award Winners

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities has announced winnners of the 2006 Green Roofs of Excellence Awards.

2006 International Paper Conservation Awards

International Paper, in partnership with The Conservation Fund, recognizes the efforts of people across the country working to protect the future of America's outdoor heritage.

2006 Lindbergh Foundation Awards

The Lindbergh Foundation administers several awards and events each year to fulfill its mission. The Foundation offers the Lindbergh Award to an individual for his or her significant contributions toward the Lindbergh's vision of a balance between technological advancement and environmental preservation. An annual event is held around the time in May when Lindbergh took-off on his famous New York-to-Paris flight, and takes place in different cities around the United States.

2006 Massachusetts Smart Growth Conference Proceedings

Conference proceedings and presentations from the 2006 Massachusetts Smart Growth Conference are now available online at the conference website. More than 750 people from the private, public, and non-profit sectors attended this event, co-hosted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Planning Association.

2006 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement

On November 15, 2006, EPA announced five winners of the 2006 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. This award recognizes outstanding achievement in smart growth by tribal, state, local, or regional governments in five categories: Overall Excellence, Built Projects, Policies and Regulations, Small Communities, and Equitable Development.

2006 National Land Conservation Awards

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) have named six counties in the 2006 County Leadership in Conservation Awards, recognize leadership, innovation, and excellence on local land conservation and park creation initiatives by county leaders across America.

2006 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference -- Audio Recordings

Audio compact discs from the 2006 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference are available for purchase. The fifth annual conference drew more than 1,200 attendees and offered dozens of seminars, symposia, workshops, and other events.

2006 Vision Long Island Smart Growth Awardees

Vision Long Island hosted more than 375 leaders, experts and advocates at the 5th Annual Smart Growth Awards on June 16, 2006. The event put a spotlight on the cutting edge people, projects and policies that are shaping the future of Long Island’s landscape. Categories were based on Vision Long Island's “Principles of Smart Growth,” and included awards for green development and regional leadership.

2006 Vision Long Island Smart Growth Awards Nominations

Vision Long Island is seeking nominations for its fourth annual Smart Growth Awards. This special event will honor individuals and organizations taking leadership in advancing Smart Growth projects, policies, regulations and initiatives. Deadline for submission is February 28, 2006.

2006 Wetlands Awards

Australia’s Banrock Station Wines and The Conservation Fund have announced the latest grant recipients in their ongoing commitment to save the country’s vanishing wetlands.

2007 AFT Steward of the Land Award -- Profile

Sandy and Rossie Fisher of Brookview Farm in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia, have received American Farmland Trust's (AFT's) 2007 Steward of the Land Award for their leadership in farmland protection and environmental stewardship.

2007 APA Colorado Chapter Awards

Winners of the 2007 APA-Colorado Chapter Awards will be recognized Thursday, October 4, 2007 during the chapter's annual conference award's banquet in Colorado Springs.

2007 Award for Smart Growth Excellence -- New York State

The New York State Association of REALTORS Award for Smart Growth Excellence was created to recognize the successful efforts of New York's communities to incorporate the principles of smart growth into their projects, policies and programs. Its purpose is to promote the continued advancement of smart growth in the state, in accordance with the principles adopted by REALTORS.

2007 Better Community Awards Winners -- Florida

1000 Friends of Florida has announced winners of its 2007 Better Community Awards competition.

2007 ELI Award Dinner

Kathryn Fuller, the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the World Wildlife Fund, U.S., is the winner of the 2007 ELI Award for Achievement in Environmental Law, Policy, and Management. The award honors Fuller's career achievements in advancing the cause of biodiversity conservation and in responding aggressively and creatively to the forces of economic development and environmental pollution that threaten wildlife and natural habitat.

2007 Energy Star Awards Nominations

Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency. Award winners will be recognized at the ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony on March 21, 2007 in Washington, DC.

2007 Environmental Quality Awards

The EPA's Region 2 Environmental Quality Awards honor non-profit, environmental and community groups, individual citizens, environmental education and business organizations and members of the news media. The honor is given to those individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to improving the environment in EPA Region 2.

2007 Farm Policy Reform: Creating Healthy Farms, Healthy Food and a Healthy World

2007 Farm Policy Reform: Creating Healthy Farms, Healthy Food and a Healthy World outlines the American Farmland Trust's ambitious and comprehensive campaign to strengthen American agriculture and expand the public benefits of U.S. farm policy.

2007 National Planning Awards -- Call for Entries

Good planning helps create communities of lasting value. Creating such communities takes effort, vision, and dedication.

2007 Regional Conservation Priorities List

The Washington Smart Growth Alliance is now accepting nominations for its 2007 Regional Conservation Priorities List. Last year's inaugural Regional Conservation Priorities List garnered over 20 spots in the local media, including an editorial in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

2007 Sustainability Award Winners -- Berkeley

The Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability (CACS) at the University of California-Berkeley presents the annual Sustainability Award to outstanding members of the Cal Community.

2007 Vision Long Island Smart Growth Awardees

Vision Long Island honored a dozen individuals and organizations in their 2007 Smart Growth Awards ceremony, held on June 15, 2007, at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, New York.

2007 Wind Symposium Videos and Presentations

Videos and presentations from the event are now available from ''Manufacturing and Developing Wind Energy Systems in Michigan,'' a symposium held September 10-11, 2007 at Michigan State University. This conference focused on jump-starting wind projects in Michigan and on helping wind turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) find and conduct business with quality Michigan suppliers. It also connected community leaders with business leaders in the industry and enhanced understanding of the economic development benefits of wind development.

2008 Accredited Land Trusts

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, awarded accreditation to 39 land trusts from across the country at its 2008 inaugural awards ceremony. This is a milestone for the land conservation community.

2008 AFT Steward of the Land Award -- Profile

American Farmland Trust is proud to recognize Nash Huber of Nash's Organic Produce as our 2008 Steward of the Land. The award recognizes Huber for his leadership in protecting agricultural land, local food and the environment.

2008 Annual Green Innovation Awards

The Virginia Sustainable Building Network (VSBN) announced the fourth annual Virginia Green Innovation Awards at its Annual Meeting on June 25, 2008. Each year, VSBN members are asked to nominate Green businesses, organizations, design firms, and community programs that represent ''the best Green projects or programs in Virginia.''

2008 Awards for Excellence -- Europe

Five outstanding developments have been selected as winners of the Urban Land Institute's (ULI) 2008 Awards for Excellence: Europe competition. The Awards for Excellence competition is widely recognized as the land use industry's most prestigious recognition program.

2008 Better Community Awards -- Florida

1000 Friends of Florida has announced winners of its 2008 Better Community Awards competition.

2008 Better Community Awards Nominations -- Florida

Each year, 1000 Friends of Florida honors successful efforts to save special places, fight sprawl, and build better communities in this rapidly growing state. The 2008 Better Community Awards will recognize Florida's leading citizens, public servants, programs and communities that are contributing to an enhanced quality of life in this state.

2008 Comprehensive Planning Grants -- Wisconsin

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has announced comprehensive planning grants for 149 local governments throughout Wisconsin, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin reports. This funding will help communities develop and adopt locally created plans to address long-term needs, promote economic development, and guide future land use decisions.

2008 Evergreen Cities Act -- Washington State

The 2008 Evergreen Cities Act (Washington State, HB 2844) was signed into law by Governor Christine Gregoire on April 1, 2008. This landmark legislation represents a commitment by the State of Washington to improving its urban forests.

2008 Green Fund Grant Recipients -- Berkeley

The University of California-Berkeley sponsors the Green Fund Cal sustainability projects, which are funded by the Chancellor's Green Campus Fund.

2008 International Young Eco-Hero Awards

The 2008 International Young Eco-Hero Awards recognize the individual accomplishments of young people (ages 8-16) whose personal actions have significantly improved the environment.

2008 National Preservation Awards

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has announced the 21 recipients of the 2008 National Preservation Awards at its national conference, held this year in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

2008 UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development Speaker Series

Ecofoot, the official website of the Office of Campus Sustainability at Michigan State University, provides a listing for its 2008 UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development Speaker Series. Participating in the Fall 2008 speaker lineup are Ritu Primlani, Richard Louv, and Tom Princen.

2009 City Park Facts

2009 City Parks Facts is a report published by the Trust for Public Land that has methodically researched urban parks across the United States and created a database on acreage, facilities, staffing, budgets, usership, and more. This information is then broken in to sections throughout the report with information such as acres of parkland by city or agency, total spending on parks per resident by a selected city, a series of top 10 lists for facilities (dog parks, pools, skateboard parks etc.) per 10,000 residents, and interesting parks with notable statistics such as most visited, oldest and largest. Information for over 20,000 individual parks for the 77 largest cities in the United States has been collected for this report.

The Trust for Public Land is a national non-profit land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy. Since 1972, the Trust for Public Land has worked with landowners, community groups, and national, state and local agencies to complete more than 3,900 land conservation projects in 47 states. Since 1994, they have helped states and communities pass over 330 ballot measures, generating almost $25 billion in new conservation related funding.

2009 Collegiate Athletic Department Sustainability Survey

The 2009 Collegiate Athletic Department Sustainability Survey Report shows that while sustainability efforts appear to be growing within collegiate athletics, commitment to sustainability is lower among athletic departments than compared to their institutions as a whole and to professional sports teams.

2009 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement Winners

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson presented the 2009 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement on December 1 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Through the awards, four communities were recognized for their comprehensive approach to improving access to affordable housing, providing more transportation options and protecting the local environment for residents.

The four recipients of the 2009 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement are:

Overall Excellence: Lancaster County Planning Commission for Envision Lancaster County. Lancaster County, in south-central Pennsylvania, is known for its historic towns and villages, and its fertile farmland. To maintain the county’s character, its diverse economy, and its natural resources for future generations, the Lancaster County Planning Commission established a countywide comprehensive growth management plan, which protects valuable farmland and historic landscapes by directing development to established towns and cities in the county.

Policies and Regulations: City of Charlotte for Urban Street Design Guidelines. As the central city in a rapidly growing metropolitan area, Charlotte, N.C., is under intense development pressures. Rather than continue the automobile-dominated development patterns of the last 50 years, Charlotte adopted Urban Street Design Guidelines to make walking, bicycling, and transit more appealing and to make the city more attractive and sustainable.

Built Projects: Chicago Housing Authority, FitzGerald Associates Architects and Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation for Parkside of Old Town. Parkside of Old Town sits on eight city blocks that were once home to a public housing complex notorious for criminal activity. The redevelopment has transformed the neighborhood by reconnecting it to downtown Chicago and tying together mixed-income housing, parks, and new shops and restaurants.

Smart Growth and Green Building: City of Tempe, Ariz. for the Tempe Transportation Center. The Tempe Transportation Center is a model for sustainable design, a vibrant, mixed-use regional transportation hub that incorporates innovative and green building elements tailored to the Southwest desert environment. The Tempe Transportation Center is a true multi-modal facility that integrates a light rail stop, the main city bus station, and paths for bicyclists and pedestrians.

2009 New Partners for Smart Growth Session Proposals

The Local Government Commission (LGC) is conducting a ''Call for Session Proposals'' (CFSP) for the 2009 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference program. This process will be open from May 19 through June 25, 2008. The submittal review process will take place from early-July through late-August 2008.

2009 RFP -- Reduction of Nutrient and Sediment Loads Into the Chesapeake Bay

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Chesapeake Bay Program Office, has announced three Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for reduction in nutrient and sediment loads into the Chesapeake Bay Watershed for fiscal year 2009.

2009 Smart Growth Vermont Awards

Smart Growth Vermont announces its 2009 Smart Growth Awards and Art Gibb Award Ceremony. This awards program honors projects, initiatives, and plans anywhere in the state of Vermont that demonstrate smart growth principles in action.

2009 Sustainability Awards

The Fraser Basin Council of British Columbia congratulates recipients of its 2009 Sustainability Awards.

2009 Sustainable San Mateo County Awards

Winners of the 2009 Sustainable San Mateo County Awards and Green Building Awards were honored at the 10th Annual Awards Event held on March 18, 2009 at the South San Francisco Conference Center.

2010 MetLife Foundation Community-Police Partnership Awards Program

MetLife Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) are partnering for the ninth year to recognize, sustain and share the work of innovative partnerships between community groups and police to promote neighborhood safety and revitalization.

Preliminary Application Deadline: February 26, 2010

Awardees will receive monetary grants ranging from $15,000 to $25,000.

Case studies about award-winning partnerships will be disseminated throughout the community development and law enforcement industries.

Cash grants will be awarded in the following two categories:

Neighborhood Revitalization Awards (Six at $15,000-25,000): These awards celebrate exemplary collaboration between community groups and police that yields crime reduction as well as economic development outcomes, such as real estate development, business attraction and job growth.

Special Strategy Awards (Five at $15,000): Community and police partners who have achieved significant accomplishments in one of the following areas will receive awards:

• Applied technology
• The Aesthetics and Greenspace Improvement
• Diversity Inclusion & Integration
• Drug Market Disruption
• Gang Prevention & Youth Safety
• Seniors & Safety

2010 Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition

Metropolis's 2010 Next Generation Design Competition is now accepting entries based on the theme is One Design Fix for the Future. The competition is looking for one small (but utterly brilliant!) design fix that can be made now, and that will have a lasting postive impact on the designed environment. The competition is open to all designers and architects in practice ten years or less (including design students), and the winner will receive $10,000 to help make his or her idea a reality.

Deadline: January 29, 2010.

2010 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is now accepting applications for the 2010 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement. This competition is open to public- and private-sector entities that have successfully used smart growth principles to improve communities environmentally, socially, and economically.

The application period is open from February 8, 2010 to April 5, 2010.

Up to five awards will be given in the following categories:

• Programs, Policies, and Regulations
• Smart Growth and Green Building
• Civic Places
• Rural Smart Growth
• Overall excellence

2010 National Preservation Awards

Each year the National Trust for Historic Preservation celebrates the best of preservation by presenting National Preservation Awards to individuals and organizations whose contributions demonstrate excellence in historic preservation.

The Trust invites you to nominate a deserving individual, organization, agency, or project for a National Preservation Award. The postmark deadline for all award nominations, including the Trustees' Awards, National Trust/Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Award, National Trust/HUD Secretary's Award, the Peter H. Brink Award for Individual Achievement, and National Preservation Honor Awards, is March 1, 2010. Those nominations not selected to receive a Trustees', ACHP, HUD, or Peter H. Brink Award will automatically be considered for an Honor Award.

The 2010 nomination brochure can be downloaded at the link below. The nomination form can be completed electronically, but must be submitted by mail.

2010 New Partners for Smart Growth: Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities

February 4-6, 2010 – Seattle, WA

The 9th Annual 2010 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in Seattle, Washington, boasted record-breaking attendance. Some 1,600 people from across the country gathered for three days of presentations, discussions, and information sharing. For more information about the conference, see www.newpartners.org.

The conference was produced by the Local Government Commission (LGC), with support form a very impressive and multi-disciplinary group of partners and sponsoring organizations, agencies, and companies. Without their collective support, this dynamic event would not have been possible. For a complete list of sponsors and cosponsors, see

The conference was produced by the Local Government Commission (LGC), with support form a very impressive and multi-disciplinary group of partners and sponsoring organizations, agencies, and companies. Without their collective support, this dynamic event would not have been possible. For a complete list of sponsors and cosponsors, visit the conference website.

PDF files of available PowerPoint presentations are now available on the conference program page at the link below. These files are available for FREE download.

Please note: some presentation files are large and may take time to download.

2010 Opportunity to Register and Other Important Information for Electronic Application Submission for the Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program

On February 10, 2010, HUD published an Advance Notice (75 FR 6689) announcing its intent to offer funding through competitive NOFA under its Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program. Through the Advance Notice, HUD sought input from state and local governments, regional bodies, community development entities, and a broad range of other stakeholders on how the Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program should be structured in order to have the most meaningful impact on regional planning for sustainable development.

HUD is publishing this new Notice to inform potential applicants of the multi-week time frame for the registration requirements that must be met before an application can be submitted, as well as the application procedures to follow once the NOFA itself is published.

HUD is using this notice to request entities interested in applying for the Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program to notify HUD of their intent to submit an application. Providing HUD with this information will allow HUD to properly access the workload anticipated during the review process and plan accordingly to ensure timely decision-making.

If your organization is interested in applying for the Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program, please call the HUD NOFA Information Center as soon as possible at 1-800-HUD-8929. The NOFA Information Center will ask for your organization name and address, contact name, email, and telephone number, including area code. Notification of intent to apply is not a requirement for application. If you are an eligible applicant, you may still apply – notification merely helps HUD determine staffing requirements for review and evaluation of applicants.

The full Notice is available at the link below.

2010 U.S. Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant

The U.S. Forest Service recently issued a Request for Proposals for the 2010 National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program. There is approximately $900,000 available for projects within four issue areas:

• Energy conservation and urban forests
• Climate change and urban forests
• Public health and urban forests
• Green infrastructure assessments

A copy of the grant package is available on the Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry website at the link below.

Pre-Proposals must be posted to www.grants.gov or Courier hard copies received by 11:59 PM Eastern, December 15, 2009. Innovation proposals selected for full proposals will be (tentatively) due by 11:59 PM Eastern, March 17, 2010. The U.S. Forest Service will award the successful projects as Federal Financial Assistance grants no later than September 30, 2010.

21st Century Land Development Code

In 21st Century Land Development Code from APA Planners Press, two of the nation's leading experts in land-use law and planning provide a comprehensive guide to drafting and updating land-use regulations.

30 Great Places in America

The American Planning Association (APA) has announced its 2008 list of Great Neighborhoods, Great Streets, and Great Public Spaces -- in 21 states and the District of Columbia -- that offer better choices for where and how people work and live.

50 Greenest Cities in the United States

The March 2008 issue of Popular Science Magazine has ranked America's 50 Greenest Cities. Popular Science used raw data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society's Green Guide, which collected survey data and government statistics for American cities over 100,000 people in more than 30 categories, including air quality, electricity use, and transportation habits.

A Better Future from Farms

American Farmland Trust is launching two new initiatives to harness the potential of our nation's farms and ranches at this pivotal time in history: the Agriculture & Environment campaign and the Growing Local campaign.

A Call to Farms

A Call To Farms: A Mid-Decade Review of Connecticut’s Agricultural Lands, a report prepared by The Working Lands Alliance, features a summary of key farmland data in the state of Connecticut, including land prices, land use, and farmland loss.

A Civic Gift

This report documents how entrepreneurs, investors, and insightful communities across Michigan are preserving historic assets and reaping greater economic activity and a higher quality of life.

A Global Urban Agenda: Highlights from the 2005 World Cities Forum

A Global Urban Agenda from the Urban Land Institute highlights issues discussed at ULI’s World Cities Forum in June 2005.

A Greener Plan for Affordable Housing

A Greener Plan for Affordable Housing: How States are Using the Housing Credit to Advance Sustainability is a report with a national focus that summarizes elements in state plans for allocating federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits in the areas of smart site locations, energy and resource efficiency, and healthy living environments.

A Guide to New Jersey Grants and Loans that Support Sustainability Initiatives

A variety of financial incentives in the form or grants and loans are available to New Jersey communities interested in re-creating their municipality into an environmentally sustainable community. A Guide to State Grants and Loans that Support Sustainability Initiatives organizes these incentives by general program area within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and by other state agencies.

A Guide to Preserving Agricultural Lands in the Chesapeake Bay Region

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) has released A Guide to Preserving Agricultural Lands in the Chesapeake Bay Region: Keeping Stewards on the Land, a report on how the loss of prime farmland is threatening the region's agricultural industry, and ways to preserve farmland for the future.

A Guide to Smart Growth and Cultural Resource Planning

A Guide to Smart Growth and Cultural Resource Planning, prepared by the Wisconsin Historical Society's Division of Historic Preservation, is now available.

A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects

Written by pioneering attorneys in the emerging fields of urbanism and green building, A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects offers you practical solutions for legal issues you may face in planning, zoning, developing, and operating such communities.

A Nation in Transition: What the Urban Age Means for the United States

In an address to a gathering of the Urban Age in New York City on May 4, 2007, Bruce Katz argues that contrary to popular opinion, the United States exemplifies the world's drive towards urbanization, and that to remain prosperous, the U.S. must recognize the central lesson of the Urban Age: that the ability of the U.S., or any nation, to compete globally and meet the great environmental and social challenges of our time rests largely on the health and vitality of major cities and metropolitan areas.

A National View of Agricultural Easement Programs

The American Farmland Trust has released its third report in the series A National View of Agricultural Easement Programs: Easements and Local Planning. Examining the planning connections of 46 easement programs in 15 states, this report is based on the perceptions knowledgeable persons collected in extensive phone interviews and on more objective information from other sources.

A National View of Agricultural Easement Programs: Report 4

When do agricultural easements effectively preserve farmland from urban influences? A National View of Agricultural Easement Programs, the fourth in a series of reports from the American Farmland Trust, answers the question by examining five different tests of effective farmland protection as applied to the experiences of 46 easement programs in 15 states.

A New Path Forward: Action Plan for a Sustainable Washington
Achieving Long-Term Economic, Social, and Environmental Vitality

From the Executive Summary:
Governor Gary Locke convened the Sustainable Washington Advisory Panel in September 2002 because of the widening gap between our state’s current reality and a Washington that is equitable, healthy, and prospering. The Panel concluded that it is imperative to initiate significant changes now if we want Washington’s quality of life to improve, not diminish, over the next generation.

A Plan for Tomorrow: Creating Stronger, Healthier Communities

A Plan for Tomorrow: Re-Thinking Density to Create Stronger, Healthier Communities is a free PowerPoint presentation jointly prepared by the Urban Land Institute, the National Multi-Housing Council, and the Sierra Club, that shows how density can transform neighborhoods, and offers compelling research to allay conventional fears about density.

A Report on the Future of Land Conservation in America

2007 marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Land Trust Alliance and Exchange, the National Journal of Land Conservation, marks this anniversary by examining the biggest challenges facing land conservation.

A Reporter’s Resource and Media Guide to Growth in CA

Unprecedented population pressures throughout California are threatening the state’s natural values and pristine landscapes. The threat is largely the result of land use policies that favor low-density development over carefully planned growth within existing urban boundaries.

A Return on Investment: The Economic Value of Colorado’s Conservation Easements

This report analyzes the State of Colorado’s financial return on public investments in conservation easements. A conservation easement is a restriction placed on a piece of property to protect its associated resources. The easement is voluntarily donated or sold by the landowner and constitutes a legally binding agreement that limits certain types of uses or prevents development from taking place on the land in perpetuity while the land remains in private hands.

Public Benefits of Privately-Protected Lands
Permanently protected privately-owned lands provide a multitude of public benefits, such as water supply protection; scenic views; flood control; fish and wildlife habitat; recreation (including hunting, fishing, hiking, bird watching and other outdoor activities); aesthetics; carbon sequestration; dilution of waste water; erosion control; and agricultural crop production. Economists have estimated the monetary value of the benefits provided by land of various ecosystem types. By categorizing all of the Colorado conservation easements according to the ecosystem type those easements protect, it is possible to calculate the dollar value of the public benefits provided by those protected lands.

Methodology
Using geographic information system (GIS) data of publicly and privately held conservation easements, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) determined the underlying ecosystem type of each acre of land placed in a conservation easement in Colorado. TNC used the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) to group the conservation easements into 16 distinct ecosystems. Economist Jessica Sargent-Michaud then conducted a thorough literature review of the per acre value previously calculated by other economists for the 16 ecosystem types and the kinds of benefits these ecosystems provide. Then Ms. Sargent-Michaud gathered information on Colorado’s investment in conservation easements through the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and conservation easement tax credit programs and estimated the return on potential future investments.

Results
Since GOCO began investing in conservation easements in 1994, and with the addition of the conservation easement tax credit incentive in 2001, 1.41 million acres in Colorado have been placed under conservation easement. Citizens of Colorado have invested $511 million in conservation easements; the lottery-funded Great Outdoors Colorado program has made $138 million in grants for conservation easement purchases and the State issued $373 million of Colorado tax credits through the conservation easement tax credit program for donated conservation easements. Adjusting these sources to today’s dollars results in a total investment of $595 million. According to the report, this investment returned $3.52 billion in public benefits, a return of $6 for every $1 invested.

A Road Map for Accelerating Farmland Protection in New York

Picking Up the Pace: A Road Map for Accelerating Farmland Protection in New York from the American Farmland Trust (AFT) looks at the growing number of areas in Upstate New York that are challenged by the task of managing sprawling development while maintaining their quality of life and community character.

A Smart Growth Reader

A Smart Growth Reader, prepared by the American Planning Association (APA), is designed as an aid to understanding the various elements that make up Smart Growth. This on-line publication draws on articles that have appeared in APA publications over the past two years, and is intended as a rich compendium of perspectives on the smart growth.

A Strategy for Saving Rhode Island from Sprawl and Urban Decay

This briefing book from Grow Smart Rhode Island provides background information about issues that are critical for the state’s healthy economic and physical development, quality of life, and social well-being.

A Sustainable Chesapeake: Better Models for Conservation

This new book from The Conservation Fund provides an important conservation resource for individuals, organizations, governments and businesses across the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The book profiles promising conservation practices and technologies and describes the protection of critical land and water resources. Thirty-one case studies feature the work of government and private organizations and conservation leaders throughout the Bay watershed. The book’s six chapters—Climate Change Solutions, Stream Restoration, Green Infrastructure, Incentive Driven Conservation, Watershed Protection, and Stewardship—are each introduced with a summary of the restoration principles learned from the projects.

The book was developed by David Burke, an experienced conservation planner, and Joel Dunn, Program Coordinator of The Conservation Fund’s Sustainable Chesapeake initiative. The initiative builds on The Conservation Fund's record of land and water conservation with tools that lead to smarter conservation and development, increases the capacity of regional groups and agencies to solve conservation issues and demonstrates sustainable economies.

The case studies show the many dimensions of land and water conservation through a standardized, user-friendly format that includes photos, diagrams, tables, facts and concepts that people and organizations can draw from to solve local conservation challenges.

A Sustainable Chesapeake can be downloaded free at the link below.

A Toolkit for Tomorrow’s Schools

This analysis examines how schools and development can be planned together using common population projections, facility budgeting, comprehensive plans, and even common review staff.

AASHTO Sustainability Case Studies

The Center for Environmental Excellence by AASHTO (the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) maintains a Sustainability section on their website that includes examples of case studies including best practices and/or innovative tools/approaches that apply to transportation issues.

Access to Destinations

The Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) at the University of Minnesota has published a study Access to Destinations: Monitoring Land Use Activity Changes in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Region that presents an effort to track and model land use change in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Region.

Access to Nature and Regional Equity: Portland-Metro Region

Access to Nature and Regional Equity is a summary of results from the Coalition for a Livable Future's Regional Equity Atlas Project, a collaborative effort with Portland State University's Population Research Center to elevate issues of social equity in public discourse and regional policy by developing a common language and baseline of information relating to regional equity in the Portland-Metro region.

Access to Safe Parks Helps Increase Physical Activity Among Teenagers

Access to Safe Parks is a brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research that presents policy recommendations aimed at improving neighborhood environments and access to parks to encourage physical activity by California adolescents.

Achievement in Environmental Justice Award -- 2007 Call for Entries

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a call for entries to the 2007 Achievement in Environmental Justice Award. The award will recognize industry organizations, such as a member of business or a member of industry, for their achievement in addressing environmental justice issues or achieving the goals of environmental justice in a manner that results in positive impacts to a community.

Achieving Equity and Inclusion in America

PolicyLink has developed Achieving Equity and Inclusion in America: Policy Principles for the Obama Administration and New Congress, a framework of principles that can guide federal decision-making to maximize the return on national investment for all Americans, especially low-income people and communities of color. These principles reflect the knowledge and experience PolicyLink has developed through its decade-long partnership with local leaders working to foster economic and social inclusion in communities across America.

Achieving Smart Growth in New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning (OEP) has produced a report and website, Achieving Smart Growth in New Hampshire. This project documents how New Hampshire is changing and highlights some positive examples of development and conservation throughout the state.

ACHP Guide to Historic Preservation Funding

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) offers this online guide that outlines the range of historic preservation funding options that are currently available.

Active Design Guidelines

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, architects and urban reformers helped to defeat infectious diseases, such as cholera and tuberculosis, by improving design of buildings, streets, neighborhoods, clean water systems and parks. In the 21st century, designers can again play a crucial role in combating the most rapidly growing public health epidemics of our time: obesity and its impact on related chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Today, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet are second only to tobacco use as the main causes of premature death in the United States. A growing body of research suggests that evidence-based architectural and urban design strategies can increase regular physical activity and healthy eating.

The Active Design Guidelines provides architects and urban designers with a manual of strategies for creating healthier buildings, streets and urban spaces, based on the latest academic research and best practices in the field. A growing body of research suggests that evidence-based architectural and urban design strategies can increase regular physical activity and healthy eating.

The Guidelines includes:

• Urban design strategies for creating neighborhoods, streets and outdoor spaces that encourage walking, bicycling and active transportation and recreation.
• Building design strategies for promoting active living where we work, live and play—for example, through the placement and design of stairs, elevators and indoor and outdoor spaces.
• Discussion of synergies between active design and sustainable design initiatives such as LEED and PlaNYC.

