Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Lovers of music and the landscape, this is for you. Well, and for myself, since I truly love what I'm about to share. I originally came to environmentalism, and eventually to smart growth and urbanism, from the conservation side. I...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Today’s title comes from Jeff Holm, chair of the Board of Supervisors for Baldwin Township, Minnesota. Baldwin is a rural community struggling with its identity in the face of change. Holm, who grew up in the unincorporated township of around...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Take a look at this series of maps. All are of the state of Maryland. In the first, ignore the blue and green streaks and concentrate on the gray-shaded portions. Those are designated growth areas, called “priority funding areas” in...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
This is one of a series of posts on the winners of EPA’s 2009 National Awards for Smart Growth Achievement. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a place of immense cultural importance, agricultural production and scenic beauty. The National Trust for...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Lee County, Florida (Fort Myers) is moving forward with an innovative plan to use clustered, dense development instead of large-lot zoning to protect its water supply. Under current zoning the southeastern portion of the Gulf coast county has been threatened...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Kudos to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for a comprehensive new report and web site on best practices for smart development in coastal and waterfront communities. The report was issued in cooperation with the federal EPA,...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
This is a follow-up to add to the record concerning the wisdom of the proposed office park and subdivision north of Frederick, Maryland. The property in question is highlighted in red jutting out from the existing city limits to the...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
I don't think so, either. But the leaders of the city of Frederick, Maryland, apparently think otherwise. This is despite strong opposition from the leaders of surrounding Frederick County, which until now has had jurisdiction over the property. Basically this is...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
This isn't usually my beat, but as someone who grew up in western North Carolina, the southern Appalachians (pronounced with a flat "a" in the third syllable, thanks) mean a great deal to me. And, like a lot of normal...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
These wonderful photographs of Frederick County, Maryland, are all by my friend Kai Hagen, writer, photographer, conservationist, entrepeneur, and County Commissioner. Kai is concerned that development is sprawling out onto prime soils even while there are ample sites within...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Most of us love to gripe about development, traffic, and sprawl, and some of us even love to complain about the development activities of nearby churches and schools. But what if the same folks who complain had to confront a specified influx of...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Cities are traditionally blue, rural areas red, and suburbs purple, says Bill Dodge, former executive director of the National Association of Regional Councils, on Citiwire. But that doesn't mean that they shouldn't or can't cooperate, and Dodge believes the...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
I spend most of my professional time thinking about where development should go, where it shouldn't, and what form it should take. A lot of my thinking is derived from wanting to reduce transportation impacts from sprawl and also...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley announced yesterday that he was introducing six bills in the state legislature to influence the state's land development in a "smart, green, and growing" way. Collectively, the bills would do the following: Strengthen...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Plum Creek Timber Company, the nation's largest private landowner (8 million acres nationwide), has withdrawn a controversial request to pursue residential development of remote land in western Montana. The company had requested an easement on timber roads owned by...
