|
29
<br /> COMMON GROUND VOL , 12 NO , 1 NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2000
<br /> S M A L L
<br /> Shad, stripped bass, Atlantic sturgeon and Development patterns in the United States
<br /> The Conservation Fund short-nosed sturgeon wasted no time in re- won ' t change overnight, but the Sierra Club
<br /> Vital Statistics turning to a 17-mile stretch of the Kennebec reports that better planned growth is taking
<br /> Land protected by TCF River in Maine after the 20-foot tall Edwards root . Ohlone-Chynoweth Commons in San
<br /> and partners, 2000 : Dam in Augusta was dismantled last year . Jose, Calif. , is a good example . The project
<br /> Acres protected: 70, 109 State surveys in September also found juve- will turn an underlined parking lot into al-
<br /> Est. value : $190, 812,208 nile shad and stripped bass , a development most 200 units of affordable housing, a play
<br /> Cumulative land protected,
<br /> not expected so quickly . Water quality also area and day-care center for kids, a commu-
<br /> 1985-2000, by TCF and improved . Waters upstream from the former nity center and a computer-learning facility .
<br /> partners: 162-year-old dam now meet Maine 's Class B Residents will have a landscaped walkway
<br /> Acres protected : 2,340,875 water quality standard although they didn' t that provides access to the city' s light-rail
<br /> Est, value: $1 ,276,714,497 meet Class C standards last year . Boaters, an- line, according to " Smart Choices or Sprawl-
<br /> glers and bird watchers regularly visit the ing Growth : A 50-State Survey of Develop -
<br /> TCF's three-year average newly exposed rapids and islands of the ment " (www . sierraclub . org, 202 / 675 -2392) 8
<br /> fund-raising cost: Kennebec . Augusta also is rehabilitating the The group ' s third annual report on sprawl
<br /> 2% of total income former site of the Edwards Mill to become a gives thumbs-up and thumbs -down ex-
<br /> The Conservation Fund is city park . Removal of the dam, ordered by amples of development in all 50 states .
<br /> a 501 (c) (3 ) nonprofit the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
<br /> organization established to has set a national precedent . More than 40 Of the theories offered last summer to ex-
<br /> advance land and water unneeded dams around the country have plain the widespread forest fires in the West,
<br /> conservation in America . been removed in the last year . at least one doesn' t seem to hold up under
<br /> The Fund is a member of analysis . This particular theory holds that
<br /> Earth Share and participates Until this year, the six-mile canyon road in fires are burning up more forest land be -
<br /> in the Combined Federal
<br /> Campaign as #0930 . Zion National Park was jammed with cars cause federal timber harvests in national for-
<br /> and vans every summer as frustrated tourists ests have declined dramatically in the last
<br /> . 00.
<br /> Earth Share parked helter skelter . This year, park officials decade . No doubt harvests have dropped—
<br /> huttle system, the from a peak of 12 . 7 billion board feet bbf in
<br /> launched a mandatory s y p ( )
<br /> first in the entire National Park System 1987 to 2 . 9 bbf last year . But the number of
<br /> aimed at reducing overcrowded conditions acres of forest burned over 40 years appears
<br /> Conservation leadership and improving visitor experience . The 28 to be at most weakly related to the volume
<br /> Courses propane-powered buses carried nearly 1 . 4 of timber harvested , says a report (202 / 224-
<br /> " Southwest Deserts million passengers from May 23 through 5244) by the Congressional Research Service
<br /> Gateway Communities September . During that period, the system for Sen . Ron Wyden (D-Ore . ) . In fact, since
<br /> Workshop , " March 1 -3, relieved traffic by 550,000 vehicles on the 1987, fewer acres burned during years of low
<br /> Joshua Tree, Calif. , narrow canyon road, or more than 4,200 a timber harvest, contrary to the hypothesis .
<br /> 520 / 290-0828 .
<br /> day . The free shuttle also runs through the
<br /> " GIS Design for Regional town of Springdale so visitors can leave cars Companies that cut labor costs to compete
<br /> Conservation Planning, " at hotels rather than drive them to the park . should economize instead on energy and
<br /> March materials, according to a paper by the
<br /> Shepherdstordstown, W .Va . ,
<br /> 919 / 967-2223 . Hard to believe when you ' re in Manhattan, Worldwatch Institute , Remanufacturing, a
<br /> but nearly 27% of New York City consists of $53 billion per year business that employs
<br /> "The Practice of Environ- parks or open space, the highest percentage 480, 000 people in the U . S . , allows 85 % of the
<br /> mentally Sensitive Devel-
<br /> opment, " April 2-3, of any major U . S . city . San Francisco is sec- value added—labor, energy and materials in
<br /> Chicago; and April 19-20, and with 25 . 4 /o, according to Inside City the product—to be recaptured . More effi-
<br /> Washington, D . C . , Parks " ($30 . 95, ULI members; $40 . 95 non- cient use of resources would cut expenses by
<br /> 800 / 321 -5011 . members , 800 / 321 -5011 ) . The Trust for Pub- billions of dollars through savings on fuels
<br /> lic Land released the study of park systems and materials . These savings help the bottom
<br /> in the 25 largest U . S . cities , which was pub - line and the environment, concludes "Work-
<br /> lished by the Urban Land Institute . Atlanta ing for the Environment : A Growing Source
<br /> devotes just 3 . 7% of its land to parks and open of Jobs " (Paper 152 , $5, www . worldwatch .
<br /> space, the lowest percentage of the 25 cities . org, hard copy, $9 , 202 / 452- 1999 ) . Mining,
<br /> Collectively, the cities spend $ 1 . 2 billion a electricity generation, and four manufactur-
<br /> year on parks and an additional $500 million ing industries ( primary metals processing,
<br /> on new park construction and rehabilitation . oil refining, and paper and chemical produc-
<br /> TPL ranked park systems in Minneapolis , tion) account for 84% of all toxic pollution,
<br /> Boston and Cincinnati as the nation ' s best . while providing 3 % of private sector jobs .
<br />
|