The Active Design Guidelines was developed through a partnership of the New York City departments of Design and Construction, Health and Mental Hygiene, Transportation, City Planning and the Office of Management and Budget, working with leading architectural and planning academics, and with assistance from the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter. Other City agencies that contributed to the Guidelines include the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, Department of Buildings, Department of Parks and Recreation, School Construction Authority, Housing Preservation and Development and the Department for the Aging.

Active Living Approaches by Local Government

Active living -- the integration of physical activity into daily routines -- is one innovative approach to making communities healthier. This survey by the National Association of Counties and the International City/County Management Association seeks to understand how local government leaders view their role in enabling active living in communities.

Active Living Minnesota

The Active Living Minnesota funding program supports interdisciplinary partnerships to plan for and implement a comprehensive approach to encourage active living among community residents, with a focus on environmental and policy change efforts.

Active Living Research

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced a New Connections funding opportunity the Active Living Research program. The Foundation's New Connections program is designed to expand the diversity of perspectives that inform RWJF programming and introduce new researchers and scholars to the Foundation, while simultaneously helping to analyze data that measures progress towards programming objectives.

Active Living Research -- Call for Abstracts 2006

Active Living Research has issued a Call for Abstracts for their Third Annual Conference, to be held in Coronado, California, February 16-18, 2006.

Active Living Research -- Round 5 -- RWJ Foundation

Round 5 of the Active Living Research Program is underway for funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Active Living Research program focuses on relationships among characteristics of natural and built environments, public and private policies, and personal levels of physical activity. Application deadline for Round 5 submissions is May 25, 2005.

Active Living Research PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint presentations from the 3rd Annual Active Living Research Conference, held in Coronado, California on February 16-18, 2006 are now available online.

Conference sessions included oral presentations and posters selected though a competitive call for abstracts and presentations on cutting-edge issues by experts.

Active Living Research is an Active Living Program supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered by San Diego State University. Read more at the resource link below.

Active Living Resource Center Library

The Active Living Resource Center (ALRC) is an online resource designed to help citizens take charge in their neighborhoods and make them more physically active by making them more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. The ALRC Library provides dozens of resources that support this goal.

Active Neighborhood Checklist

Active Living Research grantees have developed an objective and practical checklist to help residents, community groups, local government officials and advocacy organizations determine whether their neighborhoods are activity friendly. The checklist rates communities on land use, presence of public recreational facilities, availability of public transportation and quality of the environment.

Active Transportation for America: A Case for Increased Federal Investment in Bicycling and Walking

Active Transportation for America from the Rails to Trails Conservancy makes the case and quantifies the national benefits -- for the first time -- that increased federal funding in bicycling and walking infrastructure would provide tens of billions of dollars in benefits to all Americans.

Adirondack Park Smart Growth Funding

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), in partnership with the Adirondack Park Agency and the Department of State, is soliciting Adirondack Park Community Smart Growth Grant applications from municipalities located wholly or partially within the Adirondack Park.

Aesthetics, Community Character, and the Law

Scenic America/APA.2000. This publication helps land-use planners and citizens understand the law of aesthetics and the legal tools available to help their communities maintain their special features and sense of place.

Affordable Housing Built Responsibly Grants

Through the Affordable Housing Built Responsibly grant program, The Home Depot Foundation administers millions of dollars in grants each year to nonprofit organizations whose missions align with the Foundation's interests in supporting the production and preservation of affordable, efficient and healthy housing.

The Home Depot Foundation makes grants to 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charities in the United States and to charitable organizations in Canada. Support is given to programs and projects that align with the Foundation's mission and grant criteria.

To better support its mission, The Home Depot Foundation awards most of its grants by directly soliciting proposals from high-performing nonprofit organizations with the demonstrated ability to create strong partnerships, impact multiple communities and leverage grant resources. In order to identify potential future nonprofit partners or respond to unique community revitalization opportunities, a limited amount of unsolicited grant funding is set aside to be awarded through a competitive process.

UPDATE: Community Tree Grants
The Home Depot Foundation has combined its community trees grant program with its Affordable Housing Built Responsibly grant program. The Foundation remains firmly committed to supporting the planting of trees and the development of greenspace in order to provide communities with the many economic, social and environmental benefits of the urban forest. This change in programming structure reflects the foundation’s understanding that it is more effective to support the creation of healthy and sustainable communities through the integration of our focus areas.

Preference is given to proposals that include community engagement that result in the production, preservation, or financing of housing units for low- to moderate-income families. The most promising proposals incorporate a number of “green” building design practices. Also, proposals that clearly demonstrate how tree strategies integrated with affordable housing production/preservation create healthier, more vibrant communities will have a distinct advantage.

For this grant cycle, letters of inquiry are due July 1, 2010. Full project proposals are due September 15, 2010.

AFT State Guides for Farm-Friendly Planning Policies

The American Farmland Trust (AFT) has produced state guides for California, Wisconsin, and New York to advise municipalities on farm-friendly planning policies.

After Katrina: New Solutions for Safe Communities and a Secure Energy Future

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) offers this report on how Hurricane Katrina exposed deficiencies in past and current planning practices and energy choices, and provides alternatives to both that may help communities maintain a level of safety in the face of future disasters.

Agenda for a Sustainable America

Agenda for a Sustainable America is a comprehensive book that assesses U.S. progress toward sustainable development and a roadmap of necessary next steps toward achieving a sustainable America.

Agricultural Conservation Easements

Agricultural Conservation Easements, part of the American Farmland Trust's Fact Sheet series, provides an overview of conservation easements, with discussion on tax benefits, retaining title rights, and benefits. In general, agricultural conservation easements limit subdivision, non-farm development and other uses that are inconsistent with commercial agriculture.

Agricultural Funding Sources

The Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) provides a listing of farming and agriculture-related funding opportunity resources on its website. AFSIC specializes in identifying resources about sustainable food systems and practices, in support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) effort to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture and farmers worldwide.

Agriculture and Climate Change

The American Farmland Trust (AFT) maintains a webpage on ''Agriculture's Role in Curbing Climate Change,'' which details AFT's Climate Change Campaign. As stewards of over half the land and water resources in America, farmers and ranchers must be involved in the development of climate change solutions.

Agriculture and Farmland Protection Programs

This report to the New York State Advisory Council on Agriculture summarizes results from six regional round table discussions on Agriculture and Farmland Protection held between May and September, 2003. These discussions were held to obtain informed stakeholder views on current State programs designed to promote the agricultural industry and maintain the agricultural land base.

Agriculture and Smart Growth

There is a growing recognition that the protection of farmland around cities and towns -- urban-influenced farmland -- contributes to smart growth and the livability of our communities. Not only does agricultural protection further smart growth, integral to smart growth is the protection of urban-influenced farmland. Sustainability begins -- although it does not end -- with the land that feeds us.

Agriculture Viability in Berks and Schuylkill Counties

Agriculture Viability in Berks and Schuylkill Counties, a report from the American Farmland Trust, examines the agricultural industry in these southeastern Pennsylvania counties and identifies challenges to the future viability of this area's agriculture unless actions are taken to ensure a sustainable future.

Ahwahnee Principles for Climate Change

At the 17th Annual Yosemite Conference for Local Elected Officials, a process was set in place by the Local Government Commission's (LGC's) Board of Directors to develop a set of guiding principles for local governments to use in response to global warming. A draft of Ahwahnee Principles for Climate Change was distributed at the conference for comments by all attendees.

AIA Recorded Presentations -- Convention '09

Did you miss the 2009 AIA convention? The American Institute of Architects is offering through its website a video stream of select presentations and workshops from the 2009 National Convention and Design Exposition.

AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) Program

The SDAT is a community assistance program that focuses on the principles of sustainability. SDATs will bring a team of volunteer professionals (such as architects, urban designers, planners, hydrologists, economists, attorneys, and others) to work with community decision-makers and stakeholders to help them develop a vision and framework for a sustainable future.

AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team RFP -- 2009

The American Institute of Architects Center for Communities by Design announces the 2009 Sustainable Design Assessment Team Program Request for Proposals.

AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team RFP -- 2010

The AIA Center for Communities by Design announces the 2010 Sustainable Design Assessment Team Program Request for Proposals. The RFP solicits applications for inclusion in the Sustainable Design Assessment Team 2010 program.

AIA Top Ten Green Projects -- 2009

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected the top ten examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment.

AIA Top Ten Projects and Measures -- 2008

Each year the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment hosts a 2008 Top Ten Green Awards competition. In addition to posting award recipients and project summaries, AIA produces a webpage featuring information on the ten measures and supporting metrics used to evaluate the entries.

Air Quality and Smart Growth: Planning for Cleaner Air

Air Quality and Smart Growth: Planning for Cleaner Air, Translation Paper #16 from the Funders Network, explores the connection between land development patterns, transportation patterns, and air pollution and how growing smarter can lead to better air quality.

Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2005

Alcan Inc. and The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) have awarded the US$1 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability to Aga Khan Planning and Building Service of Pakistan.

Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2006

The Alcan Prize for Sustainability identifies and recognizes not-for-profit, civil society and non-governmental organizations for their contributions to economic, environmental and/or social sustainability.

Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2006 -- Awardees

Alcan and The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) announced the 2006 shortlist of candidates for the US$1 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability. Ten organizations were selected from a field of almost 200 entries from 55 countries around the world, and now face a final consideration by an international Adjudication Panel of distinguished sustainability experts.

Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2007

The Alcan Prize for Sustainability is a $1 million prize that recognizes organizations demonstrating a comprehensive approach to addressing, achieving and further advancing economic, environmental and/or social sustainability. The Alcan Prize for Sustainability is one of the world’s most significant, privately funded Prizes. One Prize is awarded annually.

Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2008

The Alcan Prize for Sustainability is a $1 million prize that recognizes organizations demonstrating a comprehensive approach to addressing, achieving and further advancing economic, environmental and/or social sustainability. The Alcan Prize for Sustainability is one of the world’s most significant, privately funded Prizes. One Prize is awarded annually.

Alternatives for Coastal Development

NOAA Coastal Services Center offers an extensive online library of information and tools for coastal development, mapping, and restoration. In Alternatives for Coastal Development: One Site, Three Scenarios, the Center examines design scenarios in terms of Smart Growth.

America 2050 Planning Initiative

America 2050 is a national initiative to meet the infrastructure, economic development and environmental challenges of the nation as we prepare to add about 130 million additional Americans by the year 2050.

America 2050 Prospectus

America 2050 is a national initiative to meet the infrastructure, economic development and environmental challenges of the nation as we prepare to add 120 million additional Americans by the year 2050. The America 2050 Prospectus outlines steps that must be taken to ensure the United States remains economically competitive in world markets while offering a sustainable, high-quality of life for its citizens.

America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places 2005

America's heritage is at risk from coast to coast -- and beyond. The National Trust for Historic Preservation notes some of the most at-risk places in its annual list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

American Farmland Trust

AFT was founded in 1980 to protect the nation's agricultural resources. AFT works to stop the loss of productive farmland and to promote farming practices that lead to a healthy environment. Its programs include public education, technical assistance in policy development, and direct farmland protection projects. AFT and the SGN are working together to promote implementation of smart growth methods in order to help conserve agricultural and rural lands in surrounding cities

American Farmland Trust Introduces New Website

The American Farmland Trust has redesigned its website to promote its vision for change: A vision of well-managed, protected farm and ranch land that provides open space, clean water, healthy food, wildlife habitat and a renewed connectedness between the farm community and the rest of America.

American Makeover

American Makeover is a new web-exclusive series that explores growth and development alternatives in communities across America, looking at what can be done to help our communities grow in such a way that gives us the kind of neighborhoods and choices we're increasingly looking for.

The first episode ''sounds the alarm bell on Atlanta’s sprawl.'' No one who has ever been to Atlanta will argue their status as poster child of sprawling growth, but it's encouraging that the filmmakers spend most of the short episode taking a closer look at the alternatives in Atlanta — focusing on those growing millions of people who are looking for places to live that are walkable and connected and dontt entail hour-long car commutes to work, school, or the local market.

The series is expected to include episodes of four to five more cities.

American Planning Association

APA is a nonprofit, public interest organization representing 30,000 practicing planners, elected and appointed officials, and citizens involved in urban and rural planning issues. APA's members believe that sound planning is essential to meeting our nation's economic, environmental, and community development needs. Sixty-five percent of the members work in state and local government agencies, helping citizens define the kind of community they want to live in and developing policies, plans, and land use regulations that respond to those desires. APA is working with the SGN to disseminate ''best practice'' techniques for encouraging citizen participation, reforming state and local planning frameworks, and promoting sustainable development patterns.

American Society of Landscape Architects Awards -- 2008 Call for Entries

Each year, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Professional Awards honor the best in landscape architecture from around the globe, while the ASLA Student Awards program gives us a glimpse into the future of the profession.

American Trails' National Trails Awards Program -- 2008

Every two years, American Trails presents the National Trails Awards to recognize the tremendous contributions of volunteers, professionals, businesses, and other leaders who are working to create a national system of trails for all Americans.

America's Distinctive Dozen Destinations -- 2008

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has announced the 2008 List of America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations®. Each year since 2000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has selected 12 vacation destinations across the United States that offer an authentic visitor experience by combining dynamic downtowns, cultural diversity, attractive architecture, cultural landscapes and a strong commitment to historic preservation and revitalization.

America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations -- 2010 Nominations

The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Dozen Distinctive Destinations® program recognizes unique cities and towns across the country working to preserve their historic character, promote heritage tourism, enhance their community and encourage others to enjoy all they have to offer.

America's Park Roads and Parkways

America's National Park Roads and Parkways brings together 331 measured and interpretive drawings commissioned by Historic American Engineering Record to illustrate the physical characteristics, design strategies, construction practices, and visitor experiences of roads in national parks from Acadia to Zion and parkways from the Blue Ridge to the Natchez Trace.

AMPO -- 2004 Conference Presentations

Presentations from the 2004 Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations Conference are available online as PowerPoint files through the AMPO website.

AMPO Annual Conference Presentations

The AMPO Annual Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, October 2-4, 2007, drew close to 300 attendees from MPO's, state and federal agencies, and consulting firms. Presentations from many conference events are now available online at the AMPO website.

An Alternative Future: Florida in the 21st Century 2020 2040 2060

An Alternative Future is a comprehensive look at an alternate trend for development that would accommodate the predicted doubling of Florida's population by 2060 without changing the character of the landscape. By creating an efficient transportation infrastructure, a significant cost-savings can be realized -- up to $526 billion dollars -- over the current development trends.

An Examination of Market Appreciation for Clustered Housing With Permanent Open Space

Amherst, MA: Center for Rural Massachusetts.1990. This investigation assesses the following statement: Market appreciation rates for clustered housing with associated open space can be equal to those for conventionally developed housing types.

Anacostia River Urban Watershed Partnership RFP

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), is soliciting new assistance agreement proposals under the EPA's Targeted Watershed Grants Program designed to support the protection and restoration of urban water resources through a holistic watershed approach to water quality management.

Ann Arbor Greenbelt Map

In November 2003, the residents of Ann Arbor overwhelmingly passed the Open Space and Parkland Preservation Millage, also known as the Ann Arbor Greenbelt and Parkland Program. The purpose of the Greenbelt Program is to protect both working farmland and natural areas, as well as identifying and conserving those lands that are integral to the protection of the City of Ann Arbor's source groundwater and the Huron River -- a portion of which is designated a state scenic river.

Annual Urban Forestry Awards -- Mississippi

Each year the Mississippi Urban Forest Council (MUFC), in partnership with the Mississippi Forestry Commission and the U.S. Forest Service, recognizes and honors cities, individuals, civic groups and businesses that have demonstrated success with urban forestry and green infrastructure.

APA Audio Conferences

The American Planning Association (APA) offers the Audio Conference Training Series comprised of thematic audio and visual training programs. Topics during the current series include Economic Development for Small Towns, Planning and Public Health, and Planning for Safe Growth.

APA National Plan of the Year Award -- 2006

With northeastern Illinois expected to grow by 1.9 million people over the next 25 years, a new vision -- one that will accommodate this anticipated growth in an efficient, coordinated and sustainable manner -- is guiding decision making around the region. This vision is a key component of the 2040 Regional Framework Plan, recipient of the 2006 Outstanding Planning Award for a Plan from the American Planning Association (APA).

APA National Planning Conference Coverage 2007

The American Planning Association has created a website featuring resources and information from their 2007 National Planning Conference. Session reports, photos from various events, media coverage, and more can be found at this resource.

APA's 2009 Planning Conference -- Call for Proposals

The American Planning Association (APA) is seeking proposals for providing educational content at the 2009 APA National Planning Conference in Minneapolis, April 25–29, 2009.

April 2007 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The April 2007 issue of Getting Smart! focuses on three case studies of faith-based organizations and religious institutions that have been pivotal in the success of smart growth efforts.

April 2009 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The April 2009 Getting Smart e-newsletter features articles on energy-related topics. With the Obama Administration declaring energy a priority and investing billions of federal dollars in new and existing programs, this edition offers some ideas for broader consideration.

ARC's Certified Green Communities

The Atlanta Regional Commission's (ARC's) Green Communities Program is a voluntary certification program for jurisdictions in the 10-county Atlanta, Georgia, region to encourage local governments to become more sustainable. ARC developed the program to assist local governments in reducing their overall environmental impact.

Arizona Smart Growth Scorecard

The Arizona Smart Growth Scorecard is a valuable tool for community self-assessment developed by a working group of the Growth Cabinet with input from public and private stakeholders. It is designed to strengthen the ability of local officials to plan for future growth and development and to adopt comprehensive strategies that address growth-related pressures. As Arizona continues to attract unprecedented population growth, all levels of government must play a role in wisely planning and managing both the challenges and opportunities that new growth and development present.

Recognizing that communities measure and track how well they are implementing smart growth and look for areas of improvement, the Growth Cabinet prepared this Scorecard to help communities assess whether they have the right tools in place to promote smart growth. Executive Order 2007-05, directed state agencies to identify how state discretionary funds might provide incentives to communities for growing smarter and technical assistance for those needing support. The intent is to provide communities, counties, and Tribal governments - small or large, rural or urban - with a simple, clear, usable means of evaluating how well prepared they are for the pressures of growth. In addition, the Scorecard can help spur action on local and regional approaches to address growth issues and provide incentives and assistance to communities wanting to effectively and efficiently manage development. Cities, towns, counties, and Tribal governments will be evaluated by the set of smart growth criteria and indicators contained within the Scorecard.

Arlington's Smart Growth Journey: Documentary Film

Arlington's Smart Growth Journey is a documentary film that traces the dramatic history of the past half-century of growth and development in Arlington, Virginia.

ASCE-NCS Sustainability Award -- 2007 Entries

The American Society of Civil Engineers, National Capital Section, is seeking entries for its 2007 Sustainability Award. This award is established to recognize either private-industry outreach initiatives/programs or public legislation/programs in the Washington DC metropolitan area that advance or promote the responsible and sustainable development of infrastructure, the built environment, or the conservation of natural resources. Deadline for submissions is February 28, 2007.

Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy

The Ashden Awards reward outstanding, inspirational and innovative local sustainable energy schemes that both protect the environment, tackle climate change and make real improvements to people's quality of life. The Awards are designed to encourage wider take-up of local energy solutions worldwide -- proving to the public and policy makers alike that such schemes offer viable, practical ways of tackling poverty, resource shortages and climate change.

ASLA 2005 Awards

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced the recipients of its 2005 Professional Awards. The awards will be presented on October 10, 2005, at the ASLA Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

ASLA Awards -- Call for Entries, 2006

Each year, the American Society of Landscape Architects' Professional Awards honors the best in landscape architecture from around the globe, while the ASLA Student Awards program provides a glimpse into the future of the profession.

ASLA Call for Presentations -- 2009 Annual Meeting

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) 2009 Annual Meeting and EXPO will be held September 18-21 in Chicago at the Lakeside Center, McCormick Place. The theme of the meeting is ''Beyond Sustainability: Regenerating Places and People.''

ASLA Communications Honor Award -- 2008

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) presented its 2008 Communications Honor Award to ah'bé landscape architects of Culver City, California, for the film ''So What?''

ASLA General Design Honor Award -- 2008

Design changes to the grounds surrounding the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. have won recognition in the General Design Honor category of the American Society of Landscape Architects 2008 Awards.

ASLA Professional Awards -- Call for Entries

The Board of Trustees of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has selected the recipients of the 2005 Medals and Landscape Architecture Firm Award, to be presented on October 10, 2005, during the ASLA Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

ASLA Professional Awards 2009 -- Call for Entries

Each year, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) hosts the ASLA Professional Awards to honor the best in landscape architecture from around the globe.

ASLA Student Awards

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced the recipients of its 2005 Student Awards. The awards will be presented during the ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO, October 7-10, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

ASLA Student Awards -- 2008 Recipients

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced winners of its 2008 Student Awards. Representing the top student honors in the profession, will present the awards to 20 projects from 11 colleges and universities at the ASLA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. The ceremony and reception will take place on October 6, 2008 and is sponsored by Landscape Forms.

ASLA Student Awards -- 2009 Call for Entries

Each year, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Student Awards give us a glimpse into the future of the profession by recognizing student work in the field.

Student categories in the 2009 competition are ''Student Community Service Award'' and ''Student Collaboration.''

Assessing the Wealth of Nature: Using Economic Studies to Promote Land Conservation Instead of Sprawl

Assessing the Wealth of Nature summarizes how land-use and conservation decisions can be influenced by informing a community of the economic benefits of natural habitat, and provides guidelines for conducting sound economic studies.

Association of Bay Area Governments: Theory in Action - Smart Growth Case Studies in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the nation

This online document catalogs smart growth initiatives such as compact development, urban revitalization, affordable housing, and open space protection at the local, regional, and state level in the Bay Area, elsewhere in California, and in the rest of the country.

Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Livable Centers Initiative -- Georgia

The Atlanta Regional Commission’s (ARC) Livable Centers Initiative encourages local jurisdictions to plan and implement strategies that link transportation improvements with land use development strategies to create sustainable, livable communities consistent with regional development policies.

Atlanta Regional Commission Public Affairs Show

''The Shape of Things to Come'' is a quarterly, 30-minute public affairs program produced by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). The show focuses on the issues, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the Atlanta region.

Atlanta's Fifty Forward Initiative

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) has launched an ambitious initiative, called ''Fifty Forward: Metro Atlanta Futures Forum,'' to explore possible future scenarios for metro Atlanta and forge an action plan to ensure future livability, prosperity and sustainability.

Audio from Three Winter 2008 Smart Growth Speaker Series Events

New audio recordings are now available from three Smart Growth Speaker Series events at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. These lectures are part of a four-part series focusing on Smart Growth in Washington, D.C., which will conclude with the April 23, 2008 event celebrating 10 years of the Smart Growth Speaker Series.

August 2007 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The August 2007 issue of Getting Smart! focuses on one of the hottest -- no pun intended -- issues of the day: climate change. The transportation sector is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. To effectively reduce emissions from the transportation sector, we must reduce the number of miles U.S. residents drive; in other words, land use patterns must change. Smart growth will play a critical role in making this change happen.

August 2008 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The latest issue of Getting Smart! is now available for all Smart Growth Network members in the Members Section. This edition of Getting Smart! examines how the most public of places -- our community's streets -- can be transformed to serve not only vehicles but also pedestrians and cyclists.

Award for Municipal Excellence

The Awards for Municipal Excellence identify and showcase outstanding city and town programs that improve the quality of life in America’s communities. Winners of this award exemplify excellence in city governance, best practices in municipal policy, and models to follow to improve the lives of their citizens.

Award Winning Green Roof Designs

Award Winning Green Roof Designs from author Steven W. Peck includes more than 100 informative photos of the green roofs technology that is quickly becoming a fundamental element of the emerging practice of living architecture.

Awards of Excellence for Sustainable Community Development

The Home Depot Foundation’s Awards of Excellence for Sustainable Community Development recognizes public-private partnerships that have successfully developed projects and/or initiatives that promote and exemplify a more sustainable community. Truly sustainable projects take a holistic, integrated approach, whereby sustainability planning, affordable housing and the creation of green spaces and planting of trees are inextricably linked.

Projects that qualify for the Awards of Excellence in Sustainable Community Development program exhibit thoughtful construction of a neighborhood which includes green affordable housing and tree plantings and have gone beyond to address overarching community issues. These projects have contributed to creating a stronger connection among the residents and addressed many broad-scale issues, including treatment of stormwater, economic development, reducing urban heat island effect, disaster preparedness, carbon reduction strategies, abandoned and foreclosed properties, pedestrian friendliness, traffic calming, transit oriented development, and resident health and quality of life.

The Awards of Excellence go to both the cities and their non-profit partners representing the partnership that completed the local initiative. The Foundation will recognize a National Winner ($75,000 grant), National Runner-up ($25,000 grant), and up to three Honorable Mentions ($2,500 grant).

The grants are to be used at the discretion of the non-profit to further the sustainability goals of the community.

Responses are due March 31, 2010.

Awards of Excellence Winners

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) selected four local agency projects for the 2004 Award of Excellence awards.

Balancing Water Quality and Smart Growth Goals -- Archived Webcast

Balancing Water Quality and Smart Growth Goals looks at how two very different communities -- San José, California and Barnstable, Massachusetts -- protect water quality while meeting smart growth goals for economic growth and development. An archive of this July 2007 webcast, presented by ICMA and the U.S. EPA, is now available on the ICMA website.

Baltimore County Forest Sustainability Project

Baltimore County's Forest Sustainability Project is the latest report in The Conservation Fund's Green Infrastructure Case Studies series. The project engages stakeholders to ensure the long-term health and vitality of Baltimore County's diverse forest resources.

Bargaining for Development

This unique, 312-page volume from the Environmental Law Institute features an extensive categorization of land development conditions by type of public facility and an extensive discussion of ways in which impact fees can be calculated.

Barriers to Environmental Design in Maryland

Barriers to Environmental Design in Maryland, a report by 1000 Friends of Maryland, examines the barriers that continue to discourage environmental design in Maryland and offers suggestions for how State and local governments can remove these roadblocks and help foster more environmentally responsible decisions in conceiving and constructing landscapes.

Bay Area Focused Growth

Four San Francisco, California Bay Area regional agencies have joined forces in a Joint Policy Committee. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) are working together to create complete, livable communities.

Bay Area Smart Growth Fund -- San Francisco Bay Area, California

The Bay Area Smart Growth Fund I, LLC invests in retail, office, commercial, industrial, multi-family and select single-family housing opportunities that may make a measurable impact on the economic and social revitalization of neighborhoods in the 46 targeted communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

BEES 3.0 -- Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability

Designers, builders, and product manufacturers can use this program to help select cost-effective, environmentally preferable building products.

Beginning Farmer Funding Sources

The Center for Rural Affairs features a ''Beginning Farmer Financing Programs'' page on its website. This resource includes web and telephone contact information for several programs designed to assist beginnning farmers.

Beltway Burden: Housing and Transportation Costs Squeeze Working Families

Housing located far from transit and employment centers places a heavy financial strain on working families in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, according to a 2009 publication from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing. Beltway Burden: The Combined Cost of Housing and Transportation in the Greater Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, documents the challenges faced by area working families who are forced to ''drive 'til they qualify'' for housing, incurring higher transportation costs that eventually erode their housing cost savings. It finds that area families are victim to combined housing and transportation costs that constitute, on average, nearly 47 percent of the area median income.

Best and Worst Developments in the Bay Area

The Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC) has produced this report that rates 18 projects in nine counties of the San Francisco Bay area.

Best Awards 2007

Since 1993, the BEST Awards have been presented annually to Portland, Oregon, area companies demonstrating excellence in business practices that promote economic growth and environmental benefits.

Best Development Practices

APA Planners Press. 1996. In this book Reid Ewing argues that the best development is both profitable and sustainable. APA Planners Press.

Best Practices for Preservation Organizations

Best Practices for Preservation Organizations from the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides preservation easement holding organizations with guidance on the operation of easement programs and organizational best practices by applying Land Trust Standards and Practices.

Best Practices in Context Sensitive Solutions -- 2006

Best Practices in Context Sensitive Solutions -- 2006 documents the AASHTO Center for Environmental Excellence's second national competition to recognize best practices in context sensitive solutions (CSS).

Best Practices in Development: ULI Award Winning Projects 2009

This lavishly illustrated, hardcover awards book profiles 48 top development projects throughout the world. Each project description includes photos, the development story, and project data and is a winner or finalist for the prestigious ULI Awards for Excellence. The annual prize is based on financial viability, the resourceful use of land, design, relevance to contemporary issues, and sensitivity to the community and environment.

Best Practices in Green Education

Best Practices in Green Education from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) offers model education programs and curriculum to support efforts in educating for sustainability. USGBC believes educators learn best from hearing the stories of other educators' efforts.

Better Models for Development in Maryland

Authors Edward McMahon and Shelley Mastran offer practical advice on key issues facing communities throughout Maryland in Better Models for Development in Maryland, published by the Conservation Fund.

Better Models for Development in Pennsylvania

Better Models for Development in Pennsylvania is a 134-page book that offers officials and citizens dozens of ideas and examples of ways to balance conservation with economic development.

Beyond 50.05: A Report to the Nation on Livable Communities

Beyond 50.05 -- Livable Communities: Creating Environments for Successful Aging takes a fresh look at the adequacy of communities to serve the needs of persons of all ages, especially those 50 and older, and provides AARP’s prescription for improving them.

BGreen 2020

The City of Bridgeport and Bridgeport Regional Business Council have released BGreen 2020, a Sustainability Plan that outlines the policies and actions to be implemented in the next decade to improve the quality of life, social equity, and economic competitiveness of the city while reducing carbon emissions and increasing the community's resilience to the effects of climate change and increasing energy costs. The program management team, led by Regional Plan Association, convened the efforts of more than a hundred stakeholders in a Community Advisory Committee and working groups to develop strategies to address brownfields and land use, pedestrian and transit access, renewable energy production, and environmental protection while supporting the growth of green jobs in the region.

BGreen 2020 is the result of a public-private partnership between the City of Bridgeport and the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, a consortium of local business groups. By building on Bridgeport's existing strengths, BGreen will modernize the city's infrastructure, create wealth, intensify urban amenities, enhance environmental quality, enable revitalization without gentrification, and retain Bridgeport's historic character. Early priorities are the creation of an Energy Improvement District to support energy efficiency and production, adopting a ''Transit First'' policy, developing a plan for open space use and maintenance, expanding recycling, and protecting the region's waterways through enhanced stormwater management. A Green Collar Institute will train workers and act as an incubator for developing green industries.

More information, and a download link, can be found at the link below.

(Reprinted with permission from Regional Plan Association)

Bicycle and Pedestrian Funding

Bicycle and pedestrian projects are broadly eligible for funding from almost all the major Federal-aid highway, transit, safety, and other programs. Bicycle projects must be ''principally for transportation, rather than recreation, purposes'' and must be designed and located pursuant to the transportation plans required of States and Metropolitan Planning Organizations. This page lists funding sources for bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century, January 17-June 22, 2003

Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century explores five categories of issues that design and building professionals are addressing in order to reduce the deleterious environmental impact of skyscrapers and other megastructures: Energy; Light and Air; Greenery, Water and Waste; Construction; and Urbanism.

Big Ideas: Linking Food, Culture, Health, and the Environment

With a global food crisis, rising environmental concerns, and America's children facing epidemic levels of diet-related diseases, how can educators positively engage students in understanding the connections among these topics? Big Ideas: Linking Food, Culture, Health, and the Environment provides a conceptual framework for integrated learning in these important areas in K-12 classrooms.

Bikes Belong Coalition Grants -- May 2007

Bikes Belong is the national coalition of bicycle suppliers and retailers working together to put more people on bicycles more often. Through national leadership, grassroots support, and promotion, we work to make bicycling safe, convenient, and fun.

Bikes Belong Grants -- Summer 2007

Bikes Belong is the national coalition of bicycle suppliers and retailers working together to put more people on bicycles more often. Through national leadership, grassroots support, and promotion, Bike Belong works to make bicycling safe, convenient, and fun. In summer 2007 Bikes Belong presented six grant awards, totaling $46,935. Investment in these paths, trails, parks, and advocacy initiatives will help create, enhance, and protect great places to ride in communities across the country.

Bill Moyers' Interview with Michael Pollan -- Podcast

In this podcast, Bill Moyers sits down with Michael Pollan, Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley, to discuss what direction the U.S. should pursue in the often-overlooked question of food policy.

Biodiversity and Smart Growth

This paper discusses the relationship between biodiversity conservation and smart growth, the work that is being done, and suggests promising strategies and explicit collaborations for consideration by philanthropic and public funders and other key actors.

Biodiversity Grants -- Living Lands Project

Living Lands is a new Defenders of Wildlife project to increase the capacity of local land trusts to protect, enhance and restore native wildlife habitat and biodiversity. The project will support this work through financial and technical assistance.

Blueprint for American Prosperity

The Blueprint for American Prosperity is a multi-year initiative from Brookings to promote an economic agenda for the nation that builds on the assets -- and centrality -- of America's metropolitan areas.

Blueprint for Oregon's Future

From 2005-2007, 1000 Friends of Oregon, the Bus Project, and more than 50 other organizations hosted a series of town hall forums in 16 locations across the state. Called ''Envision Oregon,'' these forums challenged more than 2,200 participants from over 140 towns and places in Oregon to describe their vision for Oregon's future, and to help create strategies for making that vision a reality. They also formed the foundation for Blueprint for Oregon's Future.

Boston Indicators Report

The Indicators Report provides high quality data and information about Boston by engaging hundreds of participants and experts in presenting data in 10 categories, drawn from the wealth of research and information generated by public agencies, civic institutions, researchers, think tanks and community-based organizations.

Breaking the Codes

Breaking the Codes is a report from Good Jobs First that documents the ways that states are revising their building codes to encourage more rehabilitation of existing structures, especially in urban areas.

Briefing Papers on Benefits of City Parks

To demonstrate the benefits of city parks and the varied positive affects they can have on a community, the City Parks Forum is producing a series of briefing papers on ''How Cities Use Parks For…''

Brower Youth Award Nominations -- 2008

The Brower Youth Awards is an annual national award recognizing six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. The winners of the award receive a $3,000 cash prize, a trip to California for the award ceremony and wilderness camping trip, and ongoing access to resources and opportunities to further their work at Earth Island Institute. Young activist leaders ages 13-22 living in North America are eligible to apply.

Brownfield Funding -- Michigan

The Clean Michigan Initiative (CMI) is a $675 million bond approved by Michigan voters to improve and protect Michigan's water resources. The major programs are administered by the Departments of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Natural Resources (DNR), and Community Health (MDCH).

Brownfields 2009-2013 Annual Conference RFP

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting proposals from eligible entities and non-profit organizations for financial assistance to assist non-federal personnel in participating in three national Brownfields conferences to be planned and held over a five-year period, beginning in 2009.

Brownfields Funding in Washington State

The Washington State Department of Ecology maintains a webpage on grants and financial assistance for cleanup of brownfields in the state.

Brownfields Funding Programs -- Connecticut

The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) offers flexible tools to deal with all brownfield issues, including gap financing, seed capital programs, corporate tax credits and its own environmental liability insurance program.

Brownfields Green Space Grants -- Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has posted notice that it will not not be accepting any applications for its Brownfields Green Space Grants program until after July 1, 2009.

Brownfields National Site Revitalization Award

Orlando's Baldwin Park community, the largest single-phase demolition and recycling project in history that has resulted in one of the nation's most successful residential real estate developments, has added yet another prestigious award to its trophy case. The Phoenix Award™ was presented to Baldwin Park Development Company during the Brownfields 2006 environmental conference in Boston.

Brownfields Policy and Research

The February 2009 Brownfields Policy Research Newsletter from Northeast/Midwest Institute (NEMW) includes links to recent reports and white papers plus a feature article, ''Infill, Historic Preservation, and Infrastructure Savings.''

Brownfields Policy and Research: August 2009

The August 2009 Brownfields Policy Research Newsletter from Northeast/Midwest Institute includes links to recent reports and white papers plus an analysis of how brownfields projects would be eligible under the proposed Livable Communities Act of 2009.

Brownfields Redevelopment -- Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy offers a focus on brownfields in the Community Lots section of their website. This focus section is specifically tailored for the needs and concerns of nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs) that want to undertake brownfield redevelopment.

Brownfields Redevelopment Toolbox for Disadvantaged Communities

Case Studies, site-specific tools, and planning for brownfields remediation in disadvantaged communites are all part of the Brownfields Redevelopment Toolbox for Disadvantaged Communities from the Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Disadvantaged Communities Network.

Brownfields Tax Incentive

Originally signed into law in August 1997, the Taxpayer Relief Act (Public Law 105-34) included a tax incentive to spur the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields in distressed urban and rural areas.

Brownfields Tax Incentive

Originally signed into law in 1997, the Brownfields Tax Incentive encourages the cleanup and reuse of brownfields. This program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been extended through December 31, 2009.

Brownfields Training, Research and Technical Assistance Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posts on its website Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grant Fact Sheets. These Fact Sheets, viewable as PDF or HTML documents, describe various programs throughout the United States that are receiving funds from the EPA's Technical Assistance Program.

Brunswick, Georgia, Brownfields Mobile Workshop

This document details the Brownfields Mobile Workshop, held May 21, 2007, in Brunswick, Georgia. The workshop was part of the 20th Annual Southeast Regional Directors Institute (SERDI) Conference.

Building a Greener Future: Zero-Carbon Housing

This 2006 report from the United Kingdom's Department for Communities and Local Government outlines a plan to provide zero carbon housing for new residential construction in England by 2016.

Building a Sustainable Business: Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses

Conceived in 1996 by a planning team for the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) to address the evolving business planning needs of beginning and experienced rural entrepreneurs, Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses incorporates recommendations on content, language and organization from the review process as well as examples from five of the review team’s business plans.

Building Better: A Guide to America's Best New Development Projects

Building Better: A Guide to America's Best New Development Projects from the Sierra Club reports on the current state of development in the United States and highlights some of the best new developments that are producing healthy neighborhoods and livable communities.

Building Commons and Community

Building Commons and Community documents 45 years of the late Karl Linn's legacy creating neighborhood spaces for communities and by communities. In this richly-illustrated landscape-format hardcover book, Linn presents his philosophies and practical wisdom to help people use the resources they find in their own surroundings to create welcoming shared spaces.

Building Communities and Entrepreneurs

The Citigroup Foundation's Building Communities and Entrepreneurs program supports community development corporations, intermediary organizations and community development financial institutions that focus on affordable housing, economic development, welfare-to-work initiatives, community infrastructure improvements, and environmentally sustainable growth to local economies.

Building Florida's Future

Building Florida’s Future: Strategies for Regional Cooperation, a report from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Florida Initiative on Regional Collaboration, outlines how the state's communities can benefit economically and in maintaining a high quality of life by working closely together during the substantial growth expected in the next 15 years.

Building for Tomorrow: Innovative Infrastructure Solutions

Building for Tomorrow: Innovative Infrastructure Solutions from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) presents a compendium of innovative alternatives to infrastruction maintenance and improvements for public and private entities.

Building from the Best of the Northern Rockies

In response to unprecedented growth in the Northern Rockies, the Sonoran Institute launched an innovative effort to guide a vision for development that reflects and protects the unique natural and architectural assets of the West. Building from the Best of the Northern Rockies (BBNR) promotes this alternative vision for growth, highlighting what good development looks like in the West. It documents and celebrates new developments in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho that embody this vision.

Building Green Infrastructure: Land Conservation as a Watershed Protection Strategy.

San Francisco: TPL, 1999. Case studies of four watersheds: Austin, Texas; Barnegat Bay, NJ; Mountain Island Lake, NC; and Indian River Lagoon, Fla, which have been able to use land conservation to preserve water quality.

Building Green Sustainable Communities

Building Green Sustainable Communities, a special report from Local Initiatives Support Corporation, highlights the group's green projects, including training for green jobs; construction of new affordable housing and retrofit of existing homes; urban farms and farmers markets; and green schools and environmental education programs.

Building Healthier Schools: Local Collaborations to Promote Nutrition and Physical Activity

The National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) offers this compilation of innovative approaches to collaboration and creative health-promoting activities that resulted from local public health agency (LPHA)-school partnerships.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging -- 2008 Applications

The U.S. EPA's Aging Initiative is spearheading the multi-agency Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Award. The The principal goal of the is to raise awareness across the nation about healthy synergies that can be achieved by communities combining Smart Growth and Active Aging concepts.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging -- 2009 Applications

The principal goal of the Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Award program is to raise awareness across the nation about healthy synergies that can be achieved by communities combining Smart Growth and Active Aging concepts.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Awards 2008

The U.S. EPA has produced a booklet for recipients of its Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Awards 2008. Included in this booklet are details on the 2008 Achievement Award Winner, 2008 Commitment Award Winners, and 2007 BHCAA Winner Updates.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Awards Nominations

Nominations are now open for the 2009 Excellence in Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Awards. This award from the U.S. EPA's Aging Initiative program recognizes communities for their outstanding comprehensive approaches to implementing principles of smart growth, as well as strategies that support active aging.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging: Grant Winners

The U.S. EPA has announced winners of its Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging: Training and Demonstration Projects. EPA has awarded the Training Grant to the Univeristy of Maine, and the Demonstration Grant to Portland State University.

Building Resilient Cities Along the Gulf of Mexico

In The Resilient Coast: Policy Frameworks for Adapting the Built Environment to Climate Change and Growth in Coastal Areas of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, authors John Jacob and Stephanie Showalter predict that a ''perfect storm'' is brewing on the Gulf Coast: Rapid growth is occurring in hazardous zones that will likely be rendered even more hazardous as a result of climate change, putting ever more people in harm's way. This publication examines policy frameworks across the five Gulf states that could encourage better planning, and finds a surprising variability among the states.

Building Successful Communities in the Sierra Nevada

Planning for Prosperity: Building Successful Communities in the Sierra Nevada is designed to help decision-makers in the Sierra Nevada plan wisely and effectively for their communities' futures.

Building the Line to Equity

PolicyLink and Action! offer Building the Line to Equity: Six Steps for Achieving Equitable Transit Oriented Development in Massachusetts, a report that lays out a set of principles for achieving transit development without displacement.

Building the Livable Urban Edge

This resource from the Cleveland Waterfront Coalition is a Best Practices for Urban Waterfronts slideshow that you can view in your web browser. More than 150 slides show the current condition of Cleveland's lakefront and photos from other cities.

''Built to Last'' Film

Recorded in May of 2009 in Buffalo, New York, the short film ''Built to Last'' is independent filmmaker John Paget's short film exploring the connection between New Urbanism and environmental issues.

Bye, Bye Suburban Dream.

Newsweek, May 15, 1995. Lead article introducing the new urbanist movement, principals, practitioners and vision. Also includes a set of 15 steps needed to fix the American suburb from the viewpoint of new urbanists

Califia Sketchbook Design Competition

The Califia Sketchbook Design Competition will demonstrate what life will be like in Califia, a proposed next generation eco-city. People from around the world are invited to enter a conceptual sketch conveying their view of ''slices-of-life'' within Califia, revealing smarter ways of building, powering, and maintaining the urban fabric. The program sponsors believe that allowing for more direct public involvement in the design of future living spaces is the first step in a successful eco-city project.

California Brownfields Reuse Success Stories

The State of California's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) contains a variety of brownfield-related resources on its website, including a section on successful reuse of certain brownfields within the state.

California Farmland Conservancy Grants

The State of California's Department of Conservation Farmland Conservancy Program provides grants to local governments and qualified nonprofit organizations.

California Farmland Conservancy Program

The California Department of Conservation's Farmland Conservancy Program seeks to encourage the long-term, private stewardship of agricultural lands through the voluntary use of agricultural conservation easements. The CFCP provides grant funding for projects which use and support agricultural conservation easements for protection of agricultural lands.

California Land and Water Conservation Fund

The California Department of Parks and Recreation offers this guide to the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) program, administered nationally by the National Park Service, provides funds to federal agencies, the 50 states and 6 territories.

California Sustainable Community Planning Grant Program

On behalf of the Strategic Growth Council, the California Dept. of Conservation is administering a $22.3 million competitive planning grant program for sustainable community plans.

The primary purpose of this grant program is to implement the vision of the Governor and Legislature to foster and support development of sustainable communities. Local governments will need to adopt land use plans and integrated strategies that can transform communities and create long term prosperity. Such communities shall promote equity, strengthen the economy, protect the environment and promote healthy, safe communities.

Under SB 732, approximately $60 million will be awarded to cities, counties, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), Joint Powers Authorities (JPAs), Regional Transportation Planning Agencies (RTPAs), and Council of Governments (COGs). The Council anticipates two or three funding cycles.

Funds will be used to encourage sustainable regional and local actions that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, promote water conservation, reduce automobile use and fuel consumption, encourage infill and compact development, protect natural resources and agricultural lands, promote public health, and revitalize urban and community centers. Proposals must help achieve state planning priorities and environmental goals, as well as promote cooperative and scale-appropriate methods and strategies that reflect the interdependence of environmental, economic and community health.

Workshops will be conducted to provide technical assistance in preparing grant applications and vetting project proposals for eligibility and competitiveness.

Applications are due by August 31, 2010.

Call for Abstracts -- Urban Down Under 2005

Urbanism Down Under 2005 -- Creative Urban Futures, an international urban design conference with an Australasian focus, has issued a Call for Abstracts for their August 2005 conference.

Call for Entries: 2006 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the fifth annual National Award for Smart Growth Achievement.

Call for Entries: National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education Best Masters Thesis Award 2007

The National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland will grant one award in the amount of $1000 for the best masters thesis focused on urban growth and development issues completed in the 2007 academic year. Masters students in urban planning, public policy, civil engineering, public and community health, economics and finance, political science or related fields are encouraged to apply.

Call for Papers -- International Sustainable Development Conference -- Sustainable Cities

The Centre of Urban Planning and Environmental Management (CUPEM), The University of Hong Kong, in association with ERP Environment, have announced the 12th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference 2006 will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong on April 6-8, 2006.

Call for Program Ideas -- New Partners for Smart Growth 2008 Conference

The Local Government Commission is conducting a ''Call for Program Ideas'' for the 2008 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference program. This process will be open from June 6th through July 11th, 2007. The submittal review process will take place from mid-July through late-September 2007, and those selected for inclusion in the final program will be notified by late September.

Call for Smart Growth Model Courses

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has received requests from communities and universities for help in developing model courses that incorporate smart growth into hands-on, applied course offerings.

Campus Ecology Fellows

Leveraging their efforts beyond the campus bounds, National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) 2005 Campus Ecology Fellows are transforming their university's operations, building community ties and advancing discussions about and solutions to address global environmental issues.

Campus Environmental Yearbook

Each year, Campus Ecology gathers case studies for the Campus Environmental Yearbook to document and celebrate the great work being done at colleges and universities across the country

Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework

The Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework (CSAF) examines campus sustainability by looking at the interconnectedness of People and Ecosystems in maintaining the balance of life on this planet.

Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards -- 2007

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) presented its Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards on September 7, 2007, at the 7th biennial Greening of the Campus conference, ''Partnering for Sustainability: Enabling a Diverse Future,'' held at Ball State University September 6-8, 2007, in Muncie, Indiana.

Campus Sustainability Profiles

Campus Sustainability Profiles is a web-based resource comprised of applications for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE's) Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards.

Campus Sustainability Report -- Michigan State University 2007

The Michigan State University Committee for a Sustainable Campus (UCSC) has released the 2007 Campus Sustainability Report, a collective work that builds on the initial report from 2003. The report presents the latest trends in interdependence between the social, environmental and economic components of the campus -- and adds several new indicators.

Can Urban Growth be Contained?

APA Online National Conference. San Diego, 1997. Tempe AZ: ASU College of Architecture and Environmental Design P, 1999 Challenging traditional urban theory, the authors warn that growth boundary strategies are based on outmoded notions of urbanization processes. This paper, using an analysis of the Twin Cities metropolitan region, presents an emerging theory of 'postmodern' urban development based on social restructuring and a physical decentralization to the suburbs. Their research has profound implications for growth management.

Canada's Sustainable Cities 2009

Corporate Knights Magazine has issued its 2009 Sustainable Cities Report, the third annual report detailing which Canadian cities have the smallest environmental footprint.

Canons of Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism

The Charter of the New Urbanism is the guiding document of the new urbanist movement. Although it offers an encompassing vision of sustainable urbanism from the scale of the region to the block and building, three leading CNU members, including two who had a central role in drafting the original Charter, undertook an effort to clarify and detail the relationship between New Urbanism and sustainability. The resulting document, The Canons of Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism, is designed to serve as a set of operating principles for human settlement that reestablish the relationship between the art of building, the making of community, and the conservation of our natural world.

Cascadia Scorecard

Northwest Environment Watch (NEW) offers the Cascadia Scorecard, a new gauge of regional progress that monitors seven key trends--health, economy, population, energy, sprawl, forests, and pollution--that are profoundly shaping the region's future.

Case Studies for Transit-Oriented Development

Case Studies for Transit-Oriented Development, a report prepared for Local Initiatives Support Corp. by Reconnecting America, is a short summary of the TOD tools that are used by communities all across the country.

Case Studies in Smart Growth

The New Jersey Smart Growth Gateway, a project of New Jersey Future, is an online resource to provide the information necessary to begin implementing Smart Growth Strategies in their communities. Included on this website are links to on- and off-site case studies from a variety of organizations.

CDC Livability Listserv

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) facilitates a Listserv that addresses issues related to health and the built environment. An e-newsletter that includes related news articles, latest studies, and updates on conferences and events related to livability is sent to all subscribers once a month.

Center for Neighborhood Technology

Founded in 1978, CNT invents and develops tools and methods for sustainable development. CNT is working with the SGN to promote technical assistance and to enhance regional cooperation in South Florida. It is also working with the Surface Transportation Policy Project and the Natural Resources Defense Council to develop and implement location-efficient mortgages, which take into account the transportation efficiency of a property's location, making home ownership more affordable for properties located closer to public transportation. CNT has organized a coalition of 140 groups in the Chicago region to develop a long-range transportation plan that promotes smart growth. It has also led the way in using transit-oriented development as a redevelopment strategy in an urban setting, and it has created a financial intermediary to promote inner-city commercial development around transit.

Center for Sustainable Communities

Center for Sustainable Communities, part of the National Association of Counties (NACo) website, provides a forum for county officials to work with other government leaders, the private sector, and communities to develop policies and programs that lead to economic enhancement, environmental stewardship and social well being -- the three pillars of sustainable communities.

Center for Urban and Rural Affairs Funding

The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) is an all-University applied research and technology center at the University of Minnesota that connects faculty and students with community organizations and public institutions working on significant public policy issues in Minnesota.

Central Florida Champions Awards

The Urban Land Institute-Orlando will honor exceptional community leaders, initiatives and projects dedicated to sustainability and excellence at its Central Florida Champions Awards 2008, to be held September 24, 2008, in Orlando, Florida.

Central Florida Regional Indicators Report 2005

The Central Florida Regional Indicators Report 2005 establishes a regional key indicator system that not only measures progress in the myregion priority areas but indicates the region’s success in becoming less fragmented and more coordinated.

Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida

The Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida was established by the Governor and Legislature of Florida to envision the future of Florida -- to help citizens and state leaders prepare for a continued increase in population and to craft a plan that meets the challenges and opportunities this presents. This First Annual Report lays the foundation for the creation of a sustainable Florida.

CEOS for Cities

CEOs for Cities is a membership-based national network of urban leaders dedicated to creating next generation cities that hold the answers to many of the challenges our nation faces. Through its website, members and visitors can keep current on events, publications and projects, meetings, and more.

Champions for Sustainable Communities -- Call for Partners

Forward Scotland is currently developing and looking for partners for Champions for Sustainable Communities. Originally launched in 2008, this is an award that recognizes the achievements of individuals across society who have lead the way in community development with the highest regard for sustainable development principles.

Champions of Open Space Awards

Three Washington County, Minnesota landowners who have made financial and environmental commitments to protecting open space were honored at a ceremony at Belwin, near Afton in July.

Champions of the Earth 2005

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has named seven leaders in the field of the environment as Champions of the Earth 2005 for ''setting an example for the world to follow.''

Changemakers Innovation Award

Changemakers Innovation Award Competitions offers the ''How to Build a More Ethical Society'' Competition -- $5,000 in cash prizes are awarded to the top three winners in each competition.

Changing Metropolitan America

As the nation looks to make significant new federal investments in infrastructure, Changing Metropolitan America: Planning for a Sustainable Future, a new publication from the Urban Land Institute, outlines strategies for building and maintaining infrastructure that fosters sustainable cities and metropolitan areas.

Charles Eliot Scholarship

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council has established a scholarship award in memory of Charles W. Eliot, II. Mr. Eliot was an advocate of regional cooperation and especially interested in land use planning as it affected open space protection, land management, and other ecological issues.

This scholarship is open to any senior in a secondary school in the 101 city-and-town MAPC region, who is planning to further his/her education in these fields, which were of significant value to Mr. Eliot. A cash prize of at least $500 will be awarded in the form of a scholarship to the school of the recipient's choice.

The deadline for 2010 applications is April 23, 2010.

Charles Greeley Abbot Award 2008

While American families struggle with record energy prices and urgently seek alternative sources of energy, the nation's top award in the field of solar energy was presented to Dr. Lawrence L. Kazmerski for his pioneering work to reduce the cost of solar energy.

Check Your Success: A Guide to Developing Indicators for Community-Based Environmental Projects

Check Your Success is a guide to developing indicators for community-based environmental projects. It's designed for groups that are working on environmental protection at a community level, and will boost efforts to improve your community by helping you develop indicators to measure your success. It also will show you how your group can move beyond a narrow focus and start thinking about how your activities can be used to address the connections between the environment, economy and society.

Chesapeake Bay Grant Programs

The Chesapeake Bay Trust has issued several request for proposals for its 2007-2008 grants cycle. A July 13, 2007 deadline applies for the Stewardship Grants Program, the Environmental Education Grants Program, and the Urban Greening Grant Program.

Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) will award grants in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Program, Environmental Protection Agency, US Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the D.C. Department of the Environment, with additional corporate funding support from Altria, FedEx and Perdue Farms.

Grants of between $20,000 to $200,000 will be awarded to organizations and local governments working on a local level to protect and improve watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay basin, while building citizen-based resource stewardship. Sponsors anticipate awarding approximately $3 million in grants through this solicitation.

More information is available at the link below, including how to apply.

Applications are due May 17, 2010.

Chesapeake Bay Trust Funding -- Maryland

The Chesapeake Bay Trust provides grant funding for on-the-ground Chesapeake Bay restoration projects throughout Maryland, reaching thousands of students, organizations and community leaders each year.

Chesapeake Bay Trust Mini-Grants: Summer 2009 Deadlines

The Chesapeake Bay Trust's Mini Grants program awards up to $5,000 for projects that address one or more of the Trust's grant making priorities. The majority of Mini Grant applications are submitted by schools for field experiences and on-the ground student service projects.

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Chesapeake Bay Program Office, is announcing a request for proposals for Support of the Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watershed Pilot Grants Program (CBTWPGP) for 2005. This is a new announcement that has not previously been distributed.

Chicago Climate Action Plan

The Chicago Climate Action Plan describes the major effects climate change could have on the city and suggests how all city residents can work together to address those challenges.

Chicago Climate Action Report

Chicago's Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Center for Neighborhood Technology a reports on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the Chicago metro region for the years 2000 and 2005, assesses the impacts of the 8.4 million people who live in the region and the commerce conducted there, and provides four key findings of the research.

Chicago's Eat Local Live Healthy Campaign

''Chicago: Eat Local, Live Healthy'' is a City of Chicago strategy to coordinate aspects of the local and regional food industry in ways that enhance public health and create food-related business opportunities.

Chicago's Guide to Completing an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy

Center for Neighborhood Technology recently helped to co-author Chicago's Guide to Completing an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy, a guide that will help cities and counties to develop a long-term and sustainable energy efficiency and conservation plan.

Children and Nature Network Community Action Guide

The Children and Nature Network (C&NN) was created to encourage and support people and organizations working toward the goal of reconnecting children and nature. C&NN provides a critical link between researchers, individuals, educators, organizations, businesses and government agencies dedicated to children's health and well-being.

Cities Go Green

CitiesGoGreen is a project focused on answering the question, ''How can cities and other local governments become sustainable as quickly and effectively as possible?'' With both an online and offline presence -- the project includes a digital and a print magazine, distributed with the intent to encourage effective movement by cities and other local governments toward sustainability.

Citizen Planners Resource Kit

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy offers U.S. planning boards a complimentary Citizen Planners Resource Kit. The Citizen Planners Resource Kit was developed for distribution to local planning boards and commissions across the U.S. as part of the Lincoln Institute’s mission to reach out to citizen planning commissions through educational programs, publications, multi-media resources, and its website.

City Parks Blog

City Parks Blog is a joint effort of the Center for City Park Excellence at the Trust for Public Land and the City Parks Alliance to chronicle the news and issues of the urban park movement. The blog covers a variety of related topics, including green infrastructure, planning, health, transportation, and economics.

City Parks Forum Briefing Papers

The City Parks Forum, a special initiative of the American Planning Association (APA), has published a second series of briefing papers that show mayors, city managers, planners and others how to use healthy parks to create safer neighborhoods, protect and enhance urban environments, improve learning among children, and improve public health.

City Parks: Facts and Figures 2009

The 77 largest city park systems nationwide provide more than 1.3 million acres of parkland, providing close-to-home outdoor experiences in an ailing economy, according to a City Parks: Facts and Figures report released by The Trust for Public Land (TPL).

City Parks: When There's Nothing to Conserve -- Create!

When There's Nothing to Conserve -- Create! is a publication from the Trust for Public Lands (TPL) that describes how, from Boston to San Francisco, successful parks have been created out of former factories, home sites, office buildings, railyards, parking lots, landfills, and even highways.

City Practice Resources

When your city is seeking solutions, avoid reinventing the wheel by using the City Practice Resources compiled by the staff of the National League of Cities. Four City Practice Resources are now available: City Practice Online Database, City Practices Briefs, Municipal Action Guides, and the Municipal Reference Service Inquiry Service.

CITYGreen Environmental Education

American Forests' environmental education program provides students with a real world learning experience while providing teachers an innovative yet well organized program for teaching science, math and Geographic Information Systems.

Civic Trust Awards 2005

The Civic Trust Awards recognize the very best in United Kingdom architecture, urban design, landscaping and public art. They are awarded to projects of the highest quality design, but only if they are also judged to have made a positive contribution to the local environment -- and helped improve the places where we live.

Civic Vision Award -- AIA Houston

The American Institute of Architects-Houston (AIA) honored Houston Tomorrow's David Crossley with its Civic Vision Award at AIA Houston's Annual Meeting on October 30, 2008.

Clean Air Excellence Awardees -- 2006

EPA's Clean Air Excellence Awards Program, established at the recommendation of the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee, annually recognizes and honors outstanding, innovative efforts that help to make progress in achieving cleaner air.

Clean Ohio Bond Fund

American Farmland Trust (AFT) reports a landslide victory for Clean Ohio Bond Fund, a November 2008 ballot initiative that offers great promise to farmland protection and the environment.

Clean Ohio Fund

The Clean Ohio Fund was established to preserve green space and farmland, improve outdoor recreation, and revitalize blighted neighborhoods by cleaning up and redeveloping polluted properties.

Clean Watersheds Project

The Clean Watersheds Project is an interdisciplinary collaborative watershed monitoring project that uses Google Earth Pro to store and share watershed data. The main goal of the project is to empower parents, teachers, students and environmental experts to collect, post, and analyze data about our changing watersheds in an effort to improve the health of our national watersheds. The project inspires these groups to come together as a learning community and teach each of us to take responsibility for our environment. Participating schools can apply to receive licensed copies of Google Earth Pro in order to participate.

Projects goals:

• Action research into the water quality of a local water supply
• Basic techniques of environmental data collection on local watershed
• Use of GPS technology to record geographical data points
• Use of spreadsheet technology to store and analyze watershed related data
• Use of online GIS database technology and wikis to share information between researchers
• Global awareness that these issues are common to all parts of the world.
• Discussion between involved entities as to the relevance of the data collected toward possible contamination sites
• Promote social networking between environmental teachers, students, businesses, and area experts
• Engagement between involved parties toward implementing solutions to improving water quality

Climate Change and Health

The National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO) maintains a Climate Change webpage under its Environmental Health programs.

Climate Change and Older Adults

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a web page on Climate Change and Older Adults that provides an overview of world climate change and how it may affect portions of the population.

Climate Change Solutions

The David Suzuki Foundation offers a Solutions page to the Global Warming section of its website -- policy and practice changes that can be made to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate Protection Award Winners -- 2009

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced winners of its 2009 Climate Protection Award competition. The Climate Protection Awards are presented to companies, NGOs, and individuals each year to recognize exceptional leadership, outstanding innovation, personal dedication, and technical achievements in protecting the Earth's climate.

Climate Protection Awards -- 2008

In 2008, 15 Climate Protection Awards were presented to companies, NGOs, and individuals in recognition of exceptional leadership, outstanding innovation, personal dedication, and technical achievements in protecting the Earth's climate.

Climate, Energy and Transport

Climate protection is one of the four key goals of the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the Climate, Energy and Transport section of its website deals with the topic of climate change on a global scale.

Climate@CNU

Climate@CNU is the Congress for the New Urbanism's (CNU's) Low-Carbon Urbanism Campaign, which emphasizes low-carbon neighborhoods and high-quality living.

CNU Athena Award

Sim Van der Ryn became the 10th recipient of the Athena Award when the the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) honored him at its Sustainable Communities 2008 conference in September 2008. Van der Ryn earned an international reputation as the ''father of the green building'' during his tenure as California State Architect during then Governor Jerry Brown's administration.

CNU Charter Awards 2006 Honorees

The Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) has honored 19 professional, student, and faculty projects with in their 2006 Charter Awards competition.

CNU Charter Awards 2007 Honorees

The Congress for the New Urbanism announces the recipients of its 2007 Charter Awards, the annual prize honoring the best of the New Urbanism. The 20 winning professional submissions and 5 student/faculty submissions were chosen by a seven-member jury of distinguished urbanists in March 2007.

CNU New England Awards

The Congress for the New Urbanism-New England recognized five winners at its First Annual CNU New England Awards. These awards recognize the best of new urbanist plans, programs, designs, and projects based upon the principles set forth in the Charter of the New Urbanism.

CNU Project Database

Are you looking for ideas on how other communities are successfully promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development? The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) offers a Project Database that features dozens of new urbanist developments from throughout the United States and other countries.

CNU Summit Presentations -- 2007 Green Architecture and Urbanism Council

Presentations from the 2007 Green Architecture and Urbanism Council, held in Alexandria, Virginia and Washington, D.C. from November 30 to December 2, 2007, are now available at the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) website.

Coalition for Smarter Growth Awards

The Coalition for Smarter Growth will host its Tenth Anniversary Celebration November 14, 2007 in Washington, DC at the True Reformer Building, with a reception, silent auction, and presentation of the 2007 Capital Region Visionary Awards.

Coastal Counties Restoration Initiative

The Coastal Counties Restoration Initiative (CCRI) is a partnership between NACo and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to help counties restore coastal ecosystems and remove barriers to fish migration. This grant program provides financial assistance on a competitive basis for innovative high quality county-led or supported projects.

Projects are community centered and work with NOAA’s Community-based Restoration Program which provides technical assistance in all aspects of coastal habitat restoration. Each project improves habitat for NOAA trust resources including marine, estuarine and diadromous fish.

CCRI seeks to develop the capacity of county governments and their partners to promote community-based stewardship and enhance local watershed-based resource management. Projects are evaluated based on restoration and habitat improvement as well as community outreach and education.

Deadline for applications for the 2010 funding competition is March 29, 2010.

Coastal Sprawl: The Effects of Urban Design on Aquatic Ecosystems in the United States

Pew Oceans Commission. 2002. This report details the effects of urban development and land-use practices on coastal ecosystems in the U.S. and offers a variety of strategies and tools to preserve those ecosystems for the enjoyment and benefit of residents, tourists, and businesses alike.

Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability

Through the Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) is seeking applications proposing innovative regional projects that apply science to decision-making to address a stated problem or opportunity relating to sustainability.

College Sustainability Report Card 2009

GreenReportCard.org is the first website to provide in-depth sustainability profiles for hundreds of colleges in all 50 U.S. States and Canada. Its College Sustainability Report Card is the only independent evaluation of campus and endowment sustainability activities at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

Colorado Heritage Planning Grants

The Colorado Heritage Planning Grant Program is designed to recognize and reward those communities cooperatively planning to manage growth.

Colorado Heritage Planning Grants -- Colorado

The Colorado Heritage Planning Grant Program is designed to recognize and reward those communities cooperatively planning to manage growth. Eligible recipients include: towns, cities, cities and counties, counties, and Title 32, Article 1 special districts.

Commentary Links Economic Vitality to Growth Management

This commentary in the Springfield (MO) News-Leader argues that Springfield's economic resilience depends on the city setting a statewide example of growth management in the Show Me State.

Common Ground Digest -- May 2008

Common Ground Digest from The Conservation Fund is the organizations's monthly e-newsletter and features the latest in conservation and land protection news, from land acquisitions to sustainable programs to special initiatives.

Commonwealth Capital -- Massachusetts

The Commonwealth Capital (CC) policy of the Office for Commonwealth Development (OCD) coordinates Massachusetts capital spending programs that affect development patterns. The state's goal is to invest in projects that are consistent with OCD's Sustainable Development Principles and partner with municipalities seeking to advance the Commonwealth's development and resource protection interests.

Commonwealth Design Award Winners -- 2006

An Erie County project that gave a former drive-in movie theater a second act as the Tom Ridge Environmental Center captured the top honor in the 2006 Commonwealth Design Awards. 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania bestowed honors upon 15 projects in 10 counties that represent the best examples of smart growth design from across Pennsylvania. The nonprofit 10,000 Friends presented its annual awards at a public event at The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. PNC Bank, a part of The PNC Financial Services Group Inc., is title sponsor for the awards program.

Communities Creating Healthy Environments

Communities Creating Healthy Environments is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that aims to prevent childhood obesity by increasing access to healthy foods and safe places to play in communities of color. The program will advance RWJF's efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015 by supporting diverse, community-based organizations and federally chartered tribal nations in the development and implementation of effective, culturally competent policy initiatives to address childhood obesity at the local level.

Communities Selected for Sustainable Design Assistance -- 2006

The American Institute of Architects' Sustainable Design Assessment Team program brings together multidisciplinary teams of professionals from across the country to provide a road map for communities seeking to improve their sustainability -- as defined by a community’s ability to meet the needs of today without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Community Action Grants

The Gannett Foundation supports local organizations in communities served by Gannett Co., Inc.

Community Action Grants: Washington, DC Region

The Gannett Corporation's Community Action Grants program makes grants to eligible organizations in the communities in which Gannett does business, including the Washington, DC Metro area.

Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place

This Environmental Protection Agency guide is a technical document designed to help environmental professionals engage human communities in the processes of creating, implementing, and sustaining environmental protection efforts. It is based on elements of social science theory and methodology (e.g., anthropology, cultural geography, political science, economics, and sociology) that are relevant to defining and understanding the connections between community life and environmental issues.

Community Development Resources

A collection of publications for guidance on Waterways, Landfills, and Traffic and Highway issues.

Community Food Projects Grants Program 2007

The Community Food Projects (CFP) Competitive Grants Program provides the major funding source for community-based food and agriculture projects nationwide. Approximately $4.6 million in funds will be granted in 2007.

Community Food Projects Grants Program 2010

Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) invites applications for the Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program (CFPCGP) for fiscal year (FY) 2010 to support: (1) the development of Community Food Projects with a one-time infusion of federal dollars to make such projects self-sustaining; and (2) Planning Projects to assess the food security needs and plan long-term solutions to help ensure food security in communities. CSREES anticipates that the amount available for support of this program in FY 2010 will be approximately $5,000,000.

Community Forest Program Grants

The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program, authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, is a new program that will provide matching federal grants for purchase of local forestlands by local governments, tribes, and qualifying nonprofits. The program will ensure funding for the creation or expansion of community forests that can meet local needs for recreation, economic development, watershed protection, and other ecosystem services.

In March 2010, The Trust for Public Land worked with partner groups and the congressional Land Conservation Caucus to hold a congressional briefing on community forests in March 2010, which featured speakers who manage community forests in California and Kentucky, in addition to Forest Service staff. The briefing was well attended by members of the conservation community, forest service staff and representatives of numerous House and Senate offices.

The Forest Service is currently developing a more detailed set of guidelines on implementation of the program. They expect to release those guidelines for public comment by August 30, 2010. After public comments are considered and any revisions are made, it is expected the program will be ready for consideration of grant applications in the fall of 2010.

Community Forest Report

Community Forests is a report from the Community Forest Collaborative on the potential role of community ownership and management of forestland. It's based on research that includes GIS analysis, interviews, surveys, input from two workshops, and five case studies of Community Forests in northern New England that illuminate particular aspects of the Community Forest Model.

Community Garden Grants

Project Orange Thumb is a grant program that provides community garden groups with the tools and materials they need to reach their goals for neighborhood beautification and horticulture education.

Community Greening Initiative

The Chesapeake Bay Trust is proud to announce the new Community Greening Initiative grant program, which is designed to aid communities in implementing “greening” plans that increase tree canopy, reduce storm water runoff, and improve air quality in urban areas.

Community Growth Institute -- Rural Land Use

The Community Growth Institute (CGI) is a rural land use think tank that focuses on rural communities. In addition to research and training on rural land use issues, CGI offers rural communities a variety of services and resources, from preparing comprehensive plans and writing ordinances to performing daily planning and zoning administration duties.

Community Growth Options -- Minnesota

Community Growth Options, a 1000 Friends of Minnesota program, is designed to deliver to small, fast-growing communities financial and other assistance for community planning, ordinance development and implementation.

Community Growth Options -- Minnesota

1000 Friends of Minnesota and their University of Minnesota partners, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs and the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, are managing the Community Growth Options (CGO) initiative, a six-year program funded by the McKnight Foundation and designed to deliver to small, fast-growing communities financial and other assistance for community planning, ordinance development, and implementation.

Community Image Survey CD

The Community Image Survey from the Local Government Commission (LGC) is a tool for helping decision-makers and their constituents address community design, land use and transportation issues. It uses visual images to help participants evaluate their existing environment and envision their community's future. Tailored for the needs of each community, the survey provides a foundation for planning and implementation efforts.

Community Jobs in the Green Economy

Community Jobs in the Green Economy, a collaborative effort between the Apollo Alliance and Urban Habitat, emphasizes the potential of the ''green economy'' to generate quality jobs in the nation's low-income communities and communities of color.

Community Lots Website

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy offers the Community Lots project, an online resource designed to help community-based organizations (CBOs) move beyond their traditional role of housing development and into the community at large.

Community of Choices

This video focuses on the economic, social, and environmental benefits of preserving community character.

Community Revitalization Funds

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) provides grant funds to support local initiatives that promote community stability and quality of life through its Community Revitalization Program (CRP).

Community Revitalization Grants

The Surdna Foundation is accepting applications for its Community Revitalization Grants program to support projects that improve the quality and longevity of communities, such as through development that is walkable, environmentally sustainable, and cost-effective.

Community Revitalization Resources -- Honolulu

The City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, offers a Community Revitalization Unit, providing information, technical support, and technical assistance for communities and organizations within communities that wish to implement projects, programs and activities that will be a positive influence for that community.

Community Revitalization Stories: On Common Ground

The Summer 2005 edition of On Common Ground from the National Association of Realtors turns its focus to revitalization: success stories of rejuvenation in urban areas and inner-ring suburbs.

Community Rules: A New England Guide to Smart Growth Strategies

Written by the Vermont Forum on Sprawl and the Conservation Law Foundation, Community Rules is a guidebook for local planners, concerned citizens, and others who want to achieve smart growth in their communities through better planning, zoning, and permitting.

Community Rules: A New England Guide to Smart Growth Strategies

Written by the Conservation Law Foundation and the Vermont Forum on Sprawl, Community Rules: A New England Guide to Smart Growth Strategies is a guidebook for volunteer board members, planners, concerned citizens, and others who want to achieve smart growth in their communities through better planning, zoning, and permitting. Community Rules is accessible and authoritative, and is chock-full of examples of communities in New England and elsewhere that have laid the groundwork for smart growth through sensible planning, zoning and other strategies.

Community Steward Award

1000 Friends of Florida presented its Community Steward Award to the Northwood Renaissance Community Development Corporation in West Palm Beach on June 18, to the Miami River Commission on July 11, and to Apalachicola Riverkeepers on September 17.

Community Watershed Assessment

The Community Watershed Assessment Handbook is a simple and straightforward watershed assessment tool that is intended to direct community groups and local governments in conducting a comprehensive environmental assessment.

Community-Based Habitat Restoration

The Five-Star Restoration Program provides modest financial assistance on a competitive basis to support community-based wetland, riparian, and coastal habitat restoration projects that build diverse partnerships and foster local natural resource stewardship through education, outreach and training activities.

Community-Based Watershed Management Handbook

Community-Based Watershed Management: Lessons from the National Estuary Program (NEP) is designed for all individuals and organizations involved in watershed management, including states, tribes, local governments, and nongovernmental organizations. This document describes innovative approaches to watershed management implemented by the 28 National Estuary Programs (NEPs).

CommunityViz Planning Software

The Orton Family Foundation announces that it is making its CommunityViz® planning software available to communities at a new, reduced cost of $185, removing a significant barrier to access to communities across the country in need of effective planning tools and methods.

CommunityViz® Software

CommunityViz® GIS software for land-use planning from Placeways is designed to help people visualize, analyze, and communicate about important land-use decisions. CommunityViz® community planning software provides a real–time interactive environment of 3D visuals, intelligent maps and dynamic analysis tools.

Compendium of Sustainability Indicators

Version two of the Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives is now available online. Use this searchable directory to find initiatives based on location, type, issue areas, and more. Search for topics including quality of life,housing, and transporation.

Congress for the New Urbanism

CNU is a collaboration of professionals working to reform North America's urban growth patterns. CNU encourages restoration of existing urban centers, reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, conservation of natural environments, and preservation of the built legacy. It works with governmental agencies and neighborhood activists to shape federal, state, and local policy and to promote the importance of neighborhood vitality, place-specific investments, and physical design. CNU is currently collaborating with the SGN to develop a workbook on strategies for infill development, to produce a series of fact sheets on smart growth, and to identify barriers to financing New Urbanist development.

Connecticut Green Circle Awards

On June 3, 2007, Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell commended 70 state civic organizations, individuals and businesses in recognition of their efforts improving the environment. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) presented GreenCircle Awards at a ceremony at Dinosaur State Park, Rocky Hill.

Connecticut Green Plan

The Green Plan: Guiding Land Acquisition and Protection in Connecticut is an update of Connecticut's original Green Plan from 2001.

Connecting Green Trail Packages

Portland, Oregon park providers, local cities and citizens have worked for decades to establish a network of trails linking parks to local communities and other area attractions. In April 2008 the Metro Council appointed a Blue Ribbon Committee for Trails to take the work the community has developed, evaluate where regional trails fit in the region's priorities and recommend potential strategies for expanding the region's trail network.

Conservation Almanac

The first comprehensive online database of land conservation in America was re-launched on February 5, 2010, by The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national conservation organization.

The website, which has been the definitive source of information about land conservation policy at local, state, and federal levels, now offers new parcel-level data and mapping features to give users greater access to explore the results of land conservation. This week the new features launch for five states: Florida, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, and Oregon. In February data from five more states will be added: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming.

TPL launched the Conservation Almanac in 2006 in response to numerous requests from policymakers, members of the media, and conservation practitioners about the growing funding sources for land conservation across America. TPL will continue updating the Almanac as new information becomes available and will add new state data each month.

''With a singular resource available for exploring the impact of land conservation funding, adding deeper property information and a mapping feature were the logical next steps,'' said Ernest Cook, director of TPL's Conservation Strategies department, which developed the Almanac. ''Up until now, there have been attempts to capture individual pieces of the picture of land conservation in America, but none have been comprehensive, assembling data consistently and completely in one place.''

The website offers overviews of state policy frameworks, programs, and agencies responsible for funding and managing land conservation, and the database offers users context for assessing the impacts of the growing and evolving conservation finance movement.

Conservation Almanac

The Conservation Almanac of Federal and State Lands in the West is an online reference from the Trust for Public Land that serves as the comprehensive source of information on the status of land conservation in the thirteen western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Conservation and Native Landscaping Award -- 2006

The 2006 Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards Program, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chicago Wilderness, recognizes park districts, municipalities and corporations that make extensive and creative use of native landscaping to support native species of plants and animals that comprise the Chicago Great Lakes region's outstanding biodiversity.

Conservation and Native Landscaping Award -- 2007

The 2007 Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards Program, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chicago Wilderness, recognizes park districts, municipalities and corporations that make extensive and creative use of native landscaping to support native species of plants and animals that comprise this region's outstanding biodiversity.

Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards -- 2005

The 2005 Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards Program recognizes park districts, municipalities and corporations that make extensive and creative use of native landscaping to support native species of plants and animals that comprise the region's biodiversity. Application deadline for the 2005 program is Wednesday, July 27, 2005.

Conservation Awards

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) are pleased to announce the first annual County Leadership in Conservation Awards Program, in partnership with the National Association of County Planners and the National Association of County Parks and Recreation Officials.

Conservation Awards 2005

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has announced winners of the 2005 Conservation Awards. Six counties in six different states have received top honors in first of a planned annual awards competition that recognizes efforts to protect and restore critical environmental and habitat areas.

Conservation Capital: Sources of Public Funding for Land Conservation

Conservation Capital: Sources of Public Funding for Land Conservation is a guide from the Wilderness Society that describes some of the resources available to people and organizations interested in protecting the many values of forestlands, with a special focus on the eastern United States.

Conservation Finance Handbook

Conservation Finance Handbook is a how-to guide that explains the complex process of securing federal, state, and private conservation funds and -- most importantly -- researching, designing, and passing a local, voter-approved conservation finance measure.

Conservation Fund

The Conservation Fund is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting America's land legacy. The fund purchases and protects land--almost 2 million acres since 1985. It also assists local communities, private land owners, and government agencies with a variety of programs that balance conservation with economic development. Current efforts involve sustainable forestry, ecotourism, greenway development, battlefield protection, watershed sensitive design, and community visioning.

Conservation Innovation Grants

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is offering Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies while leveraging the Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection, in conjunction with agricultural production.

Conservation Options for Connecticut Farmland

This guide describes farmland protection options and programs available in Connecticut and answers some frequently asked questions about agricultural conservation easements.

Conservation Tax Incentive -- IRS Clarifications

In early 2007, the Land Trust Alliance submitted questions to the IRS and requested guidance on several questions regarding interpretation of the new law. The Land Trust Alliance has published on its website a detailed and summary document of the responses to these questions.

Conservation Tax Incentive 2008

The 2008 U.S. Farm Bill renews a powerful tax incentive which has helped conserve a million or more acres of farms, ranches and natural areas across the U.S. The incentive had expired January 1, but is now retroactive to the beginning of the year and will last through 2009.

Conservation Thresholds for Land-Use Planners

Conservation Thresholds for Land-Use Planners provides a review and synthesis of information from the most up-to-date scientific literature to provide basic thresholds to land use planners to rely upon when making decisions affecting biodiversity.

Conservation: An Investment that Pays

Conservation: An Investment That Pays from Trust for Public Land is intended to help agency personnel and community conservationists make the case for conservation as a long-term economic investment.

Conserving Florida's Natural Legacy

30 Years/30 Stories: Conserving Florida's Natural Legacy is a book that celebrates more than 30 years of land conservation in Florida by The Trust for Public Land (TPL) through stories and photos of 30 signature conservation projects. The publication is a virtual tour of the state's open spaces, featuring Floridians who personify the state's great cultural diversity and environmental variety.

Conserving the Green Network

Conserving the Green Network is a joint effort by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and American Farmland Trust to assess the condition of the Washington-Baltimore region’s open space assets, past and present attempts to conserve them, and the effects that a coordinated green network might have on future growth.

Conserving the Washington-Baltimore’s Green Network

Conserving the Washington-Baltimore’s Green Network is the result of a joint effort by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and American Farmland Trust to assess the condition of the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore area's open space assets; past and present attempts to conserve them; and the effects that a coordinated green network might have on future growth.

Context-Sensitive Signage Design

Signs exist to communicate information, but in many communities the sign industry and planning profession currently do not have an effective means of communicating with one another. The core of any relationship between two interests is understanding each other's motivation.

Controlling Sprawl in Boulder: Benefits and Pitfalls

APA Online National Conference. Boston, 1998. Tempe AZ: ASU College of Architecture and Environmental Design P, 1999 This article addresses the experience of Boulder, Colorado with its particular version of urban growth boundaries: the service area concept. It originally appeared in the January 1998 edition of Land Lines.

CoolClimate Calculator

The CoolClimate Calculator is designed to help U.S. households evaluate their complete climate footprints, including all direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation, household energy, food, goods and services. Users of this online tool can compare their results to typical households in their city or region, and to households with similar size and income, the U.S. average and the global average.

Cooperating Across Boundaries

More than 34 million acres of open space were lost to development between 1982 and 2001, about 6,000 acres per day, 4 acres a minute. Of this loss, over 10 million acres are in forestland.

Counties and Local Food Systems

Counties and Local Food Systems from the National Association of Counties (NACo) contains four methods and case studies for how county governments can support their local food systems. Written with a focus on obesity prevention, this publication will also appeal to readers interested in the links between agriculture and economic development, environmental protection, and food security will also find the content useful.

County Government Approaches to Combating Youth Obesity, Encouraging Physical Activity, and Creating Healthy Communities

This report from NACo reviews what county officials have done to promote physical activity and provide healthy eating choices for their citizens, and what future steps need to be taken to assist officials to create healthier communities.

Creating a Regulatory Blueprint for Healthy Community Design

ICMA's consumer guide, Creating a Regulatory Blueprint for Healthy Community Design, is a road map for local government officials and their staff as they consider reforming zoning and development codes to encourage more physical activity in their areas.

Creating a Sense of Place: A Design Guide

Creating a Sense of Place: A Design Guide forms the third in a series of publications produced by Britain's Affordable Rural Housing Initiative, begun in 2003. It is a collaboration between two charitable organizations: Business in the Community and the Foundation for the Built Environment.

Creating Great Places

Creating Great Places is an initiative of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) that helps governors design and implement state growth and physical development strategies that promote healthy, economically competitive and sustainable communities.

Creating Livable Places

The Creating Livable Places website is provided by the Southern California Association of Governments to promote more livable communities. The site includes ten case studies of regional communities that have made efforts to become livable communities. The site also provides information and resources related to transportation planning, transit, and growth visioning. A calendar of events and list of related links are also available at the site.

Creating Quality Places: Successful Communities By Design

This program of the Mid-America Regional Council aims to foster the design of quality places in communities throughout the Kansas City region. Its 20 principles serve as a guide to quality development.

Creating the Future 2007 Awards

Creating the Future: The Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC) Awards for Sustainable Communities is the theme of this event, to be held in London, England on June 7, 2007. Formerly the Deputy Prime Minister's Awards for Sustainable Communities, Creating the Future celebrates achievement in the public, private and third sectors.

Creating Value: Smart Development and Green Design

In Creating Value: Smart Development and Green Design, a new book from the Urban Land Institute, architect Vernon Swaback argues convincingly that financial success in real estate development will increasingly require design that is smarter, greener, and more sustainable.

Crossroads Hamlet Village Town

Crossroads Hamlet Village Town broke new ground by offering specific design guidance to planners, developers, and others involved in laying out, regulating, and reviewing proposals for “traditional neighborhoods.'' This new 2004 edition addresses many particulars of residential site design and the use of open space, parks, squares, greenways, and greenbelts.

Crossroads Resource Center: Tools for Community Self-Determination

Crossroads Resource Center compiles and distributes data at the neighborhood level useful for community-based and asset-based initiatives in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota.

CUI's Urban Leadership Awards Nominations -- 2008

The Canadian Urban Institute's (CUI's) Urban Leadership Awards program honors those that have made a profound and lasting impact on the quality of urban life.

Dangermond Fellowship

ASLA, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF), and Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) are partnering to offer the Dangermond Fellowship for graduate students studying landscape architecture in the United States to encourage the use of geographic information systems (GIS) as a framework for exploring integrated approaches to landscape analysis, planning, design, and management.

DataPlace™ -- Maps, Charts and Statistics for U.S. Communities

DataPlace™ aims to be a one-stop source for housing and demographic data about your community, your region, and the nation. Build maps, create charts, or compare data on any U.S. location.

December 2008 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The December 2008 issue of Getting Smart! is now available for all Smart Growth Network members in the Members Section.

Decisions for the Earth

This issue of World Resources focuses on environmental governance -- the processes and institutions used to make decisions about the environment.

Delaware DOT's Guidebook on Corridor Capacity Preservation Program Available Online

Instituted as a pilot program in 1992, the CCPP was designed to minimize or eliminate the need to add new lanes to a highway corridor by carefully planning the land uses within the corridor and their interface with the state highway system.

Delaware Funding Matrices

The Environmental Finance Center's (EFC's) online Resource Center includes a Delaware Funding Matrice in Excel format.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance Project Recognition

Do you have a smart growth project on the horizon? Consider submitting an application for either preliminary or final recognition by the Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance.

To be eligible, the project must be located in Eastern or Central Pennsylvania (including Dauphin County), Southern New Jersey (including Mercer County and south) or Delaware, and not yet under construction.

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance is a collaborative initiative of more than 200 government, private sector and non-profit organizations in the tri-state region. We support and promote good smart growth projects at the earliest stages by helping them get approved at the local level. Each quarter, applications are reviewed by an independent jury of architects, planners, developers, builders, bankers, engineers, and other related disciplines. Projects recognized to be in compliance with the DVSGA's published smart growth criteria receive a letter of endorsement and an offer of testimony before local approval authorities.

DVSGA recognizes projects that will foster regional growth and redevelopment in a manner that achieves important economic, environmental and quality of life objectives. By highlighting the potential of smart growth projects to add value to the region, the DVSGA hopes to encourage developers, business organizations, citizen groups and elected officials to strive for smart growth solutions.

To date, the DVSGA has granted preliminary and/or full recognition to 26 projects, including most recently a group of affordable infill townhomes in downtown Norristown that will soon be under construction.

Download an application, as well as the criteria and the list of more than 200 supporting organizations and companies and examples of recognized projects, at the link below.

The application deadline for the current round is September 1, 2010.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance Recognized Projects: April 2009

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance has added to its list of recognized smart growth projects: Kardon Ponds in Chester County, Pennsylvania; and Zurbrugg Mansion Redevelopment in Burlington County, New Jersey.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance Slide Show

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance (DVSGA), an initiative of various government, private sector and non-profit organizations in the Greater Philadelphia tri-state region, offers a free educational PowerPoint slide show on its web site.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Coalition -- Application for Project Recognition

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance (DVSGA) is an initiative of various government, private sector and non-profit organizations in the Greater Philadelphia tri-state region encompassing Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware. The DVSGA promotes smart growth projects by recognizing proposed projects prior to development approval.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Projects Recognized

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance jury provides on its website a list of project applications as good examples of smart growth development in the region. Projects recognized in 2006 include Bell Point in Sussex County, Delaware, and Pembroke North in Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

Delmarva Farmland Strategy Project

American Farmland Trust (AFT) initiated the Delmarva Farmland Strategy Project to bring new tools to communities that are struggling with how to accommodate change and growth while retaining a profitable agricultural sector.

Demonstrating the Economic Benefits of Integrated, Green Infrastructure

This paper will provide a compelling argument for municipalities to pursue means of developing integrated approaches in the development of services and infrastructure.

Denny Park -- Green Communities

Green Communities is a five-year, $550 million initiative to build more than 8,500 environmentally healthy homes for low-income families. Created by the Enterprise Foundation / Enterprise Social Investment Corporation in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Green Communities will transform the way America thinks about, designs, and builds affordable communities.

Design Assistance Program

The Design Center at the University of Minnesota's college of architecture and landscape architecture offers technical assistance to communities in a variety of ways. Throughout the web site you will find information, facts, and educational materials.

Design Center Image Bank

The Design Center Image Bank contains over 17,000 images, including low-level oblique aerial photographs and eye-level images. The focus of the collection is the Twin Cities metropolitan region in Minnesota and dates from the early 1990s through the present.

Design Guidelines to Enhance Community Appearance and Protect Natural Resources

Design Guidelines to Enhance Community Appearance and Protect Natural Resources is a guidebook for citizens, decision-makers, and youth from Michigan Technological University that compares traditional development to a more visually appealing approach that also protects natural and cultural resources. Tools to accomplish the recommended approach are suggested.

Designation of 22 New National Recreation Trails

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently designated 22 trails in 13 states as newly recognized National Recreation Trails, adding more than 525 miles of trails to the National Trails System.

Designing and Building Healthy Places

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has organized a section of its website to focus on ''Designing and Building Healthy Places.''

Designing and Building Healthy Places

The Centers for Disease Control offers this website on health and the built environment. Topics include children's and elders' health, accessibility, and physical activity.

Designing Greenways

Greenways can protect natural landscapes, allow wildlife to move freely, and offer residents ways to connect with nature. Designing Greenways: Sustainable Landscapes for Nature and People shows how to incorporate greenways into your community, and the pitfalls to avoid when developing them.

Designs and Codes That Reduce Crime Around Multi-Family Housing

This four-page fact sheet from the Local Government Commission that discusses how zoning, codes, and designs have an immediate effect on the safety -- and security -- of multi-family dwellings and neighborhoods.

Development Principles and Ordinance Manual for Protecting Nature

The Chicago Wilderness coalition produces a variety of publications for the general public, teachers, decision-makers, scientists and land managers. Sustainable Development Principles: Protecting Nature in the Chicago Wilderness Region is one of their latest publications.

Directory of Federal Programs for Environmentally-Related Education

The Directory of Federal Grant-Making Programs for Environmentally-Related Education, published by Campaign for Environmental Literacy (CEL), is designed to help meet the need of the environmental education community for easily accessible and reasonably comprehensive information about federal funding programs. It also helps enable the Campaign for Environmental Literacy to track and analyze government grant-making trends, and to provide this information to Members of Congress.

Disadvantaged Communities Network: Brownfield Tools and Assistance

The Northeast-Midwest Institute has posted on its website presentations and audio archives from the EPA-sponsored Disadvantaged Communities Network events. The Network was launched in 2006 launched to provide brownfields tools and technical assistance to local communities that are seeking to overcome economic and neighborhood disadvantage.

Diversity: Smart Growth for Inclusion

The Winter 2007 edition of On Common Ground focuses on inclusion and diversity. People who care about inclusion and diversity are viewing Smart Growth, which supports a greater diversity and connectivity in the physical pattern of growth, as one tool to bring people together across racial and class lines.

Downtown Minneapolis Park Space Initiative

In 2007, Trust for Public Land joined the City of Minneapolis and several partners to study how existing park and open spaces can be more successful and financially viable. The Downtown Minneapolis Park Space Initiative report is the result of this study.

Downtown Planning for Smaller and Midsized Communities

''For so long we were floundering and taking ad hoc measures, but the minute I understood what a downtown plan really was I said 'We need one of those!' As it turned out, it was the most fantastic vehicle I've ever seen,'' said Susan Moffat-Thomas of New Bern, North Carolina. Her hometown got a much-needed shot in the arm from a good downtown plan. Does yours need a similar boost?

Philip L. Walker, an experienced downtown-planning consultant, offers practical tips for preserving a sense of place, improving fiscal efficiency, and enhancing quality of life in Downtown Planning for Smaller and Midsized Communities.

Planners and revitalization officials will learn how to address physical components of the downtown, as well as economic development. Walker, an experienced downtown-planning consultant, also explains how to develop an organization to implement a downtown plan; how federal, state, and local policies may influence the planning process; and how to fund a downtown revitalization effort.

Downtowns and Town Centers

The Planning Commissioners Journal is the nation's principal publication designed for citizen planners, including (but certainly not limited to) members of local planning commissions and zoning boards. ''Downtowns and Town Centers'' is an index of journal articles on downtown topics such as Farmers' Markets, Historic Preservation Ordinances, Public Buildings, Parking, and more.

Draft Report on the Environment

The U.S. EPA's Draft Report on the Environment is a report that describes current national environmental conditions and trends using existing data and indicators. The report identifies data gaps and research needs, and discusses the challenges government and our partners face in filling those gaps.

Earth Day TV

Earth Day TV is providing streaming video and topical programming for environmental awareness. Look for feeds and live events in the program guide.

EcoDensity -- Vancouver

EcoDensity is a concept being discussed with the Vancouver community. In brief, EcoDensity is an acknowledgement that high quality and strategically located density can make Vancouver more sustainable, livable and affordable.

EcoIndustrial Strategies

Eco-industrial Strategies explores the key issues involved in eco-industrial development and identifies the stakeholders and their roles in such projects.

Ecological Design Manual for Lake County, Florida

The goal of this manual is to illustrate how development objectives and natural resource protection needs within a high-growth area can be addressed through the physical design of residential projects.

Published December 2001. 42 pages; available online as a PDF document at the resource link below.

Ecological Riverfront Design

Ecological Riverfront Design puts forth a new vision for the nation's urban riverfronts and provides a set of planning and design principles that will allow communities to reclaim urban river edges in the most ecologically sound and economically viable manner possible.

Eco-Municipalities: A Model for Sustainable Communities in Wisconsin

The Ecomunicipality: Model for Sustainable Community Change describes a systems approach to creating sustainable communities. Written by Torbjörn Lahti and Sarah James, and adapted and updated by Lisa MacKinnon, this document provides an overview of what an ecomunicipality is, how it functions, and what it can achieve.

Economics, Equity and the Environment

Economics, Equity, and the Environment, by Stephen M. Johnson, examines major economic incentive and market-based environmental protection programs that are being implemented by governments, including pollution taxes, pollutant trading programs, regulatory waiver programs, subsidies, grants, loans and favorable tax treatment, and deposit/refund systems.

EcoSmart Design Software

EcoSmart is a Web-based software program designed to evaluate the economic trade-offs between different landscape practices on residential parcels.

Edens Lost and Found

Edens Lost & Found, a four-hour PBS series, showcases extraordinary stories of environmental rebirth in four very different American cities: Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Each one-hour program examines the unique environmental, economic and social issues that each of these great cities face.

edie's Awards for Environmental Excellence -- 2008 Recipients

The 2008 edie Awards for Environmental Excellence were presented at London, England's Natural History Museum on November 13, 2008.

Electronic Green Government Network

The National Association of Counties (NACo) Electronic Green Government Network is a source for information on all things green for county officials, staff, and public and private companies with an interest in learning about county activities in this area.

ELI Annual Award 2009

The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is proud to announce that U.S. Senators Mark Udall of Colorado and Tom Udall of New Mexico will be the joint recipients of the 2009 ELI Award for Achievement in Environmental Law, Policy, and Management.

Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development

This new book provides a refreshing look at how American cities are leading the way toward greener, cleaner, and more sustainable forms of economic development.

In Emerald Cities, Joan Fitzgerald shows how in the absence of a comprehensive national policy, cities like Chicago, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle have taken the lead in addressing the interrelated environmental problems of global warming, pollution, energy dependence, and social justice. Cities are major sources of pollution but because of their population density, reliance on public transportation, and other factors, Fitzgerald argues that they are uniquely suited to promote and benefit from green economic development. For cities facing worsening budget constraints, investing in high-paying green jobs in renewable energy technology, construction, manufacturing, recycling, and other fields will solve two problems at once, sparking economic growth while at the same time dramatically improving quality of life.

Fitzgerald also examines how investing in green research and technology may help to revitalize older industrial cities and offers examples of cities that don't make the top-ten green lists such as Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio and Syracuse, New York. And for cities wishing to emulate those already engaged in developing greener economic practices, Fitzgerald shows which strategies will be most effective according to each city's size, economic history, geography, and other unique circumstances. But cities cannot act alone, and Fitzgerald analyzes the role of state and national government policy in helping cities create the next wave of clean technology growth.

Lucid, forward-looking, and guided by a level-headed optimism that clearly distinguishes between genuine progress and exaggerated claims, Emerald Cities points the way toward a sustainable future for the American city.

Enabling Innovation in Michigan Agriculture

Agriculture is a key economic sector in the state of Michigan. Recently, efforts at the state and local levels have focused on supporting this sector through preservation of the land base and enhancement of its long-term viability. Reforming existing agricultural programs and developing new ones must be preceded by sound policy analysis. This study is one of four reports designed to inform public decision makers about the options available for achieving long-term success in agricultural preservation and innovation. A fifth, the summary report, will summarize the findings of these four reports.

Enabling Source Water Protection

Expressions of interest are being sought from states that can lead the country in developing and showcasing innovative ways to protect drinking water sources through improved coordination among state land use management and water protection programs.

Endangered by Sprawl

Endangered By Sprawl: How Runaway Development Threatens America’s Wildlife is a new report produced by the National Wildlife Federation, Smart Growth America, and NatureServe that details the effects on wildlife by rapid conversion of once-natural areas and farmland into subdivisions, shopping centers, roads and parking lots.

Energy and Smart Growth (Translation Paper #15)

This translation paper from the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities contends there is much to be gained by expanding the smart growth movement to include greater attention on energy. Through greater use of energy efficient design and renewable energy sources, the smart growth movement could better achieve its goals of environmental protection, economic security and prosperity, and community livability.

Energy Benefits of Urban Infill Developments, Brownfields and Sustainable Urban Development

In Energy Benefits of Urban Infill Developments, a report from the Northeast-Midwest Institute, sustainable urban redevelopment is shown to be a potential major source of greenhouse gas reduction.

Energy Star Nominations -- 2009

Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. Award winners will be recognized at the ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony on March 31, 2009, in Washington, DC.

Energy Star Successes

Thousands of organizations have made the commitment to superior energy performance. ENERGY STAR recognizes many of their successes and encourages every organization to play a critical role in environmental leadership through better energy management.

Enhancing Ecosystem Services from Agricultural Lands

''Enhancing Ecosystem Services From Agricultural Lands: Management, Quantification, And Developing Decision Support Tools'' is the title of this funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as part of its Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Competitive Grants Program, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program.

Enterprise at Home for Progress at Large: The Economics of Sustainability

This new report focuses on economies in transition—economies that are threatened by the consequences of environmental changes. The report explores how key civic leaders, faced with the challenge of ensuring the future strength of their economies, have employed creative new agendas that not only help reverse the effects of environmental degradation but also leverage the occasion for valuable economic gain.

While national debates rage over which production methods will lead to a stronger, more sustainable environment, and while research and development teams struggle to produce the next revolutionary technology, it is on the local level that incredible progress is being made in advancing sustainability measures beyond rhetoric. City governments and grassroots activists are often the most obvious players, but there is a powerful—and perhaps unexpected—player in the green arena that is leading the charge in cutting emissions and conserving energy while boosting regional economies: the business community.

These activities are not wild expansions of their mission, but are essential to fulfilling it. Businesses that emit little emissions and consume fewer resources are the stronger, leaner and more agile businesses of America’s future and as the organizations that work to support economic development and improve local quality of life, many chambers of commerce have dedicated themselves to aiding in the success of green businesses. The ingenuity and forward thinking exemplified by the chambers highlighted here are the first bold steps toward a more sustainable and robust American economy.

The report provides tells stories of entrepreneurship and success—stories of chambers of commerce throughout the country instituting green business recognition programs, working to attract clean industries, creating green jobs, and providing resources to local businesses to implement more sustainable practices.

Environment Education Grants

The Grants Program sponsored by EPA’s Office of Environmental Education supports environmental education projects that enhance the public’s awareness, knowledge, and skills to help people make informed decisions that affect environmental quality.

Environment Performance Measurement Project

The Environmental Performance Measurement Project aims to shift environmental decision-making to firmer analytic foundations using environmental indicators and statistics.

Environment Program

The Nathan Cummings Foundation offers the Environment Program, a funding opportunity that seeks to address the root causes of environmental degradation.

Environmental Assistance Grants -- Minnesota

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Environmental Assistance Grant Program is a competitive, two-stage application process to identify and assist projects that will be most beneficial in meeting the Agency's mission of working with Minnesotans to protect, conserve, and improve Minnesota's air, land and water resources.

Environmental Characteristics of Smart Growth Neighborhoods

This new study (also conducted for NRDC in cooperation with EPA) continues that research by comparing two neighborhoods in Nashville, Tennessee, and suggests that the combination of better transportation accessibility and a modest increase in land-use density can produce measurable benefits even when both sites are automobile-oriented and suburban in character.

Environmental Education Funding

The Washington State Environmental Education Initiative offers a section on Environmental Education grants on its website.

Environmental Education Grants

The Grant Program sponsored by EPA’s Office of Environmental Education supports environmental education projects that enhance the public’s awareness, knowledge, and skills to help people make informed decisions that affect environmental quality.

Environmental Health Perspectives: Built Environment

Built Environment is a collection of articles from Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed open access journal dedicated to the effect of the environment on human health.

Environmental Justice

The Norman Foundation of New York offers grants for environmental justice and other areas on an annual basis.

Environmental Justice Achievement Awards -- 2008

The U.S. EPA's Environmental Justice Achievement Awards recognize organizations for their success in addressing environmental justice issues or by adopting the goals of environmental justice to positively impact their community.

Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative

The Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC) is a diverse coalition of U.S. environmental justice, religious, climate justice, policy and advocacy networks working for climate justice. This consensus-based coalition develops projects, programs and papers to educate policymakers and connect with thousands of people in communities across the country about the effects of climate change and environmental injustice.

Environmental Justice Geographic Assessment Tool

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers the Environmental Justice Geographic Assessment Tool, an online searchable database that provides information for preliminary analysis of Environmental Justice areas of concern.

Environmental Justice Grants

The New York State DEC Office of Environmental Justice is now accepting grant applications from community organizations for projects that address environmental and related public health issues. Projects must address multiple harms and risks to communities and communicate project results to the community residents.

Environmental Justice Small Grants Awards

Fiscal Year 2009 marks the 15th anniversary of the U.S. EPA's Environmental Justice Small Grants Program (EJSG). Since its inception in 1994, the Program has awarded more than $20 million in funding to 1,130 community-based organizations, and local and tribal organizations working with communities who are facing environmental justice issues.

Environmental Justice Small Grants Program -- 2007 Awards

This report from the U.S. EPA documents the 2007 Awards and Project Descriptions from the Environmental Justice Small Grants Program.

Environmental Justice Small Grants Program -- 2008 Call for Applications

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published an Application Guidance document for its 2008 Environmental Justice Small Grants Program. Deadline for applications is June 30, 2008.

Environmental Justice Small Grants Program -- Fall 2006

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) provides financial assistance for local community-based organizations through the Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) Program. Established in 1994, the purpose of this program is to provide financial assistance that will support and empower community-based organizations that are working on local solutions to local environmental and/or public health problems.

Environmental Justice Small Grants Program -- Spring 2006

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) provides financial assistance for local community-based organizations through the Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) Program. Established in 1994, the purpose of this program is to provide financial assistance that will support and empower community-based organizations that are working on local solutions to local environmental and/or public health problems.

Environmental Law Institute

For nearly three decades, the Environmental Law Institute has played a pivotal role in shaping the fields of environmental law, policy, and management, domestically and abroad. Today, ELI is an internationally recognized, independent research and education center. The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) Sustainable Use of Land Program is an on-going collaborative program devoted to promoting the sustainable use of urban, suburban, and rural land at the state and local levels. ELI works in collaboration with partners to formulate and implement options for overcoming barriers to sustainable land use found in local,state, and federal law, while developing creative alternatives to promote sound economic, community, environmental, transportation, public infrastructure and other strategies.

Environmental Law Institute's Annual Award

The Environmental Law Institute® will pay tribute to its former president, J. William ''Bill'' Futrell, with the 2008 ELI Award for Achievement in Environmental Law, Policy, and Management. The award honors Futrell's career-long dedication to conservation and recognizes his 23 years of achievement as ELI President concluding in 2003.

Environmental Law Institute's ''Sustainability and Resource Protection''

Environmental Law Institute uses sustainability as an organizing principle to develop new strategies for the protection of land, water, and biological resources. ELI’s Sustainability and Resource Protection Programs improve our nation’s laws, policies, and institutions. Integrating environmental laws, tax laws, development laws, and other tools. ELI works with state, local, and federal agencies, citizen groups, non-profit organizations, and corporate partners to develop effective solutions to problems of land and resource use.

Environmental Merit Awards -- New England

For more than thirty years, EPA New England has honored those who have made outstanding contributions on behalf of the region's environment. EPA's Environmental Merit Award program has honored teachers, citizen activists, business leaders, scientists, public officials and others who have made outstanding contributions on behalf of the region's public health and natural environment.

Environmental Merit Awards -- New England

The U.S. EPA-Region 1 (New England) is now accepting nominations for groups and individuals to be considered for an Environmental Merit Award. The nomination period closes January 22, 2007. The winners will be notified in late March and the Awards Ceremony will be held in Boston in mid April.

Environmental Planning Handbook

In The Environmental Planning Handbook, Tom and Katherine Daniels clarify complex environmental issues, examine current sustainability efforts, and offer step-by-step guidance for local governments to incorporate sustainable environmental quality into local and regional comprehensive planning.

Environmental Public Health Tracking

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently leading an initiative to build a National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. The National Tracking Network is a web-based system that will bring together data from several systems that look at environmental hazard monitoring, human exposure surveillance and health effects surveillance.

Environmental Research and Education Needs

Environmental Research and Education Needs: An Agenda for a New Administration is report from the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), published in December 2008, that organizes the recommendations relating to research and education policy from NCSE's first eight national conferences (2000-2008). It identifies research needed to improve scientific knowledge, and education needed to improve public understanding, professional capacity and a strong workforce.

Environmental Restoration Program -- New York

Under the Environmental Restoration Program, the State of New York provides grants to municipalities to reimburse up to 90 percent of on-site eligible costs and 100% of off-site eligible costs for site investigation and remediation activities. Once remediated, the property may then be reused for commercial, industrial, residential or public use.

Environmental Stewardship and the Green Campus

Colleges and universities are ideally suited to implement sustainability practices through environmental programs, energy conservation, and recycling. Environmental Stewardship and the Green Campus outlines practical steps your campus or institution can take to promote sustainability, including solid waste reduction, water conservation, transportation solutions, new construction, grounds and land use, and more.

Environmental Stewardship Awards

The Virginia Environmental Stewardship Awards recognize innovative and effective stewardship activities that serve to protect and enhance local and state natural resources.

Environmental Stewardship Grants

Entergy's Environmental Stewardship Program funds innovative activities, programs, or projects that go beyond compliance with environmental laws and regulations in preserving and enhancing the environment.

Envisioning Better Communities: Seeing More Options, Making Wiser Choices

Randall Arendt's work has shaped a generation of planners, designers, and landscape architects. In Envisioning Better Communities, he brings his insights to a broader public, with a profusely illustrated demonstration of how local officials, planning commissioners, and everyday citizens can work to make their communities more attractive, more habitable, and more sustainable.

Despite the widespread acceptance of good design and planning principles throughout the professions, too many of our towns and rural areas remain needlessly ugly and inefficient. In side by side comparisons of similar places and kinds of buildings, Arendt shows that we need not live amid sprawling, characterless visual blight. Simple design choices and effective municipal decisions can have tremendous impacts on the quality of our communities.

Written in Arendt's well-known clear, accessible, nontechnical style, this book creates a sense of hope for those who face the everyday challenges of working with developers and landowners to create places that make economic, environmental, and aesthetic sense. Arendt shows us that with diligence, thoughtfulness, and care, we can make our communities better in countless ways.

EPA 5th Annual P3 Awards: Student Design Competition

The U.S. EPA announces its 5th Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet. As part of the P3 Award Program, EPA is seeking applications proposing to research, develop, and design solutions to real world challenges involving sustainability.

EPA 6th Annual P3 Awards: Student Design Competition

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invite submissions to the 6th Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability.

EPA Accepting Nominations for Watershed Protection Initiative

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting nominations for President Bush's Watershed Protection Initiative. Governors and Tribal leaders are invited to submit nominations for projects that would help promote and advance successes in up to 20 watersheds.

EPA Announces New RFP: ''Smart Growth Streets and Emergency Response''

A new grant RFP issued by the U.S. EPA's Development, Community, and Environment Division seeks to bring together emergency response officials, local government officials, transportation experts, and developers to engage in a problem-solving process around the issue of simultaneously meeting the needs for emergency response with the design of smart growth streets. The goal is to create a solution or set of solutions that have the endorsement of these multiple interests and will be applicable nationally across the U.S. and/or in significant regions of the country. The RFP will also support outreach efforts to educate relevant stakeholders nationally.

EPA Announces Winners of the 2004 National Awards
for Smart Growth Achievement

On November 17, EPA announced five winners of the 2004 National Awards for Smart Growth Achievement at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. This Award recognizes outstanding achievement in smart growth by tribal, local, or regional governments in five categories: Overall Excellence, Built Projects, Policies and Regulation, Community Outreach and Education, and Small Communities.

EPA Awards $420,000 to Student Teams for 2006 P3 Sustainability Awards

The U.S. EPA has awarded $420,000 to 42 student teams for the 2006-2007 academic year to research and develop cutting-edge, sustainable solutions to environmental challenges.

EPA Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund

The Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) grants provide funding for a grant recipient to capitalize a revolving loan fund and to provide subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites. Through these grants, EPA seeks to strengthen the marketplace and encourage stakeholders to leverage the resources needed to clean up and redevelop brownfields. When loans are repaid, the loan amount is returned into the fund and re-lent to other borrowers, providing an ongoing source of capital within a community.

EPA CARE Grants 2008 -- Reduce Risks from Toxics

The U.S. EPA announces availability of funds for its Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) Program. Proposals are being sought to meet financial assistance needs for eligible entities through the new CARE program.

EPA Climate Change Fact Sheets

EPA has produced four new fact sheets on climate change based on recent scientific data and findings. These documents may be useful to state and local governments looking for public outreach materials on climate change. The four new fact sheets are:

• Climate Change Science Facts: Describes the causes (human and natural) of climate change, the link between greenhouse gases and temperature, signs of climate change, and projections of future climate change.
• Climate Change and Ecosystems: Discusses the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, oceans, forests, habitat, invasive species, and migrations and life cycle events.
• Climate Change and Health Effects: Covers the effects of climate change on heat-related illnesses and deaths, respiratory problems, and diseases and allergies.
• Climate Change and Society: Explains how climate change could affect water resources, coastal communities, food production, and energy use and supply, among other things.

EPA's Climate Toolbox, which includes the four new fact sheets as well as other resources, is available on EPA’s Climate Change Basic Information page at the link below.

EPA Lifetime Achievement Award

Former Burlington, Vermont Mayor Peter Clavelle was honored with the EPA's Lifetime Achievement Award at the May 2006 Environmental Merit Awards presentation in Boston, Massachusetts.

EPA P3 Award Winners Announced at the 2006 National Sustainable Design Expo

George Gray, Assistant Administrator for U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development, has announced winners of EPA's 2nd Annual P3 Awards -- People, Prosperity, and the Planet. Six student teams from Appalachian State University, University of Michigan, Lafayette College, Portland State University, University of Massachusetts -- Lowell, and Stanford University won the awards by competing at EPA's National Sustainable Design Expo.

EPA P3 Awards 2006

The P3 Award program is a national student design competition for sustainability focusing on people, prosperity, and the planet. Closing date for the 2006 competition is February 20, 2006.

EPA Region 2 Environmental Quality Awards -- 2006

The EPA's Region 2 Environmental Quality Awards honor non-profit, environmental and community groups, individual citizens, environmental education and business organizations and members of the news media.

EPA Region 3 Brownfields Grants -- EPA Region 3 (Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia)

The U.S. EPA’s Brownfields Program provides direct funding for brownfields assessment, cleanup, revolving loans, and environmental job training. To facilitate the leveraging of public resources, EPA’s Brownfields Program collaborates with other EPA programs, other federal partners, and state agencies to identify and make available resources that can be used for brownfields activities. In addition to direct brownfields funding, EPA also provides technical information on brownfields financing matters.

EPA Region 3 Water Quality Grants

The U.S. EPA Region 3 is soliciting proposals from eligible applicants interested in applying for Federal assistance for Water Quality Cooperative Agreements under the Clean Water Act for unique and innovative projects to be conducted within the Region 3 territory: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

EPA Region 4 Environmental Priorities

EPA Region 4 is soliciting proposals for projects for Fiscal Year 2006 to address regional and state strategic priorities that meet national Regional Geographic Initiative (RGI) and Environmental Priorities Program (EPP) funding criteria.

EPA Water Quality Scorecard

Many communities across the United States face the challenge of balancing water quality protection with the desire to accommodate new growth and development. These cities and counties are finding that a review of local ordinances beyond just stormwater regulations is necessary to remove barriers and ensure coordination across all development codes for better stormwater management and watershed protection. Local policies, such as landscaping and parking requirements or street design criteria, should complement strong stormwater standards and make it easier for developers to meet multiple requirements simultaneously.

EPA’s Water Quality Scorecard was developed to help local governments identify opportunities to remove barriers, and revise and create codes, ordinances, and incentives for better water quality protection. It guides municipal staff through a review of relevant local codes and ordinances, across multiple municipal departments and at the three scales within the jurisdiction of a local government (municipality, neighborhood, and site), to ensure that these codes work together to protect water quality goals. The two main goals of this tool are to: (1) help communities protect water quality by identifying ways to reduce the amount of stormwater flows in a community; and (2) educate stakeholders on the wide range of policies and regulations that have water quality implications.

The scorecard is for municipalities of various sizes in rural, suburban, and urban settings, including those that have combined sewers, municipal separate storm sewers, and those with limited or no existing stormwater infrastructure. It can help municipal staff, stormwater managers, planners, and other stakeholders to understand better where a municipality’s2 land development regulations and other ordinances may present barriers or opportunities to implementing a comprehensive water quality protection approach. The scorecard provides policy options, resources, and case studies to help communities develop a comprehensive water quality program.

EPA Wetland Grants -- 2007

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting proposals from eligible applicants for projects that support and build state/tribal/local government wetland programs. Proposals must be received by EPA by August 10, 2007.

EPA’s Five Star Restoration Grant Program

The Five Star Restoration Program brings together students, conservation corps, other youth groups, citizen groups, corporations, landowners and government agencies to provide environmental education and training through projects that restore wetlands and streams.

EPA’s P3 Award Competition

The P3 Award program is a national student design competition for sustainability focusing on people, prosperity, and the planet. The program is a partnership between the public and private sectors to progress toward sustainability by achieving the mutual goals of economic prosperity, protection of the natural systems of the planet, and providing a higher quality of life for its people. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its affiliates offer the P3 Award competition to respond to the technical needs of the developed and developing world in moving towards the goal of sustainability.

EPA’s Pollution Prevention Grant

EPA created the P2 grant program under the authority of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. The grant program provides matching funds to state and tribal programs to support P2 activities across all environmental media and to develop state programs. EPA believes state-based environmental programs have the best opportunity to promote P2 because states have closer, more direct contact with industry and are more aware of local needs.

EPA-NOAA Coastal Community Development Partnership

The EPA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have agreed to work together to help coastal communities grow in ways that benefit the economy, public health, and the environment.

EPA's 6th Annual Clean Air Excellence Awards

Entries are currently being accepted for EPA's sixth annual Clean Air Excellence Awards. The Clean Air Excellence Awards Program is open to both public and private entities in the United States.

EPA's Brownfields Job Training Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers job training grants to teach environmental-cleanup job skills to individuals living in low income areas near Brownfields sites. Grants go to non-profit organizations, educational institutions, community colleges, tribes, and state and local governments.

EPA's Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model is a handbook for all stakeholders to understand how equitable development and local environmental and/or public health issues can be addressed through the Collaborative Problem-Solving (CPS) Model.

EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program

The U.S. EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program (SGIA) is an annual, competitive solicitation open to state, local, regional, and tribal governments (and non-profits that have partnered with a governmental entity) that want to incorporate smart growth techniques into their future development.

EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program: 2007 Communities

EPA developed the Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA) program in response to communities' requests for help in achieving their development goals. Through this program, EPA provides technical assistance from private-sector experts to help communities find the best tools and resources to plan for growth in ways that sustain environmental and economic progress and create a high quality of life.

Equitable Renewal: Ten Points to Guide Rebuilding in the Gulf Coast Region

Equitable Renewal: Ten Points to Guide Rebuilding in the Gulf Coast Region is an outline of steps from PolicyLink to help ensure that restoration of hurricane-damage communities is fair and just.

Equity Insurance and Equity Mortgage -- Farmland Preservation

Equity Insurance and Equity Mortgage: Evaluating Two Potential Cost-Saving Farmland Preservation Tools for Michigan examines ways to protect and preserve Michigan's valuable and productive farmland. With development projected to claim nearly 40,000 acres of farmland annually, new funding mechanisms are needed to boost the farmland preservation strategy.

Essential Smart Growth Fixes for Urban and Suburban Zoning Codes

Across the country, local governments are searching for ways to create vibrant communities that attract jobs, foster economic development, and provide attractive places for people to live, work, and play. But many are discovering that their own land development codes and ordinances often get in the way of achieving these goals, and they may not have the resources or expertise to make the specific regulatory changes that will create more sustainable communities.

In response to this need, EPA's Smart Growth Program convened a panel of national smart growth code experts to identify the topics in local zoning codes that are essential to creating the building blocks of smart growth. The resulting document, Essential Smart Growth Fixes for Urban and Suburban Zoning Codes, presents the panel's initial work. This document explores 11 ''Essential Fixes'' that address the most common barriers local governments face in implementing smart growth. These actions are organized as modest adjustments, major modifications, or wholesale changes -- giving communities options based on their political will, financial resources, and organizational capacity.

This tool does not include model language, codes or ordinances. It can, however, help communities evaluate their existing codes and ordinances and apply that information to create more sustainable comunities. It is an evolving document that will be regularly revised and updated, and is intended to spark a larger conversation about the tools and information local governments need to revise their land development regulations.

Estimating the Jobs Impact of Tackling Climate Change

The new report Estimating the Jobs Impact of Tackling Climate Change suggests that tackling climate change will be a major net job creator for the U.S. economy. According to the report, aggressive deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency can net up to 4.5 million new U.S. jobs by 2030 and provide the greenhouse gas emission reductions necessary to tackle climate change.

According to the analysis, renewable energy and energy efficiency deployment costs would be revenue neutral (or better), as costs to implement the technologies are offset by savings from lower energy bills, making total net costs near zero.

“The twin challenges of climate change and economic stagnation can be solved by the same action—broad, aggressive, sustained deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency,” said Brad Collins, ASES’ Executive Director, “the solution for one is the solution for the other.”

This jobs report offers the most detailed analysis yet on the potential role of the new energy economy in tackling climate change. It suggests that policy can play a significant role in both generating jobs and mitigating carbon emissions.

“For job growth the status quo is no match for innovation,” said Mr. Collins. “Congress can help get the economy back on track with smart energy policy - reduce energy consumption in buildings by 50%; adopt an aggressive national renewable portfolio standard; commit to end dependence on foreign oil by 2025; and implement an upstream cap and auction system to manage greenhouse gases at the points where they first enter the energy economy.”

This report analyzed the job potential of improving energy efficiency in buildings, transportation, and industry, and assessed six renewable energy technologies: concentrating solar power, photovoltaics, wind power, biomass, biofuels, and geothermal power. Estimates in this report refer to net jobs since advancing new energy technologies can both create new jobs and displace jobs from less efficient industries. This report suggests that, in total, more than 4.5 million more jobs can be created by tackling climate change than would be lost.

Europe 2005: The Ecological Footprint

This report to the European Parliament was produced with the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) to document Europe's demand on the world's ecosystems.

European Prize for Urban Public Space

The European Prize for Urban Public Space is a biennial competition that recognizes and encourages activities aimed at recovering and creating spaces of cohesion in cities.

European Urban Knowledge Network

The European Urban Knowledge Network (EUKN) shares knowledge and experience on tackling urban issues. Fifteen EU Member States, EUROCITIES, the URBACT Programme and the European Commission participate in this European initiative.

Evaluating Scenic Resources

Scenic America.1996. This guide describes a methodology for identifying scenic areas worthy of preservation.

Evaluation of Smart Growth on the Ground

''Smart Growth on the Ground'' is an innovative program to change the way that development is done in British Columbia by creating real, built examples of smart growth. This unique program helps BC communities to prepare more sustainable neighborhood plans -- including land use, transportation, urban design, and building design plans. Extensive follow-up ensures that the plans become reality.

Every Drop Makes a Difference Campaign

HALLS® and The Conservation Fund have announced the launch of the “Every Drop Makes a Difference” campaign to preserve, restore and protect one of America’s most precious natural resources, its trees. The program features in-store promotions, a national sweepstakes and a virtual forest where participants can plant a tree online and learn more about how native forests help clean the air we breathe, filter the water we drink and enhance habitat for wildlife.

“Protecting and restoring America’s forests is perhaps one of the greatest and most important environmental challenges of our time”, said The Conservation Fund’s Jena Meredith. “Every year we lose nearly 1.5 million acres of working forest across the country, and the forests that remain are increasingly degraded. Support from HALLS and its consumers is making a critical difference to help restore these special lands for wildlife and people alike.”

With every entry in the HALLS® Every Drop Makes a Difference™ Sweepstakes, a $1.00 donation will be made to The Conservation Fund to help support its reforestation efforts across America, up to $100,000.

“At HALLS, we believe that doing good for the community is good for business—it's part of our Cadbury heritage and part of our Purple Goes Green program, a comprehensive environmental initiative. We’re pleased to partner with The Conservation Fund to help restore one of the country’s most important assets—our forests and the wildlife that take refuge in them,” said David Vivenes, HALLS Marketing Director. “With this program, we’re proving that every drop of HALLS does make a difference by helping consumers feel relief while helping to restore American forests.”

The Conservation Fund will launch the restoration efforts at Buckhorn Wildlife Management Area, a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) property located along the lower Mississippi River valley. Restoring forests in this area greatly benefits the Louisiana black bear and helps improve air quality, control flooding and minimize damage from storms.

“With limited financial resources available during a period of budget reductions, assistance from a corporate partner that enables this agency to move forward with habitat restoration is greatly appreciated,” said LDWF Secretary Robert Barham. Restoring the nation’s forests is one of The Conservation Fund’s highest priorities, and the group supports numerous public natural resource agencies across the country.

“When many people think about deforestation, they think about the Amazon or even Central America,” said The Conservation Fund’s Louisiana state director, Ray Herndon. “What they may not know is that we have lost more than 20 million acres of bottomland hardwood forest over the last century along the lower Mississippi River valley alone. It’s time to turn that trend around.”

Excellence in Green Building Education Awards -- 2009

The U.S. Green Building Council's Excellence in Green Building Education Awards Program recognizes outstanding curriculum and teaching methods that incorporate the built environment to teach sustainability.

Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture

Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture from Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) defines sustainable agriculture by providing snapshots of different producers who apply sustainable principles on their farms and ranches.

F as in Fat

F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2005 from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH), reports that obesity rates in the United States continued to rise last year in every state but one.

Facing Our Future

Western Resource Advocates, Trout Unlimited and the Colorado Environmental Coalition have released this report on how to satisfy demands for water along the Front Range for the next 25 years with less harm to the environment and less controversy than water projects have faced in the past.

Facing the Future

Facing the Future believes in the transformative power of widespread, systemic education to improve lives and communities, both locally and globally. The organization's positive, solutions-based programming is designed by and for teachers, and effectively brings critical thinking about global issues to students in every walk of life.

Facing the Urban Challenge: Reimagining Land Use in America's Distressed Older Cities-The Federal Policy Role

Recently released by Alan Mallach, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program of The Brookings Institution, this paper touches on the history of economic decline of American cities, noting that while many urban areas enjoyed a significant resurgence during the 1990s, others, such as Detroit and Cleveland, have continued to struggle.

By focusing on five keys areas (strategic planning, reutilizing urban land, investing in transformative change, revitalizing neighborhoods, and addressing affordable housing) Mallach identifies how federal lawmakers can play a major role in shaping the future success of older industrial cities.

Fair and Healthy Land Use

Fair and Healthy Land Use, a report from the American Planning Association's (APA's) Planning Advisory Services, explains how the principles of environmental justice can be incorporated into land-use planning processes.

Farm to Cafeteria Connections

This handbook is designed to be a resource for farmers, food service professionals and community members in developing Farm-to-Cafeteria programs in Washington state. It provides locally relevant information and an overall look at Farm-to-Cafeteria programs from all across the country.

Farm to Hospital

Farm to Hospital illustrates how improving health care can be accomplished by supporting local agriculture. Linking local farms and hospitals can improve the freshness, quality, and nutritional value of hospital food while opening new markets for small and medium sized farmers.

Farm to Table New Mexico

Farm to Table, a Santa Fe, New Mexico non-profit organization, focuses on linking local food and fiber production to local needs by improving communities' access to nutritious, affordable, locally grown and culturally significant foods.

Farming on the Edge

DeKalb, IL: Center for Agriculture in the Environment, 1997. Urban sprawl and the loss of farmland are readily visible to anyone familiar with suburban America. The quality of the land being lost and the distribution of that loss are issues that deserve national attention. This report focuses on the irreplaceable loss of each state's share of the nation's prime and unique farmland.

Farming on the Edge

American Farmland Trust's Farming on the Edge conference brings together people from all across the country who want to create a sustainable future for America's working lands. It provides a forum for planners, land trusts, conservationists, farmers, ranchers and others to network and share their expertise and experience.

Farming on the Edge

The American Farmland Trust conducted a ground-breaking national study mapping the relationship between high-quality farmland and land development pressure in America.

An excerpt: ''We're needlessly wasting one of the world's most important resources. Less than one-fifth of U.S. land is high quality, and we are losing this finest land to development at an accelerating rate. U.S. agricultural land provides the nation—and the world—with an unparalleled abundance of food. But farmland means much more than food. Well-managed farmland shelters wildlife, supplies scenic open space and helps filter impurities from our air and water. These working lands keep our taxes down and maintain the legacy of our agricultural heritage. It makes no sense to develop our best farmland. Instead, we have a responsibility to protect this most valuable resource for future generations.''

The report shows the threat of sprawling development to urban edge farmland state by state.

''Farming on the Edge'' State Maps Available

''Farming on the Edge: Sprawling Development Threatens America's Best Farmland'' uses the tool of compelling maps to lay out the threats and gives reasoned solutions-so communities, legislators and individuals can clearly see what needs to be done to protect the country's best farmland.

Farmland and Open Space Funding -- Michigan

The Michigan Department of Agriculture uses five methods for preserving farmland and open space in its Farmland and Open Space Preservation Program.

Farmland Information Center

The Farmland Information Center (FIC) is a clearinghouse for information about farmland protection and stewardship. It is a partnership between the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and American Farmland Trust.

Farmland Information Center Sample Documents

The Sample Documents Area of the Farmland Information Center's website provides easy access to tools used by communities to protect agricultural resources and support agriculture.

Farmland Protection Policy: The Effects of Growth Management Policies on Agricultural Land Values.

DeKalb, ILL: Center for Agriculture in the Environment, 1997. This working paper looks at the way in which zoning, impact fees and other growth management options affect the rate of agricultural land conversion and land values. The study concludes that growth moratoriums are drastic measures; TDR and PDR programs are effective market-based tools; development exactions effectively reallocate public finance of infrastructure; and agriculture security areas may prevent conversion of agricultural land through eminent domain or condemnation but may not be as effective as other tools. And zoning, while a low cost and attractive means for growth management, may ultimately be too weak to slow conversion of agricultural land

Farmland Protection Program Funding Availabe

On April 3, 2003, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for grants through the Farmland Protection Program (FPP). The RFP provides up to $100 million in funds in Fiscal Year 2003, using funds that were approved by Congress in the 2002 Farm Bill. Grant applications for specific farmland protection projects are due to state NRCS offices by May 19, 2003.

Federal Funding for Conservation

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) website offers a summary page featuring federal funding resources for conservation.

Federal Incentives for Renewable Energy

Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) currently tracks a select number of federal incentives that promote renewable energy. The incentives provided on this site are financial incentives primarily for residents and businesses.

Feinstone Environmental Awards

The 2006 Feinstone Environmental Award will honor a New York state middle or high school teacher who works daily to instill in students a solid knowledge of science and the environment and who inspires them to work to make a positive impact on their local environment. Nominations must be received by March 1, 2006.

Fertile Ground

Fertile Ground is a report on the first year of Green Communities, a five-year, $555 million initiative to build more than 8,500 environmentally healthy homes for low-income families. The report states that the initiative exceeded expectations in its first year, as a diverse array of partners embraced the initiative’s holistic, cost-effective approach to sustainable development in low-income communities.

Fever of Development, Frontier of Recovery: Securing the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Region

Fever of Development, Frontier of Recovery: Securing the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Region is a July 2007 report from the Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI) and the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance that provides guidance in understanding and responding to the purchase of 402 acres of Lake Michigan shoreline at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck Township by an Oklahoma City energy company executive.

Financing Greenways

The Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at the University of Maryland features a web resource that includes trail-building cost estimates from several Virginia communities as well as techniques to help partner with community members, raise funds, and seek grants for greenway programs.

Financing Greenways in the Shenandoah

The Environmental Finance Center (EFC) produced this resource guide to provide information about establishing and financing greenways in the Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. The guide includes links to other online resources on the subject of greenways and trails, and is geared to the region's local government officials, nonprofit organizations, and citizen advocates.

First Stop Shop for Water Resources

The First Stop Shop for Water Resources from the Local Government Commission (LGC) is a clearinghouse for information and resources related to the co-management of land and water resources. This website is dedicated to providing the most relevant, up-to-date, and useful information about water resource management and putting it all in one place that is easy to navigate so you can find what you need when you need it.

Fiscal Costs and Public Safety Risks of Low-Density Residential Development on Farmland

DeKalb, IL: Center for Agriculture in the Environment, 1999. Ever wondered what your move to the country means for your public safety and your back pocket. In this study the authors tested the hypothesis that persons living in sprawl developments face significant fiscal and public safety costs in comparison to persons living in more compact communities. What did they find? Density matters, lower density communities because of spatial distances between uses often have slower emergency response times then their compact counterparts, also such communities incur significant fiscal costs.

Five Connecticut Brownfields Projects Funded

Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell has announced five brownfield sites across the state will receive a total of $2.25 million to assist in redevelopment efforts under a pilot program proposed by Governor Rell and funded through the state Bond Commission.

FLASLA Receives Florida Planning and Zoning Award for Publication

The Florida Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (FLASLA) has received The Florida Planning and Zoning Association's award for Outstanding Private Study at their annual conference, in Tampa, on June 12, 2009.

Florida 2060

Florida 2060, a research project prepared for 1000 Friends of Florida by the GeoPlan Center at the University of Florida, is a population distribution scenario for the state of Florida. This 2006 report provides details on how the expected doubling of the Sunshine State's population between now and 2060 will affect land use, providing that land use policies do not change.

Florida Brownfields

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) maintains a website on the state's brownfield program, including information on state and federal initiatives, locations of active projects and designated brownfield areas, and more.

Florida Department of Health -- Smart Growth Presentation

The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) offers a smart growth presentation that provides an overview of smart growth in the context of public health. This resource emphasizes the connection between public health and the built environment, and how following Smart Growth principles can benefit Florida.

Florida Parks in the 21st Century

Florida Parks in the 21st Century, a report from the Trust for Public Land (TPL), catalogues $8.3 billion in both land conservation and park development needs of local governments. Co-produced by the Florida Recreation and Park Association, Florida League of Cities, and TPL, the report catalogues the need for $8.3 billion in land conservation and park development as derived from locally-approved comprehensive plans prepared by Florida's cities and counties.

Florida Parks in the 21st Century: 2008 Report

Florida Parks in the 21st Century 2008, a report from Trust for Public Land (TPL) that is based on data provided directly from city and county park departments, suggests that the need for local parks in Florida is growing. Local park departments have documented $10.5 billion they'll need to acquire land for new parks and maintain existing parks.

Florida Smart Growth Advocates

1000 Friends of Florida has compiled this list of local advocacy groups that are dealing with the impacts of growth on a daily basis. This online resource contains contact information for more than a dozen organizations.

Focusing Our Vision: Planning for Sustainability in the San Francisco Region

The Vision was created in 2002 by individuals and organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area who believe that the region's population growth can be accommodated in a sustainable way. The Vision calls for the Bay Area to develop as a ''network of neighborhoods,'' where future growth is concentrated near transit and in the existing communities that surround the San Francisco Bay. Focusing Our Vision is the most recent effort to realize the Vision. Referred to as FOCUS, the program's nickname is fitting because it requires a FOCUS of efforts, resources and housing development in areas that will promote the long-term sustainability of the region.

Footloose and Fancy Free -- Walkable Urbanism

Footloose and Fancy Free: A Field Survey of Walkable Urban Places in the Top 30 U.S. Metropolitan Areas from The Brookings Institution is a field survey that attempts to identify the number and location of ''regional-serving'' walkable urban places in the 30 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., where 138 million, or 46 percent, of the U.S. population lives.

For the Greener Good: Public Lecture Series

For the Greener Good is a public series that affirms the National Building Museum's commitment to environmental sustainability. It calls on experts from diverse backgrounds to investigate links between environmental sustainability and design, public health, energy policy, bioscience, infrastructure, education, and even popular culture.

Forest Conservation Portal: Vast Rainforest, Forest and Biodiversity Conservation News & Information

Forests.org, Inc. works to end deforestation, preserve old-growth forests, conserve and sustainably manage other forests, maintain climatic systems, and commence the age of ecological restoration.

Forum on Children and Nature

The National Forum on Children and Nature is a diverse group of public and private leaders dedicated to reconnecting kids with nature. Hosted by The Conservation Fund hosts and comprised of four governors, three mayors, corporate CEOs, parks officials and others, the Forum's goal is to improve children's health and overall well-being, while encouraging them to rediscover America's landscape.

Four Ways to Genuine Prosperity

New Jersey Future has developed the Four Ways to Genuine Prosperity policy guide for state leaders committed to New Jersey's long-term prosperity. Featuring nearly two years worth of research and policy analysis, the guide also reflects the expertise and advice of many contributors and financial supporters.

Free Legal Resources Available

The American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Resources has initiated a new pilot program that offers free legal assistance to support community-based environmental protection efforts.

Friends of Midcoast Maine Annual Awards Nominations

Each year, the Friends of Midcoast Maine presents a “smart growth award” at its Annual Meeting. The purpose is to honor and recognize the person (town official, developer, contractor, architect and corporations) who has resisted growth patterns that detract from the economic vitality of our existing, traditional centers and has instead adopted values and smart growth design principles supported by Friends of Midcoast Maine and other smart growth advocacy groups.

From Wall Street to Your Street: New Solutions for Smart Growth Finance

Commissioned by the Funders' Network, From Wall Street to Your Street: New Solutions for Smart Growth Finance reassess the current methods for smart growth finance and sketches out two different ''fixes'' for the problem of financing smart growth.

Frontera Farmer Foundation Grants -- 2009

The Frontera Farmer Foundation is committed to promoting small, sustainable Midwestern farms serving the Chicago area, by providing them with capital development grants. Small local farms, which often struggle financially, are more likely to promote biodiversity by planting a wide range of produce and operate using organic practices. By their artisanal approach to agriculture, the freshness of their product and the variety of their offerings, these farmers insure the highest quality food while they add immeasurably to the fabric of their local rural community.

Funders' Network: Looking Back

To acknowledge and celebrate its 10th Anniversary in 2009, the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities commissioned Looking Back: Influencing, Networking, Facilitating, a retrospective on the efforts undertaken by the Network and its members over the past ten years.

Funders' Network: Looking Forward

To acknowledge and celebrate its 10th Anniversary in 2009, the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities Looking Forward: Perspectives on Future Opportunities for Philanthropy, a compilation of essays from leading thinkers in the movement for smarter growth policies and practices that challenge philanthropy to think about its role over the next ten years.

Funding Brownfield Redevelopment

The Community/School Partnership for Brownfields Development offers an online guide to funding brownfields redevelopment. The guide is part of the school curriculum developed by the Purdue EPICS team for the ''Our Town Project'' (OTP).

Funding Search Database

The Red Lodge Clearinghouse Funding Search resource is a searchable database of funding sources. Search options include by State, Interest, Type, or Funder, with subcategories for most options.

Funding Sources -- Trails and Greenways

National Trails Training Partnership has added a list of funding sources for trails and greenways proponents to the resources and archives section of its website.

Get Out and Play

''Get Out and Play'' is a Trust for Public Land (TPL) website feature that provides locations and directions of TPL conservation projects, by geographic region, so you can plan a day trip or getaway.

Getting Density Right

Getting Density Right from the Urban Land Institute is a book that describes tools used to better support compact development, including visioning, planning, and new regulations. Case studies profile the experiences of eight communities, the policy tools they used to encourage compact development, and the development projects built using the new regulations.

Getting in Step: A Guide to Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns

Nonpoint source pollution is our nation’s largest remaining water quality problem. This guide offers advice on how watershed groups, local governments, and others can maximize the effectiveness of public outreach campaigns to reduce nonpoint source pollution and protect the lakes, rivers, streams, and coasts that we treasure.

Getting on Message: Making the Biodiversity-Sprawl Connection

This message kit is a resource for outreach by nonprofits on issues related to biodiversity and sprawl. We hope it serves as a springboard for new activity. The site includes fact sheets, communication sheets, and other information.

Getting on Message: Making the Biodiversity-Sprawl Connection

This message kit is a resource for outreach by nonprofits on issues related to biodiversity and sprawl.

Getting Real about Urbanism

How do you create a flourishing, livable place appealing to residents and visitors of all ages, incomes, and backgrounds? Offering a ground-breaking alternative to uniform, ''cookie-cutter'' urban designs, Getting Real About Urbanism is a book that describes techniques for creating ''Real Urbanism'' -- designing places with personality that reflect what is distinctive and original in a neighborhood, district, city, or region.

Getting Smart about Climate Change

Addressing climate change is a key component of creating more sustainable communities, and smart growth offers practical guidelines for communities looking to develop sustainably: it addresses new growth and development in a way that reduces their impact on the environment and their contributions to global climate change while supporting economic development and social equity–related goals.

This report outlines nine strategies for successfully applying smart growth principles to climate concerns on the local and regional levels.

The report can be downloaded free at the link below.

Getting Smart! Newsletter -- September 2006

The latest issue of Getting Smart! is now available for all Smart Growth Network members in the Members Section. The focus of this issue is smart growth in rural areas. Resources and tools related to smart growth are typically geared toward urban or suburban environments. So, what does smart growth mean in rural communities, where land can seem in endless supply?

Getting Started: A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms

Getting Started is a free 51-page guide designed and published by the Center for Ecoliteracy in collaboration with Life Lab Science Program, a national leader in garden-based education.

Getting the Growth You Want: A Citizens Guide to Subdivisions and Smart Growth

Getting the Growth You Want: A Citizens Guide to Subdivisions and Smart Growth is the first of a two-part series from the Montana Smart Growth Coalition and the Great Yellowstone Coalition designed to help communities approve good subdivisions and deny bad ones.

Getting to Smart Growth

This popular, 100-page primer from the ongoing series by ICMA and the Smart Growth Network describes concrete techniques of putting the ten smart growth principles into practice. The policies and guidelines presented in this primer have proven successful in communities across the United States, and range from formal legislative or regulatory efforts to informal approaches, plans, and programs.

Getting to Smart Growth II

Getting to Smart Growth II: 100 More Policies for Implementation is the newest primer in the ongoing series from the Smart Growth Network and ICMA, and follows on the heels of the extremely popular first volume of Getting to Smart Growth. The publication serves as a road map for states and communities that have recognized the need for smart growth but are unclear on how to achieve it. Spanish language version now available!

Getting to Smart Growth: 100 Policies for Implementation (Spanish Version)

Getting to Smart Growth: 100 Polices for Implementation has been made accessible for Spanish readers and speakers. The document has been translated in its entirety, complete with all policies and practice tips.

Getting to Smart Growth: Puerto Rico

Getting to Smart Growth has been adapted for Puerto Rico. Hacia el desarrollo inteligente: 10 principios y 100 estrategias para Puerto Rico is an adaptation of the popular, 100-page primer from the ongoing series by ICMA and the Smart Growth Network.

Global Development Awards

The Global Development Network is accepting submissions for the Eighth Annual Global Development Awards and Medals Competition 2007. Carrying prizes in cash and travel worth nearly $240,000, this is the largest international competition on development research.

Global Planners Network

Recognizing that planners and their organizations throughout the world provide leadership in addressing many societal issues, the Global Planners Network was initiated to further the goal of globally connecting planning groups to assist each other and share best practices.

Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes

The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes honors outstanding young leaders who have made a significant positive difference to people and our planet.

GLS Greenlinks

As part of an ongoing focus on regional land use issues and as a means of building awareness about the value of green and open space, GLS Greenlinks was formed by the Flint River Watershed Coalition and the University of Michigan -- Flint's Center for Applied Environmental Research -- in the fall of 2003.

Glynwood Harvest Awards -- 2005

Glynwood Center created the Harvest Awards program in 2003 to highlight work by individuals and organizations who are doing an exceptional job of supporting local and regional agriculture in order to inspire others to take action within their own communities. The Awards help to identify and disseminate “best practice” ideas which will inspire others to take action within their own communities and build urban/rural coalitions in support of responsible farmers.

Glynwood Harvest Awards 2007

Glynwood Center is preparing for the 5th Annual Harvest Awards which recognize innovative farmers, organizations, and businesses that are supporting sustainable regional food systems. The Center seeks your help in recognizing outstanding work by nominating someone whose work you admire.

Going Comprehensive -- Guidebook on Comprehensive Community Development

In Going Comprehensive, a guidebook on comprehensive community development from the Local Initiatives Support Corp., expert practitioners Anita Miller and Tom Burns examine the Comprehensive Community Revitalization Program that produced one of America's most remarkable urban turnaround stories -- New York's once-stricken South Bronx.

Going to Town: New Urbanism Arrives in Northwest Michigan

Going to Town: New Urbanism Arrives in Northwest Michigan, a new report from the Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI), discusses a new approach to residential and commercial development that is saving tax dollars, protecting the environment, and increasing prosperity and quality of life in northern Lower Michigan.

Golden Lands, Golden Opportunity: Preserving Vital Bay Area Lands

Ridges and farms, watersheds and forests in the San Francisco Bay Area provide vital public benefits -- but many are still unprotected. Golden Lands, Golden Opportunity is a landmark report on the region's green infrastructure by hundreds of Bay Area land use leaders that calls for action to fully protect its greenbelt.

Golden Lands, Golden Opportunity: Unprotected Bay Area Lands

Golden Lands, Golden Opportunity is a new report identifying Bay Area lands that provide vital public benefits — but are still unprotected.

Goldman Environmental Prize -- 2007 Awardees

An Irish farmer jailed for his work in opposing Shell Oil's natural gas pipeline through his land and an Icelandic entrepreneur saving North Atlantic wild salmon by brokering innovative fishing rights buyouts with North Atlantic governments and commercial interests are among the winners of the 2007 Goldman Environmental Prize.

Goldman Prize

The Goldman Environmental Prize, established in 1990 by San Francisco civic leader and philanthropist Richard N. Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda H. Goldman, is the world's largest prize honoring grassroots environmentalists. Now in its 17th year, it has been awarded to 113 people from 67 countries. Prize winners are selected by an international jury from confidential nominations submitted by a worldwide network of environmental organizations and individuals.

Golf Course Environmental Principles

A group of leading golf and environmental organizations have jointly developed a set of principles that seek to produce environmental excellence in golf course planning and siting, design, construction, maintenance and facility operations.

Grants Available for Community Forestry Projects

Preproposals for Community Forestry Projects grants are due by December 10, 2002. More information on the program that will award grants in the categories of Promotion of Livable Communities through Urban and Community Forestry, Creative and Innovative Urban and Community Forestry Research and Technology Development is available at http://www.treelink.org/nucfac

Grants for Educators -- S.F. Bay Region

The Watershed Project is the sponsor of the Teacher Action Grants (TAG) program, which has distributed almost $380,000 to San Francisco Bay Area educators who have taken Kids in Creeks, Kids in Gardens, and Watching Our Watersheds workshops. By providing seed money in amounts up to $2,000 to cover direct expenses for classroom-based environmental studies, gardening, and restoration projects, Teacher Action Grants have educated and involved tens of thousands of students in local watershed-based projects, and increased awareness about natural resources in Alameda and Contra Costa counties for thousands of residents.

Grants to Promote Farmers Markets

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced 20 grants totaling $900,000 to establish, expand or promote local farmers markets, roadside stands, and similar agricultural ventures under the new Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP).

Great Lakes Coastal Planning

The Great Lakes Coastal Communities webpages provide links to institutions addressing coastal resources planning as well as to links for general resources by topic.

Great Neighborhoods: How to Bring them Home

The 1000 Friends Great Neighborhoods Project is intended to help teach the residents and developers in Wisconsin about the social, environmental and economic benefits of building compact, mixed-use, aesthetically appealing neighborhoods; and to offer professional and layperson guidance for how to advocate for and create these neighborhoods.

Great Places Awards -- 2009 Call for Nominations

Places: Forum of Design for the Public Realm and EDRA, the Environmental Design Research Association, in cooperation with Metropolis Magazine, announce the twelfth annual Great Places Awards (formerly EDRA/Places Awards) for Place Design, Planning and Research.

Great Plans, Great Communities

Looking to illustrate the connection between planning and great places? APA's Community-Wide Audio/Web Conference Great Plans, Great Communities provides a striking introduction to planning and makes the case for the importance and wide-ranging benefits of planning.

Greater Lansing Go Green Initiative

The Greater Lansing Go Green! Initiative is working to promote environmental and economic health for all those who live, work, and play in Greater Lansing.

Greater Philadelphia Green Business Program

Companies across the Philadelphia metropolitan area are making a public promise to change their daily business practices to reduce impacts on the environment. The Greater Philadelphia Green Business Program's commitment focuses on a checklist of green operational practices designed for office users.

Greater Washington 2050

Greater Washington 2050 is a new regional initiative to improve the quality of life for Washington area residents in the next 50 years by fostering stronger regional awareness, leadership and action today and in the next few years.

Green Acres Program -- NJ

This resource includes application documents, guidelines, and details for the New Jersey Green Acres Programs which aims to create a system of interconnected open spaces in New Jersey.

Green and Growing Tool Box

The State of Connecticut offers the Green and Growing Tool Box, a website containing a comprehensive inventory of policies, plans, or programs administered by State Agencies represented on the Inter-Agency Responsible Growth Steering Council.

Green and Healthy Homes

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requests proposals for the Green and Healthy Homes and Technical Studies Program. Through this RFP, HUD seeks to improve knowledge of the effects residential green construction has on both indoor environmental quality and occupant health, with a particular focus on children and other sensitive populations. It is expected that benefits would be most likely observed for respiratory health outcomes and reductions in irritation-related symptoms.

Some $2.4 million expected to be available, up to 7 awards anticipated.

Responses are due November 17, 2009.

Green Building and Sustainable Design Certificate Program

The University of California, Davis Extension offers a Green Building and Sustainable Design Certificate Program that addresses the trend of developing healthier communities through sustainable design by defining effective ways to utilize energy and water usage.

Green Building Research Grants

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced recipients of its 2008 Green Building Research Fund grants. The Green Building Research Fund was created to spur research that will advance sustainable building practices and encourage market transformation.

Green Buildings for All

The City of Portland, Oregon's Office of Sustainability has developed this ''G/Rated'' website, a depository of green building technologies, case studies, specifications, and other technical resources.

Green Cities Report

Green Cities, a report from Living Cities, is one of the first assessments of exactly how 40 of the country's largest cities are trying to limit their carbon footprints and take the steps needed to raise these efforts to the next level.

Green City Partnership

Cities across the Puget Sound region are blessed with some of the nation's most extensive forested parklands. These public assets beautify and strengthen our local neighborhoods while providing vital green infrastructure.

Today, our forested parklands are in serious decline. Many of our trees are at the end of their lifespan. At the same time, invasive plants, such as English ivy and Himalayan blackberry, have choked out the seedlings that would replace today's forest.

Cascade Land Conservancy's Green City Partnership program works to reverse this trend while helping to protect our important legacy of beautiful parks and vibrant communities.

CLC partners with local municipalities to access the current state of their forests, develop long term management plans and engage the community in restoration through volunteer events. Modeled after the original Green Seattle Partnership, the Cities of Kent, Kirkland, Redmond and Tacoma have joined the program.

In just a few years, thousands of people have volunteered their time to plant tens of thousands of native trees and shrubs.

CLC's Green Cities connect people to nature, enhance the long-term sustainability of urban forests, improve the quality of life in cities and galvanize an active community around restoration and stewardship of urban natural open spaces.

Green Collar Jobs

The renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE&EE) industries represented more than 9 million jobs and $1,045 billion in U.S. revenue in 2007, according to a new report offering the most detailed analysis yet of the green economy. The renewable energy industry grew three times as fast as the U.S. economy, with the solar thermal, photovoltaic, biodiesel, and ethanol sectors leading the way, each with 25%+ annual revenue growth.

Green Communities 2008 Action Plan

The Iowa Department of Economic Development has published its Green Communities 2008 Action Plan, a set of services and initiatives that encourage community sustainability.

Green Communities Grants -- 2008

Enterprise and Green Communities are accepting planning and construction grants in the Green Communities Grants program. Up to $50,000 per project is now available.

Green Communities News -- October 2008

New opportunities in green affordable housing, sustainable Green Communities projects, and how HUD is promoting energy efficiency are all topics of discussion in the October 2008 Green Communities newsletter from Enterprise.

Green Communities Newsletter -- July 2008

News about winners in the first annual Sustainable Cities Awards program, a call for Congress to pass the Green Resources for Energy Efficient Neighborhoods Act of 2008, and Rebuilding a Greener New Orleans are all topics of discussion in the July 2008 Green Communities newsletter from Enterprise.

Green Communities Newsletter -- May 2008

Green Affordable Housing, the Green Communities Developers Summit, and information on Federal Grant Funds for Green Affordable Developments are all topics of discussion in the May 2008 Green Communities newsletter from Enterprise.

Green Communities Program

Green Communities is a web-based toolkit and planning guide from the U.S. EPA that is designed to help communities access the tools and information to help them become more sustainable, Green Communities.

Green Community: Essays on Community Health

Based on the National Building Museum's exhibit, Green Community is a collection of thought-provoking essays that illuminate the connections among personal health, community health, and our planet's health.

Green Government Initiative

Launched in 2007, the NACo Green Government Initiative provides comprehensive resources for local governments on all things green, including energy, air quality, transportation, water quality, land use, purchasing and recycling.

Green Government Initiative Publications

NACo's Green Government Initiative Publications are free resources for local governments on all things green, including energy, air quality, transportation, water quality, land use, purchasing and recycling. Includes fact sheets, guidebooks, and case studies of Green Initiatives from throughout the country.

Green Ground Zero International Design Competition

The WTC site in New York City is focus of the Green Ground Zero International Sustainable Design Competition. Entries should focus on ways to ''green'' the buildings that will surround the memorial on the World Trade Center grounds.

Green Guide for Health Care™

The Green Guide for Health Care™ is the health care sector’s first quantifiable sustainable design toolkit integrating enhanced environmental and health principles and practices into the planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance of their facilities.

Green Highways and Green Infrastructure

The Green Highways approach to infrastructure planning, design, and construction is a revolutionary approach to resource protection and environmental compliance. The approach is based on providing predictable pathways to streamline the delivery of transportation projects by the use of incentives and recognition for the use of innovate stormwater and environmental designs that are done in the context, or framework, of a watershed approach.

Green Infrastructure Case Studies

Green Infrastructure describes our nation's natural life support system -- an interconnected network of protected land and water that supports native species, maintains natural ecological processes, sustains air and water resources and contributes to the health and quality of life for America's communities and people.

Green Infrastructure Case Study Series

The Conservation Fund offers on its website the Green Infrastructure Case Study Series, a collection of reports from throughout the U.S. on efforts to promote smart land conservation that allow for both future growth and the protection of significant natural resources.

Green Infrastructure Demonstration Projects

The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) has received a grant from the U.S. EPA to identify and demonstrate cost-effective, community-based green infrastructure Best Management Practices (BMPs) that effectively reduce the volume of runoff to local sewers. Partners on this project include CNT, City of Chicago Departments of Environment (DOE) and Water Management (DWM), and the U.S. EPA. The BMPs will be constructed by Greencorps, a City of Chicago agency.

Green Infrastructure Maps

Natural Connections has produced a website offering a database of Green Infrastructure Maps that covers 14 counties extending out from the greater Chicago region, including the counties bordering the Wisconsin-Illinois and Illinois-Indiana state lines.

Green Infrastructure: A Framework for Smart Growth

This resource introduces the key elements of Green Infrastructure, the network of natural lands, open space, waterways, and smart growth design measures that form the framework for healthy and sustainable communities.

Green Infrastructure: A Strategic Approach to Conservation

Green Infrastructure is our nation's natural life support system -- an interconnected network of protected land and water that supports native species, maintains natural ecological processes, sustains air and water resources and contributes to the health and quality of life for America's communities and people.

Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities

With illustrative and detailed examples, Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities, by Mark Benedict and Ed McMahon, advances smart conservation: large-scale thinking and integrated action to plan, protect and manage our natural and restored lands. Providing both the historical framework for the importance of greenways and green space networks, and practical advice on how to design and implement them, Benedict and McMahon’s book is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to understand innovative approaches to conservation-minded land use.

Green Job Stories from NRDC

Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) ''Jobs that Build a Better Future'' webpage describes how clean energy investments will create millions of manufacturing jobs and whole new industries that will provide an immediate boost to the U.S. economy. NRDC also includes profiles of individuals who are making a living with clean energy manufacturing jobs.

Green Metropolis

Just about everything you think you know about the environment is wrong. Solar panels, electric cars, ethanol, big urban parks, and locavorism aren’t green; traffic jams, congestion, office towers, and crowded cities are. Green is not the country home in Vermont with the compost heap and the photovoltaic panels; it’s the concrete high-rise in New York City.

In a persuasive and provocative challenge to established environmental thinking, David Owen’s Green Metropolis: What the City Can Teach the Country About True Sustainability challenges much of the conventional wisdom about being green and shows how the greenest place in the United States isn’t Portland, Oregon, or Snowmass, Colorado, but New York, New York.

Owen—a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1991—states that while most Americans view congested cities as environmental calamities, with their pollution, garbage, and gridlock, residents of dense urban environments individually drive, pollute, consume, and throw away less than other Americans. Residents of New York City—the most densely populated community in the U.S.—consume less electricity than the average inhabitants of any other part of the country, generate greenhouse gases at a level far below the national average, and rank last in gasoline consumption and first in use of public transportation.

New York City’s environmental efficiencies are the result of its extreme compactness: being forced to live in small spaces sharply reduces opportunities to be wasteful; gridlock and a scarcity of parking spaces makes driving prohibitive while proximity simultaneously renders walking, bicycling, and public transportation viable means of getting around. Put simply, it’s easier to be green in a crowded city. The ecological innocuousness of leafy exurban areas long favored by environmentalists is an illusion—spreading people thinly across the countryside may make them feel greener, but in fact it increases their damage to the environment. In the face of rapidly dwindling nonrenewable resources, we should not look to the country, but to the dense metropolis as a model of true environmentalism.

In a radical departure from environmentalist dogma, David Owen’s Green Metropolis redefines what it means to be green, and offers vital insights into how to make our way to a more sustainable future. In this eye-opening and meticulously researched polemic, Owen argues that sustainability doesn’t depend on the acquisition of fancy new “green” gadgetry or the advent of new energy-related technologies, but on lo-fi solutions already at work in dense cities around the globe. We already have a good idea of what we need to do, or at least how to get started.

Publisher: Riverhead Books. ISBN: 978-1-59448-882-5

Green Playbook

The Playbook, a web-based resource, provides strategies, tips, and tools that cities and counties can use to take immediate action on climate change through: Green building, green neighborhoods, and sustainable infrastructure. The Playbook is designed both for communities that are considering making the first steps toward these, as well as for those who want to take existing efforts to a new level.

Green Roof Awards of Excellence -- 2006 Nominees

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities established the Green Roof Awards of Excellence in 2003 to recognize green roof projects which exhibit extraordinary leadership in integrated design and implementation.

Green Roof Awards of Excellence -- 2009 Nominees

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities established the Green Roof Awards of Excellence in 2003 to recognize green roof projects which exhibit extraordinary leadership in integrated design and implementation.

Green Roofs Projects Database

The International Greenroof Projects Database, prepared by Greenroofs.com from published public accounts and individual project stakeholders, offers summaries of greenroof projects from around the world.

Green Roofs Tree of Knowledge

The Green Roofs Tree of Knowledge (TOK) is a full-featured database on research and policy related to green roof infrastructure. There is a considerable amount of work being done on the many socio-economic and bio-physical benefits that green roofs provide. This database is composed of detailed summaries of research and policy papers in English from around the world.

Green Schools Funding -- City of San Jose

The City of San Jose, California, maintains a web page on Funding for Green Schools on the Environmental Services pages of its website.

Green Space Funding -- Atlanta, Georgia

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation aims to help develop a system of ''Great Parks'' in Atlanta, tied to the larger vision of how public space connects the entire community. By providing support, the Foundation wants to help create parks and ensure that they are high quality, well-maintained and protected. Most of all, they must be accessible and available to all the citizens.

Green Streets Podcast

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds has posted From Gray Funnels to Green Sponges, an interview with Clark Wilson, Senior Urban Planner, Smart Growth Program, EPA, where he discusses an alternative to the way streets have been built in the past -- Green Streets -- and how they're used for stormwater management.

Green Streets: Cross-Bureau Team Report

Green Streets: Cross-Bureau Team Report, a report from March 2006, documents Portland, Oregon's efforts to manage stormwater runoff through a ''Green Streets'' progam. A green street describes a street with vegetated facilities that manages stormwater on site. Portland has become a leader in integrating site-specific stormwater strategies that manage stormwater runoff, enhance community character, and strengthen the local economy.

Green Trails Guidebook

The Green Trails guidebook, published by Portland, Oregon's Metro organization, provides a comprehensive source of information about planning, construction and maintenance of environmentally friendly or ''green trails'' -- trails that avoid or minimize impacts to water resources and fish and wildlife habitat.

Green Urbanism Down Under

In Green Urbanism Down Under, a 2008 book from Island Press, author Timothy Beatley reports on the current state of ''sustainability practice'' in Australia and the many lessons that U.S. residents can learn from the best Australian programs and initiatives.

Green Values Stormwater Toolbox

Green infrastructure is the interconnected network of open spaces and natural areas, such as greenways, wetlands, parks, forest preserves and native plant vegetation, that naturally manages stormwater, reduces flooding risk and improves water quality. The Green Values Stormwater Toolbox provides an overview of how the Great Lakes landscape works and offers details on methods to minimize stormwater runoff without expensive infrastructure projects.

Green Wall Design Award -- 2008

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities recognized the Vancouver Aquarium in its 2008 Awards of Excellence with a Green Wall Design award.

Greenbelt Alliance Wins Award for Smart Growth Scorecard

Greenbelt Alliance received the 2007 Education Project Award for its Bay Area Smart Growth Scorecard from the California chapter of the American Planning Association (APA).

Greenbuild 2005 Proceedings

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) offers the Greenbuild 2005 Proceedings CD-ROM, a compilation of events and resources from the 2005 conference.

Greener Policies, Smarter Plans

Greener Policies, Smarter Plans from Enterprise Community Partners is an analysis of state policies that encourage environmentally sustainable housing through Low-Income Housing Tax Credit programs. The 2007 report shows a promising trend: a growing commitment to greener affordable homes.

GreeNetwork Update eNewsletter -- Iowa

The GreeNetwork is a free electronic newsletter that is sent out every 4-6 weeks by staff of the Iowa Department of Economic Development's Community Development Division.

GreenInfrastructure.net

GreenInfrastructure.Net seeks to illustrate that identifying and planning for Green Infrastructure - multi-purpose green space networks - provides a framework for smart conservation and smart growth.

Greening America's Capitals

Greening America's Capitals is a project of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities between EPA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to help state capitals develop an implementable vision of distinctive, environmentally friendly neighborhoods that incorporate innovative green building and green infrastructure strategies. This program will assist three to four communities per year, with the first projects beginning in the fall of 2010.

EPA will offer technical assistance by funding a team of designers to visit each city to produce schematic designs and exciting illustrations intended to catalyze or complement a larger planning process for the pilot neighborhood. Additionally, these pilots could be the testing ground for citywide actions, such as changes to local codes and ordinances to better support sustainable growth and green building. The design team and EPA, HUD, and DOT staff will also assist the city staff in developing specific implementation strategies.

The assistance may include, but is not limited to, the following issues:

• Brownfield or infill redevelopment
• Aligning transportation and housing choice
• Climate change response planning
• Engaging disadvantaged communities
• Public art and civic design strategies
• Green and energy efficient building strategies
• Green infrastructure for multiple community benefits

EPA is providing this design assistance to help support sustainable communities that protect the environment, economy, and public health and to inspire state leaders to expand this work elsewhere. Greening America's Capitals will help communities consider ways to incorporate smart growth strategies into their planning and development to create and enhance interesting, distinctive neighborhoods that have multiple social, economic, and environmental benefits.

This design assistance is being made available to all 50 state capital cities, plus the District of Columbia. EPA is soliciting letters of interest from mayors of state capitals. Any city department, office, or agency may submit the letter of interest, but only one proposal should be submitted on a city's behalf.

Greening of the Great Lakes

Greening of the Great Lakes is an organization providing information and insight into groups committed to making the Great Lakes region a leader in environmental practices.

Greening Parking Lots

The City of Toronto's draft Design Guidelines for 'Greening' Surface Parking Lots provide specific strategies and measures which developers, designers and reviewers of surface parking lots can apply to help meet Official Plan policies and environmental performance targets of the Toronto Green Development Standard.

Greening the Metropolitan Washington Region's Built Environment

This report by the Intergovernmental Green Building Group (IGBG) of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) explores issues related to building practices and the region's environment, reviews best practices and green building standards, and offers recommendations that local governments and COG can implement to improve the performance of buildings region wide.

Greening the World's Capital Cities

How do some of the world's best-known national capitals contribute to creating an environmentally and socially sustainable world? And how do they build successful support for sustainable development? Learn what capital cities are doing to lead the way to a greener planet in this report from the Capitals Alliance.

Greening Your Title

West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation announces the second edition of Greening Your Title: a Guide to Best Practices for Conservation Covenants.

Greenprint Denver Received U.S. Chamber of Commerce Award

The City and County of Denver has received a national award for sustainable-development initiatives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Business Civic Leadership Center for the city's ''Greenprint Denver'' program.

GreenSpace Partners

GreenSpace Partners is a program of the Green Institute, a Minneapolis organization whose goals are to restore a healthy environment and create economic opportunity through sustainable community development.

Greentips Podcasts from Earth Day 2008

The U.S. EPA offers archives of its Earth Day 2008 podcasts (MP3 sound files) on its Earth Day website.

Greenways Funding -- Federal and State

On the Pennsylvania Greenways Clearinghouse website you can view funding opportunities from federal and local sources, as well as Pennsylvania-related funding resources.

GreenWorks Grants: Fall 2009

GreenWorks! grants engage educators and their students with their local community in ''learning-by-doing'' environmental projects. Student leadership, service-learning, and community participation are the cornerstones to GreenWorks! projects. These grassroots action projects enable schools and youth organizations across the country to make a positive impact on their communities. Applications are now open for Fall 2009.

Groundswell: Stories of Saving Places, Finding Community

Published by the Trust for Public Land, Groundswell: Stories of Saving Places, Finding Community celebrates the role of land conservation in preserving community character and connecting people to the land and to each other.

Growing a Healthier DC

Why is green infrastructure important, and how can it be incorporated as business districts grow and schools are renovated, for example? To answer these questions Casey Trees has developed a series of issue briefs, Growing a Healthier DC, that are available for free download on their website.

Growing by Choice or Chance

Growing by Choice or Chance details how South Carolina communities have an opportunity to direct their growth through more efficient land use that decreases the amount of land developed to accommodate population growth, and offers more variety in how people live, work and shop.

Growing Cooler -- Urban Development and Climate Change

''Growing Cooler: Urban Development and Climate Change'' is a new ''virtual'' workshop from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) that examines the relationship between land use patterns, travel and CO2 emissions. The workshop will demonstrate the impact current development and transportation patterns are having on our environment.

Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change

In Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, a 2007 book published by the Urban Land Institute, a team of leading urban planning researchers report that the key to mitigating climate change is less auto-dependent development, and that key changes in land development patterns could help reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

Growing Green Awards

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is honoring leaders in the field of sustainable food through the Growing Green Awards.

Growing Greener: Putting Conservation into Local Plans and Ordinances

Island Press. 1999. This illustrated workbook presents a new look at designing subdivisions while preserving green space and creating open space networks.

Growing Power: Developing Community Food Systems

Growing Power, a national nonprofit organization and land trust, transforms communities by supporting people from diverse backgrounds and the environments in which they live through the development of Community Food Systems.

Growing Smarter at the Edge

Growing Smarter at the Edge, a new publication from the Sonoran Institute, reviews and evaluates urban edge development associated with large-scale planned communities, or master-planned communities.

Growing Toward More Efficient Water Use: Linking Development, Infrastructure, and Drinking Water Policies

This publication focuses on the relationship between development patterns, water use, and the cost of water delivery. It reviews literature that shows how large-lot, dispersed development patterns cost more to serve because of the length of pipe required, pumping costs, and other factors. The literature also shows that large-lot, dispersed development uses more water.

Growing with Less Greenhouse Gases

This National Governors Association report cites expanding transportation choices, conserving greenspaces, and promoting new community designs as effective smart growth strategies for reducing greenhouse gases.

Growing, Going, Gone

Growing, Going, Gone? is a report from the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) that examines growth on Maryland's Eastern Shore and how to meet its challenges through Eastern Shore 2010, an inter-county agreement that set high expectations for growth management. Tailored for the specific regional needs of the Shore, this agreement is made up of four land use goals which were all proposed to and adopted by the six Upper Shore governments of Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Caroline, Talbot and Dorchester counties.

''Growth and Water Resources'' Training Module

''Growth and Water Resources'' Training Module is an on-line, distance learning training module from the EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds Smart Growth Team. This training module explains how changes in land use affect water resources, and presents national data on trends in development patterns and activities on land that have become increasingly significant challenges for achieving water quality standards.

Growth Management for Florida’s Future

Growth Management for Florida’s Future is a position paper from 1000 Friends of Florida that analyzes the growth management practices the state has used for the past two decades, and offers recommendations for how the state can be more instrumental in helping to build better communities.

Growth, Sprawl and the Bay: Simple Facts About Growth and Land Use

Annapolis MD: Chesapeake Bay Foundation. A fact sheet detailing the forces behind sprawl development in the Chesapeake Bay, and the impacts of this land use patterns.

Growth, Sprawl and the Bay: Ten Misconceptions about Growth and Land Use.

Annapolis MD: Chesapeake Bay Foundation. This fact sheet separates myth from fact about development in the Chesapeake Bay.

GSA's Construction Waste Management Database

Construction Waste Management is a program that promotes the responsible disposal of waste related to construction and demolition. Such waste can include concrete, asphalt, masonry, and wood.

Guides and Manuals of “Better Practice” -- UK

This three-part essay discusses the general national planning situation in Britain, specifically dealing with that in force in England. Urban Design Issues, Planning Tools, and Planning Guidelines are discussed in the context of recent British development trends.

Guiding Growth and Development in Georgia Handbook

Georgia's land use laws, together with innovative planning and fresh approaches to community engagement, provide the tools needed to build strong communities that are sustainable both economically and environmentally. Guiding Growth and Development in Georgia: A Handbook on Planning and Land Use Law and Practices was created by the Livable Communities Coalition for elected officials and interested citizens. This guide is intended to provide an overview of those planning tools and the laws, terms, and concepts essential for using them wisely.

Handbook for Wetlands Conservation and Sustainability

Gaithersburg, MD: Izaak Walton League of America, 1999. Second edition. This guide, written to help educate people about wetland ecology and wetland values to society, is filled with information about unique features of wetland ecosystems. It describes options for starting a wetland stewardship program including monitoring, education and restoration projects, and includes case studies. To obtain this resource contact Save Our Streams - Orders, Izaak Walton League of America, 707 Conservation Lane, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. Tel: 800.284.4952; Fax: 301.548.0146; email: sos@iwla.org. Parts of the guide can be found online.

Happy Planet Index

The Happy Planet Index is a website that reveals the ecological efficiency with which human well-being is delivered.

Hard Lessons: Michigan’s School Construction Boom

The Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI) presents this report on new school contruction in Michigan. Hard Lessons asks whether building bigger, newer schools is always best for students and communities. The report concludes that new school construction is raising tax, economic, and community stability issues with long-term consequences.

Harnessing Farms and Forests in the Low-Carbon Economy

Harnessing Farms and Forests in the Low-Carbon Economy: How to Create, Measure, and Verify Greenhouse Gas Offsets is a comprehensive guide that explains how farmers and foresters can convert their land's carbon dioxide storage capacity, and reduce emissions of potent greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, into revenue-generating ''offsets'' that can be bought and sold in future carbon markets.

Harvard Green Campus Initiative: Vision 2020 Event Resources

The ''Harvard Vision 2020: A Bridge to Campus Sustainability'' Conference featured three days of discovery and discussion involving prominent keynote addresses, interdisciplinary panels of faculty, staff, students and alumni, corporate and government leaders, workshops, special events and networking opportunities. Resources from this event are now available online.

Health Issues, Access to Healthy Foods Are Focus of November 2006 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The latest issue of Getting Smart! is now available for all Smart Growth Network members in the Members Section. This edition of Getting Smart! brings health issues front and center, with a particular focus on access to healthy food. Featured articles include ''Linking Land Use Planning and the Food Environment'' and ''Food Policy Councils: Access to Healthy Foods as an Element of Smart Growth.''

Healthy Community Design

Healthy Community Design: Success Stories from State and Local Leaders profiles the notable efforts of elected and appointed government leaders who are supporting healthy community design across the nation. Some of these efforts stem from a desire to support economic development, others to decrease environmental degradation or improve residents’ quality of life. But all of the policy changes and programming efforts have a positive effect on health because they support community design that provides more opportunities for people to engage in routine physical activity.

Healthy Community Design Video

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have posted a streaming video, Healthy Community Design, that discusses the benefits of walkable communities as they relate to health, the environment, and social interaction. Dr. Howard Frumkin, Director of the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR), hosts the video.

Healthy Community Grant Program

The Healthy Community Grant is a competitive program funded by Ward Edwards to encourage creative solutions for existing environmental problems, plant seeds for innovation in stewardship, and recognize tangible efforts that lead to long-term sustainable benefits. Ward Edwards will invest up to $10,000 in projects that promote or improve environmental sustainability in coastal South Carolina and Georgia.

Healthy Growth Calculator

The Sierra Club's Healthy Growth Calculator is an online resource tool that provides a big picture perspective to decisions regarding growth.

Healthy Rural Communities: A Resource and Action Guide for North Carolina

Healthy Rural Communities: A Resource and Action Guide for North Carolina describes growth and development issues in rural North Carolina, and provides insight based on the North Carolina Smart Growth Alliance's (NCSGA) Principles of Smart Growth.

Heritage Case Studies

Partners in Tourism, a national coalition that promotes culture and heritage tourism, offers detailed case studies on its website that describe efforts from across the U.S. to create tourist destinations based on local heritage and culture.

High Performance Schools School Planning Kit

The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS, often pronounced ''chips'') aims to increase the energy efficiency of schools in California by marketing information, services, and incentive programs directly to school districts and designers. The Collaborative offers a School Planning Kit promoting the design of high performance schools: environments that are not only energy efficient, but also healthy, comfortable, well lit, and containing the amenities needed for a quality education.

Higher Density Development: Myth or Fact

Higher Density Development: Myth or Fact is the sixth in a series of publications from the Urban Land Institute designed to dispel myths and offer good examples on issues related to growth and land use. It addresses common myths surrounding density.

Higher-Density Development -- Myth and Fact

Higher-Density Development -- Myth and Fact from the Urban Land Institute examines eight widespread misconceptions about higher-density development and dispels them with well-researched facts and examples of quality, compact developments.

Historic Preservation and Sustainability

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has created a webpage that focuses on how historic preservation can help the environment, and is part of the organization's Sustainability Initiative that will demonstrate how older buildings can ''go green.''

Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction

Following five regional competitions, 15 Award-winning projects will now compete in the first global Holcim Awards competition for sustainable construction projects. The global phase of the competition showcases the best entries from more than 1500 submissions from 118 countries, and encourages innovative, future-oriented and tangible approaches within the building and construction industry.

Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction -- 2008

The Holcim Awards is a competition of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction. The competition celebrates innovative, future-oriented and tangible sustainable construction projects from around the globe and provides prize money of USD 2 million per three-year competition cycle. The next cycle of the Holcim Awards competition will open June 1, 2007.

Holding The Line: Urban Containment In The United States August 2002

Policies designed to deliberately control the spread of urban areas are increasing in popularity throughout the United States. Several states, and many local governments in the west, are adopting urban growth boundaries and other containment measures in their land-use planning laws and legislation. Whatever the primary purpose, it is clear that the precise impacts of containment policies are not well understood. This paper reviews the research on urban containment generally, and also examines the experience of such policies in particular metropolitan areas. It discusses some lessons learned and raises relevant research questions for practitioners as well as policymakers at the state and local level.

''HOME'' Global Premiere

Artist and photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, creator of the ''Earth Seen from Above'' series, has the full-length feature film, HOME. The global premier will be on World Environment Day, June 5, 2009.

Homes for a Changing Region -- Phase 2

Homes for a Changing Region -- Phase 2: Implementing Balanced Housing Plans at the Local Level is the latest in a series of reports from Chicago Metropolis 2020 and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus examining housing supply and demand in the six-county Chicago metropolitan region through the year 2030 and identifing imbalances that would likely impact the regional housing market.

Hoosier Homestead Award

In honor of Indiana's rich agricultural heritage, the Hoosier Homestead Award Program recognizes families with farms that have been owned by the same family for 100 years or more.

Houstonians Discuss Growth: 3-Part Video

Shaping Our Future Growth, a local, town-hall-meeting-style discussion on improving quality of life in Houston, Texas, is available for video streaming online. This three-part series was aired by Houston 8 PBS television on their ongoing local issues show, ''Houston Have Your Say.''

How Cities Use Parks

The City Parks Forum has begun an initiative to produce a series of briefing papers on ''How Cities Use Parks For ...'' to provide information on how healthy parks are fundamental to many aspects of community prosperity.

How Does Your Garden Grow? Brownfields Redevelopment and Local Agriculture

How Does Your Garden Grow? Brownfields Redevelopment and Local Agriculture is a fact sheet from the U.S. EPA that highlights the work of communities that have turned brownfield sites into community gardens and farmers markets.

How Portland Does It.

The Atlantic Monthly, November 1992. A city that protects its thriving, civil core.

How Shall We Grow: Creating a Shared Vision for Central Florida

As Central Florida faces the opportunities and challenges associated with the projected doubling of our population from 3.5 million citizens in 2006 to 7.2 million in 2050, the region has been given the opportunity to be the first in Florida to create a shared vision to answer the question, ''How Shall We Grow?''

HUD Sustainable Community Regional Planning Grant Program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)

Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced the availability of $100 million for the Sustainable Community Regional Planning Grant program. Key elements of the program include identifying affordable housing, transportation investment, water infrastructure, economic development, land use planning, environmental conservation, energy system, open space, and other infrastructure priorities. Funding is available to support preparation of Regional Plans for Sustainable Development, and at least $25 million is set aside for smaller population regions (populations of less than 500,000).

Proposal submittal deadline is August 23, 2010.

Hudson River Valley Greenway Grants -- New York

The Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council provides community planning grants and technical assistance through the ''Greenway Communities Grant Program'' to help communities develop a vision for their future and tools to achieve it by balancing economic development and resource protection objectives.

Humanitarian Award

American Farmland Trust (AFT) has been named the winner of Bon Appétit magazine’s Humanitarian Award for 2004. AFT Board Chairman Doug Wheeler is one of 12 American Food & Entertainment Award winners featured in the October 2004 issue of the leading culinary magazine.

Hyperlocavore Website

Hyperlocavore, a ''free yard sharing community,'' is a social network site that wants to see ''healthy kids who love the smell of dirt, blocks with foreclosed homes becoming vibrant neighborhoods, plates full of delicious safe food at costs we can all afford, and neighbors who become real friends.''

ICMA 2006 Community Sustainability Award

The Municipality of Mosman, New South Wales, Australia, and Vivian H. R. May, general manager, earned a Community Sustainability Award in the population category of 10,000-49,999 for their Community Environmental Contract at the 92nd Annual Conference of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), held in September 2006.

ICMA to Host Urban Forestry Webcast; Free to First 100 Registrants

On May 18, 2004, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) will host a webcast, Seeing Green with Trees The Economic and Environmental Benefits of Urban Forests, to provide an overview of how trees have been used by local governments to meet their regulatory requirements, save money, and improve community quality of life.

ICMA TV

ICMA TV is a web television channel dedicated to covering the events and issues of importance to International City/County Management Association (ICMA) members. The channel is regularly updated with new films, features and coverage on topics which emerge at home and overseas.

Idaho Grow Smart Awards

Idaho Smart Growth created the Grow Smart Awards program in 2005 to recognize exemplary efforts in planning and development that keep our communities vibrant and our lands healthy.

Idaho Smart Growth Awards

Idaho Smart Growth announced winners of its 2007 Grow Smart Awards at a ceremony held Novermber 15, 2007.

Idaho Smart Growth Awards -- 2008

Now in its fourth year, Idaho Smart Growth's statewide ''Grow Smart'' awards program recognizes the successful use of smart growth principles to encourage vibrant communities and healthy lands through sensible growth. Winners of the 2008 competition are featured on this website.

Illinois Schoolyard Habitat Action Grants

Hundreds of Illinois students have the opportunity to work on improving natural habitats outside of the classroom while supporting their studies through grant funding from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' (IDNR) Division of Education Schoolyard Habitat Action Grant program. In 2008, eighteen organizations received nearly $8,800 in funds to support prairie plots, butterfly gardens, rain gardens, stormwater wetlands and bird sanctuaries that students will develop and use for natural resources research.

Imagine Green Madison

Imagine Green Madison was a three-day community gathering and the first step in a long-term action agenda to create and implement new networks, partnerships and activities to promote sustainability and a healthier urban environment in and around Madison, the fastest-growing city in Wisconsin.

imagineCALGARY plan

What are your hopes and dreams for Calgary's future? By answering these four simple questions, Calgarians began the process of shaping their city's future. Launched in January 2005 with the goal of producing a 100-year vision for Calgary based on what today's Calgarians want their city to look like, more than 18,000 Calgarians have added their voices to imagineCALGARY, making this the largest community visioning process of its kind anywhere in the world.

Implementing Smart Growth Streets

The U.S. EPA Office of Development, Community and Environment (widely known as the ''Smart Growth'' office) is sponsoring a study on ''Implementing Smart Growth Streets'' that is being conducted by ICF International and Ellen Greenberg. Readers of Smart Growth Online are invited to participate in this work by bringing candidate case studies to the attention of the project team.

Improving the Pedestrian Environment Through Innovative Transportation Design

Improving the Pedestrian Environment, a report from the Institute of Transport Engineers, features samples of how transportation professionals and citizens have brought walking back into focus, not only in the capital budgets of government agencies but also in the lives of citizens.

In Chicago, A Green Economy Rises

This essay by Keith Schneider of the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service reviews how the city of Chicago has successfully used a ''green'' smart growth strategy to blossom into one of America's finest cities.

Increasing Physical Activity Through Community Design

Increasing Physical Activity Through Community Design focuses on how to make communities more bicycle-friendly and walkable.

Index of Smart Growth Scorecards

The Growth Management Leadership Alliance has prepared a resource listing numerous scorecards development by states and cities throughout the U.S. to help determine if a project meets principles of smart growth.

Indiana Brownfields Funding

The Indiana Department of Commerce (IDOC) offers a brownfields redevelopment program funded through federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG).

Indiana Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence -- 2008

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), in cooperation with the Lieutenant Governor's Office of Energy and Defense Development, the Indiana Department of Administration, and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, is seeking nominations for the 2008 Governor's Awards for Environmental Excellence.

Indiana University Sustainability Podcasts

The Sustainability Podcast Series features sustainability initiatives at Indiana University. These online audio resources covering a variety of topics are available for free.

Innovative Communities: Community-Centered Environmental Management -- Cases in Asia and the Pacific

Innovative Communities: Community-Centered Environmental Management from The Brookings Institution looks at nine case studies from the Asia-Pacific region where communities are adopting innovative methods to address complex and unpredictable environmental problems.

Innovative Philanthropic Approaches to Housing Affordability and Smarter Growth

Innovative Philanthropic Approaches to Housing Affordability and Smarter Growth looks at some of the creative approaches used to address housing affordability in the context of the broader smart growth agenda.

Innovative Solutions for Alaska’s Future -- Alaska

The Alaska Conservation Foundation's Conservation for the Majority Grant Docket: Innovative Solutions for Alaska’s Future was created to fund projects that will foster among the majority of Alaskans respectful, open discourse and action towards an Alaska where integration of economic development, environmental stewardship, and the well-being of all Alaskans is assured -- not just for today, but for generations to come.

Institute for Comprehensive Community Development

The Institute for Comprehensive Community Development was established to advance the field of comprehensive community development and the positive impact it has in urban and rural communities across the country. This is done by:

• Building the capacity of community development practitioners;
• Providing on-site support and technical assistance to comprehensive community development initiatives in cities across the U.S.;
• Applying lessons learned through research and performance evaluation to continually improve on-going comprehensive community development initiatives and to develop new initiatives;
• Supporting the development of public policies which integrate government programs in order to effectively facilitate and support comprehensive community development;
• Communicating broadly the best there is in practice and theory in the field of community development.

The Institute is a place where the community development field can take what it learns from practice and use it as a base from which to provide training, to promote research in comprehensive community development, and to investigate the public policies that would best advance this work locally and nationally. The Institute is the locus where practice and theory meet, and where experimentation and innovation – grounded in real-world experience – flourish.

The Institute for Comprehensive Community Development is a venture of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).

Integrating Schools into Healthy Community Design

The National Governor's Association (NGA) has prepared this Issue Brief that examines state policies on school siting, school construction financing, and Safe Routes to School programs focusing on how policies can benefit communities, improve children's health, and reduce the need for infrastructure expansion.

Integration of Planning, Public Health Builds Active Communities

The American Planning Association (APA) has released preliminary findings of a nationwide survey to measure how communities can create opportunities for citizens to be more physically active.

International Awards for Livable Communities

The LivCom Awards is the world’s only awards competition focusing on Best Practice regarding the management of the local environment. The objective of LivCom is to improve the quality of life of individual citizens through the creation of ''liveable communities.''

International City/County Management Association (ICMA)

Founded in 1914, ICMA is the professional and educational association for more than 8,000 appointed administrators and assistant administrators serving cities, counties, other local governments, and regional entities around the world. ICMA is also the organizational ''home'' for the Smart Growth Network, an independent membership organization that assists its members in identifying strategies and tools to protect the health and welfare of their communities through the integration of environmentally sound decision making and economic growth. ICMA also produces the SGN bimonthly newsletter, Getting Smart!

International Development Prize 2006

Convinced of the need to foster solidarity on the scale of the entire planet, for ethical reasons and also as a contribution to world stability, the King Baudouin Foundation created the King Baudouin International Development Prize in 1978. Today the Prize has become the classic reference for acknowledgement of positive examples of development.

International Making Cities Livable
Mixed Use Design Winner -- 2007

The 2007 International Making Cities Livable Mixed-Use Design Award was presented to Anderson Pacific LLC, in recognition of their significant contribution to reviving the principles of true urbanism in their development of Livermore Village, California.

International Paper Environmental Awards -- 2005

International Paper, in partnership with The Conservation Fund, recognizes the efforts of people across the country working to protect the future of America's outdoor heritage.

International Paper Environmental Excellence Awards -- 2007

International Paper, in partnership with The Conservation Fund, annually honors the conservation accomplishments of two individuals. Each International Paper Environmental Excellence Award is accompanied by an unrestricted $10,000 grant, made possible by support from The International Paper Company Foundation.

Introduction to New Urbanism

Introduction to New Urbanism is a PowerPoint presentation from CNU that introduces the key principles of New Urbanism, describes the growth and development challenges around which the movement has rallied, and provides examples of New Urbanism playing a strong role in improving communities.

Introduction to Smart Growth: More Choices for Our Families

This presentation has been developed through a collaborative project involving individuals and organizations operating under the guidance of Smart Growth America. Research assistance was provided by the U.S. EPA. The presentation is intended to be used by individuals and organizations committed to helping communities achieve the objectives of Smart Growth. If you have any questions about the use of this presentation, please contact John Bailey (jbailey@transact.org) at Smart Growth America.

Investment in America's National Parks

From the Statue of Liberty and Independence Hall to Yellowstone and Death Valley, the National Park Service will undertake more than 750 projects at parks across the country to create jobs, restore and protect our nation's parks, and preserve our history and heritage for future generations, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced in April 2009.

Iowa's Green Streets Building Criteria

The Iowa Green Streets Criteria, published by Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED), promote public health, energy efficiency, water conservation, smart locations, operational savings and sustainable building practices.

Is Your City a Great City?

The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) offers a checklist on its website that provides benchmarks of a Great City.

James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards Nominations 2007

Nominations are being accepted for the 2007 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards. The Leadership Awards recognize Californians who are advancing innovative and effective solutions to significant issues for the state's future.

James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards Nominations 2008

Nominations are being accepted for the 2008 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards. The Leadership Awards recognize Californians who are advancing innovative and effective solutions to significant issues for the state's future. Individuals working within any sector -- nonprofit, public or private -- and within any field -- such as education, health, housing, economic development or the environment -- are eligible.

James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards Nominations 2009

Nominations are now open for the 2009 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards. This annual competition recognizes individual leaders who are advancing innovative and effective solutions to significant issues in California.

Joint Center For Sustainable Development

The Joint Center for Sustainable Communities is a collaboration between the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and the National Association of Counties (NACo). Its primary mission is to provide a forum for cities and counties to work together to develop long-term policies and programs that will lead to job growth, environmental stewardship, and social equity the three pillars of sustainable communities. The Joint Center helps local elected officials build sustainable communities by promoting community leadership initiatives, providing technical assistance and training, and conducting community policy and educational forums. It works with the SGN to create programs and resources targeted at local elected and environmental officials to encourage, facilitate, and promote their sustainable communities projects

June 2008 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The June 2008 edition of Getting Smart! is now available for all Smart Growth Network members in the Members Section. This issue takes a look at the critical role citizens play in advocating for smart growth, and attempt to answer the question, ''What can I do?''

Kansas City's Metro Green: 1,144 Miles of Public and Private Trails, Open Spaces

MetroGreen is a proposed 1,144-mile interconnected system of public and private open spaces, greenways and trails designed to link seven counties in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Kansas Green Schools Grants

Kansas Green Schools Grants are intended to encourage schools to develop creative, innovative, effective environmental projects to improve the environment; make schools a healthier place to learn, play, and work; and save money through reduced use of resources.

Kansas Green Schools Network

The Kansas Green Schools Network is the place to come for information about environmental projects and environmental education activities and resources.

Katrina Index: Tracking Variables of Post-Katrina Reconstruction

The Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program offers the Katrina Index: Tracking Variables of Post-Katrina Reconstruction. This publication provides a benchmark for reconstruction progress, indexing nearly 50 economic and social indicators that measure the impact of rebuilding efforts in Orleans Parish, the New Orleans metropolitan area, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Kentucky Wet Growth Tools for Sustainable Development

This recently published handbook provides a variety of tools for cities, counties, multi-stakeholder groups, watershed groups, and other interested members of the public to manage or control growth and development for water resource protection.

The book identifies the impacts of land use on water quality, water supplies, and the overall health and functioning of watersheds on which all communities - and all life - depend. It provides extensive tools and resources for local communities to use to achieve ''wet growth'' - land use and development that is sustainable with respect to water. These include a variety of methods, such as low-impact development, water conservation, green infrastructure, smart growth, land conservation, and the restoration, remediation, and re-use of land. They also include a variety of tools, including planning, regulation, incentives and market-based tools, private initiatives, public infrastructure, impact assessment, public participation and multi-stakeholder involvement, and public education and engagement.

Finally, the handbook's appendices include the Center for Watershed Protections Codes & Ordinances Worksheet to help localities to evaluate their local regulations, and examples of ordinances, regulations, and other legal documents from many communities throughout Kentucky and the U.S.

Key Regional Appropriations, 2008-2009

Northeast-Midwest Institute publishes a chart that illustrates key federal appropriation distributions by region. This chart list figures for Fiscal 2008, the President's Request for Fiscal 2009, and Final 2009.

Kodak American Greenways Awards Program -- 2005

Eastman Kodak, The Conservation Fund, and the National Geographic Society provide small grants to stimulate the planning and design of greenways in communities throughout America with the Kodak American Greenways Awards Program. Read about recipients of the 2005 awards at the resource link below.

Kodak American Greenways Awards Program -- 2006

The Kodak American Greenways Awards Program, a partnership project of the Eastman Kodak Company, The Conservation Fund, and the National Geographic Society, provides small grants to stimulate the planning and design of greenways in communities throughout America. Deadline for applications to the 2006 program is June 1, 2006.

Kodak American Greenways Awards Program -- 2007

The Kodak American Greenways Awards Program, a partnership project of the Eastman Kodak Company, The Conservation Fund, and the National Geographic Society, provides small grants to stimulate the planning and design of greenways in communities throughout America.

Kodak American Greenways Awards Program -- 2008

The Kodak American Greenways Awards Program, a partnership project of the Eastman Kodak Company, The Conservation Fund, and the National Geographic Society, provides small grants to stimulate the planning and design of greenways in communities throughout America.

Land & People, Summer 2010

TPL's full-color magazine is for anyone who loves the land. Land&People highlights conservation ideas and techniques through inspiring stories about how people and communities are creating new parks, playgrounds, and greenways and protecting the lands that they love. Read the digital edition online at the link below.

Land Acquisition Grants

Mountain Equipment Coop is accepting applications for its Land Acquisition Grants. The grants are to conserve ecologically and/or recreationally significant resources and range from $10,000 to $100,000.

Evaluation Criteria:

• Your organization demonstrates the ecological and/or recreational significance of the land.
• The urgency of acquisition is evident.
• Your organization has a successful track record in land acquisition.
• A strategy for public education about the conservation effort is in place.
• There is broad-based community or stakeholder support.
• Other sources of funding have been investigated.

To apply, complete the online application, available at the link below. Applications are due within ten weeks of the September 10 and March 10 deadlines.

Land and People Magazine

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is offering free subscriptions to its magazine, Land&People, a full-color, semi-annual, national magazine that documents the lands we love and the people who work to protect them.

Land Conservation Financing

Land Conservation Financing provides a comprehensive overview of successful land conservation programs -- how they were created, how they are funded, and what they’ve accomplished -- along with detailed case studies from across the United States.

Land Conservation/Water Protection Toolkit on CD-ROM

A multimedia CD-ROM recording of the Protecting Water Resources through Land Conservation: Funding Options for Local Governments webcast is now available for free. The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL), in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), hosted the webcast in June 2005.

Land Conservation: On Common Ground Winter 2009

Land Conservation is the theme of this edition of On Common Ground from the National Association of Realtors®, with articles on why providing and preserving open lands are vital to the health of communities and the environment.

Land Policy Institute Ask the Expert

Ask the Expert forums at Michigan State University's Land Policy Institute include nine online discussion forums for public dialogue with academic and other experts related to land use, economic development, and sustainability.

Land Policy Program Grants

The Michigan State University Land Policy Program (LPP) has announced its 2006 Request for Proposals. The LPP Grant Initiative seeks to further accelerate land use research and outreach at MSU and to help build sustainable research and outreach programs and partnerships with other institutions and stakeholders. The deadline for all proposals is 5:00 p.m. on April 10, 2006.

Land Trust Accreditation Guidelines

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission publishes Guidance Documents to help applicants interpret specific indicator practices drawn from Land Trust Standards and Practices.

Land Trust Accreditation Launches New Registration System for 2009

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission launched a new automated system for land trusts to register to apply for accreditation in 2009. The registration system, which became available on the Commission's website on August 11, 2008, allows land trusts to register for a specific application due date or ''application round'' in 2009.

Land Trust Accreditation Pilot Program

Twenty-two land conservation organizations from 19 states have been selected to test a new national accreditation program from the Land Trust Alliance (LTA). The new land trust accreditation program will recognize land conservation organizations, also known as land trusts, that meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever.

Land Trust Alliance Accreditation Lottery Applications

Land trusts around the country are eager to participate in the new land trust accreditation program. Approximately 40 organizations are piloting the program in 2007. The Land Trust Accreditation Commission looks forward to launching the program in 2008 after incorporating lessons learned from the pilots. The Commission will conduct a lottery in 2007 to select applicants for the first year of the program.

Land Trust Alliance Awards -- 2007

The Land Trust Alliance presented awards to distinguished members of the land conservation community at its October 2007 Rally in Denver, Colorado.

Land Trust Alliance Awards Call for Nominations -- 2008

Every day thousands of people dedicate their time and energy to the precious work of conserving land in their communities. The Land Trust Alliance Awards Program seeks to honor the innovative work of our member land trusts and land conservationists across the nation.

Land Trust Alliance Awards Program -- 2009 Nominations

Every day thousands of people dedicate their time and energy to the precious work of conserving land in their communities. The Land Trust Alliance Awards Program seeks to honor the innovative work of our member land trusts and land conservationists across the nation.

Land Trust Alliance Factsheets

The Land Trust Alliance is the only organization dedicated to the effectiveness and sustainability of the nation's land trusts and their use of conservation easements. The Alliance offers a variety of land conservation tools and information services, including factsheets which address frequently asked questions.

Land Trust Alliance Grants

The Land Trust Alliance promotes voluntary private land conservation and strengthens the land trust movement by providing the leadership, information skills, and resources land trusts need to conserve land for the benefit of communities and natural systems.

Land Trust Standards and Practices

The newly revised Land Trust Standards and Practices reflect the lessons learned in conservation over the fifteen years since they were first created and recent changes in nonprofit law.

Land Use and the California Economy: Principles for prosperity and quality of life.

This report, commissioned by ''Californians and the Land,'' a group of leaders from California's business, government, and environmental sectors, addresses three major issues: How much growth should California expect and why?; How are land use and quality of life issues related to the California economy?; and, What are the principles that must be addressed if Californians are to combine economic growth and a high quality of life­ now and for future generations?

Land Vote 2001: Americans Invest in Parks & Open Space

Trust for Public Land and the Land Trust Alliance. 2002. This report is an accounting of state and local ballot measures for parks and open space.

Land Vote 2003

This report from the Trust for Public Land and the Land Trust Alliance monitors new conservation funding measures nationwide, and provides an annual ballot measure history for all conservation-related ballot measures that have been voted on since 2000.

Landscape Practices for School Grounds and College Campuses

The National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) at the National Institute of Building Sciences maintains a resource list of links, books, and journal articles on school landscape planning, including site design, traffic, parking, outdoor accessibility and recreation guidelines, outdoor safety and security, and acreage guidelines.

Landscape Rating System

The Sustainable Sites Initiative has released the nation's first rating system for the design, construction and maintenance of sustainable landscapes, with or without buildings. A partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the U.S. Botanic Garden, the Initiative's rating system represents four years of work by dozens of the country's leading sustainability experts, scientists and design professionals, as well as public input from hundreds of individuals and dozens of organizations to create this essential missing link in green design.

The rating system works on a 250-point scale, with levels of achievement for obtaining 40, 50, 60 or 80 percent of available points, recognized with one through four stars, respectively. If prerequisites are met, points are awarded through the 51 credits covering areas such as the use of greenfields, brownfields or greyfields; materials; soils and vegetation; construction and maintenance. These credits can apply to projects ranging from corporate campuses, transportation corridors, public parks and single-family residences. The rating system is part of two new reports issued from the Initiative, The Case for Sustainable Landscapes and Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009, both available for download at www.sustainablesites.org.

To test the rating system, the Sustainable Sites Initiative opened a call for pilot projects in conjunction with the release of the rating system. Any type of designed landscape is eligible, so long as the project size is at least 2,000 square feet. The call will remain open until February 15, 2010, and the initiative will work with and oversee the projects during the two-year process. More information about the pilot projects is available at www.sustainablesites.org/pilot.

Landscaping Water Efficiency Grants -- Santa Monica

To ensure a sustainable future, the City of Santa Monica is offering an incentive for making a change toward a brighter future. Competitive grant awards for landscaping water efficiency provide funding up to $20,000 for California-friendly landscape projects in Santa Monica. Application deadline for the January-June 2007 grant cycle is March 29, 2007.

LandScope America: Open Space Maps and Data

LandScope America, a collaborative project of NatureServe and the National Geographic Society, is a new online resource for the land-protection community and the public. By bringing together maps, data, photos, and stories about America's natural places and open spaces, LandScope America's goal is to inform and inspire conservation of our lands and waters.

LANDVisions International Design Competition

From September 2005 to February 2006, entrants from around the world are now asked to imagine new possibilities for designing a comprehensive view of Philadelphia's urban fabric that creates a new relationship between ecology and the built environment.

LandVote 2002 Is Available On-Line

LandVote 2002, the annual publication of the Trust for Public Land and the Land Trust Alliance that documents American voters' continued support for parks and open space funding, is available on-line or can be order on-line.

Last Chance Landscapes

Washington DC: Scenic America. 1999. Scenic America Announces 1999 Last Chance Landscapes. New Report Lists Nation's Landscapes Most Threatened by Billboards, New Roads, Other Symptoms of Sprawl. Finds Scenic Beauty Can Be Saved.

Lasting Landscapes: Reflections on the Role of Conservation Science in Land Use Planning

Lasting Landscapes: Reflections on the Role of Conservation Science in Land Use Planning is a report from The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) that brings together nine of the leading thinkers in the land use planning, conservation biology, and conservation policy professions to explore how the field of conservation planning could be further advanced.

Laura Jane Musser Fund 2005 Environmental Stewardship Grants

The Laura Jane Musser Fund encourages communities -- whether represented by local governments, state agencies or grassroots nonprofit organizations -- to use a consensus-based approach to environmental decision-making.

Laura Jane Musser Fund Initiative to Promote Collaborative Process in Environmental Decision Making

The Laura Jane Musser Fund proposes to assist public or not-for-profit entities to initiate or implement projects in rural areas to undertake consensus-based activities in environmental stewardship or dispute resolution.

Law, Policy and Finance Courses at the National Center for Smart Growth

The University of Maryland School of Public Policy, National Center for Smart Growth, & Environmental Finance Center announce a new Environmental Training Track -- Law, Policy, Finance. Three courses will be offered, two in spring 2009 and one in fall 2009.

Leadership for Active Living Strategies

One of the most important issues our communities face today is a staggering increase in the rates of obesity and chronic disease. Active living offers an opportunity for leaders to address this issue and to help improve the health and vitality of our communities. The 22-page Action Strategies Booklet lists more than 25 strategies and tactics local and state governments can use to support active living.

Leadership for Healthy Communities

Based in Washington, D.C., Leadership for Healthy Communities is a $10-million national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation designed to support local and state government leaders nationwide in their efforts to reduce childhood obesity through public policies that promote active living, healthy eating and access to healthy foods.

Leadership in Conservation Awards -- 2007 Winners

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) are pleased to announce the third annual County Leadership in Conservation Awards Program winners. The Leadership in Conservation Awards Program recognizes leadership, innovation, and excellence in county land conservation programs.

Leadership in Conservation Awards Nominations 2006

The National Association of Counties (NACo) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL), in partnership with the National Association of County Planners and the National Association of County Parks and Recreation Officials, recognize leadership, innovation, and excellence in county land conservation efforts through the County Leadership in Conservation Awards.

Leadership in Conservation Awards Nominations 2007

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) are pleased to announce the third annual County Leadership in Conservation Awards Program to recognize leadership, innovation, and excellence in county land conservation programs. Three award winners will receive a commemorative plaque and national recognition through TPL and NACo's publications, conferences, and websites.

Leadership in Conservation Awards Nominations 2008

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and National Association of Counties (NACo) announce the fourth annual County Leadership in Conservation Awards Program to recognize leadership, innovation, and excellence in county land conservation programs. Three award winners will receive a commemorative plaque and national recognition through TPL and NACo's publications, conferences, and websites.

Leap Of Faith: Southern California''s Experiment in Natural Community Conservation Planning.

New York: Natural Resources Defense Council, 1997. An evaluation of Southern California's Natural Community Conservation Program (NCCP), an experiment in regional wildlife conservation recognized to be of singular consequence to the future of the region and to habitat protection in the United States

Learning for Sustainability

Learning for Sustainability is the first New South Wales three-year environmental education plan. It aims to build the capacity of the whole community to be engaged in making environmental improvements and living sustainably.

Learning for Sustainability

Learning for Sustainability is a book from SoL, the Society for Organizational Learning, that was written to spark conversation and encourage dialogue about how to develop the confidence and capabilities to create a world we will be proud to leave our grandchildren.

Learning from Abroad

This paper is designed to help further the understanding of and contribute to learning from international approaches to smarter growth policies and sustainable development.

LEED for Neighborhood Development -- FAQs

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has prepared this Frequently Asked Questions sheet for their LEED for Neighborhood Development program.

LEED for Neighborhood Development -- Public Comment Period

The LEED for Neighborhood Development Rating System integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building into the first national system for neighborhood design. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a development's location and design meet accepted high levels of environmentally responsible, sustainable development. LEED for Neighborhood Development is a collaboration among U.S. Green Building Council, the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

LEED for Neighborhood Development 2009 -- 1st Public Comment

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) invites the public to participate in the first public comment period for the proposed draft of the LEED for Neighborhood Development 2009 Rating System.

LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot List

LEED for Neighborhood Development -- the pilot rating system launched jointly by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) is off to a promising start. A total of 238 developments have signed up to participate in the pilot program, which will be the first national certification system for sustainable neighborhood design and development.

LEED for Neighborhood Developments -- Draft for Comment

A preliminary pilot draft of the LEED-ND Rating System under development by the LEED for Neighborhood Developments Core Committee is being made available for comments. The comments made during this period will aid the LEED-ND Core Committee in revising the preliminary pilot draft and producing a draft which will be the LEED-ND Pilot Rating System.

LGEAN Coastal Communities

The Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN) has launched a new Hot Topic addressing the issue of Coastal Communities. This new addition to the Hot Topic section will include information on current news, funding and grant opportunities, publications, and links to relevant Web sites.

Lincoln Institute on Land Policy -- RFP

The Lincoln Institute is seeking proposals for research papers and participation in ''The Impact of Large Landowners on Land Markets'' research seminar. Proposals are due January 16, 2006.

Lindbergh Foundation Award

The Lindbergh Award acknowledes thos