Central Texas Greenprint for Growth
Central Texas Greenprint for Growth
In 2005, the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit that conserves natural land for public enjoyment, embarked on a conservation planning initiative that resulted in the Travis County Greenprint for Growth, which was made available to the public in the summer of 2007. The TPL brought in Travis County, the City of Austin, and the University Of Texas School Of Architecture as project partners on the Travis County Greenprint. It is one of the most detailed and large-scale greenprint projects to date for the TPL, and it was inspired in part by Envision Central Texas’ (ECT) 2004 regional vision.
Stakeholder meetings for the Travis County "Greenprint for Growth" involved representatives from two dozen organizations, including the Real Estate Council of Austin, the Lower Colorado River Authority, the National Park Service, Capital Metro, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, as well as environmental activists. The stakeholders generated a list of about forty priorities, which were grouped into four overall criteria: 1) water quality/quantity protection, 2) recreational opportunities, 3) protection of sensitive/rare environmental features, and 4) protection of cultural resources (e.g., agrarian land and scenic corridors).
In 2007, Envision Central Texas, the Trust for Public Land and the Capitol Area Council of Governments came together to seek funding for the five-county version, a Central Texas Greenprint for Growth, estimated to cost $250,000.
This project will identify and map high-priority lands for conservation in Williamson, Hays, Bastrop, and Caldwell counties, then merge all those greenprints with the Travis County Greenprint for Growth.
Heading up the effort are ECT's Open Space Committee co-chairs Valerie Bristol, Director of External Affairs at the Nature Conservancy of Texas, and Hays County Commissioner Karen Ford.
A greenprint is to open space what a blueprint is to a building, i.e., a detailed depiction of what is envisioned. The greenprinting process identifies high-priority areas to preserve.
The term and the methodology were developed by the Trust for Public Lands.
The Trust for Public Lands has conducted greenprints in only a few areas around the country. Most greenprints are being done in fast-developing regions like Central Texas, where planning for "green infrastructure" is seen as critical to balance rapid population growth.
Regional planning requires inter-jurisdictional cooperation by cities, counties, private landowners, and other entities. The greenprint process requires all stakeholders to sit down together and agree on values, priorities, and a consensus plan up front. As a result, a greenprint is not just a land map in the usual sense, but also a map of community priorities. The graphic product is a greenprint model that identifies, through color-coding, the specific available tracts whose protection can best satisfy multiple community priorities.
The high tech component is Geographic Information System (GIS) computer modeling. A digital update on cartography, GIS uses and analyzes voluminous data from multiple sources, i.e., geographic, spatial, and satellite, to produce pinpoint-accurate maps. The Trust for Public Land used GIS modeling to create an inventory of all Travis County land. It documented existing conservation land and developed land, then analyzed still-available open land. GIS analyses identified the parcels that matched exacting specifications, based on community values. The static maps only hint at the powers of GIS modeling. The high-tech tool is the interactive version, not yet online, which will allow users to zoom in on specific parcels, conduct detailed analyses, and compare scenarios. The greenprint models can be continually updated over time as new GIS data sets become available.
Envision Central Texas (ECT) submitted a $115,000 grant request to the Federal Highway Administration, which was approved in March 2008. Hays County Commissioners approved a $50,000 contribution to the project. On May 7, 2008, the first county meeting to map high-priority lands for conservation was held in Hays County. Meetings to map land in Bastrop and Caldwell counties were held in October 2008.
Consultants have begun developing an interactive model that defines and prioritizes the parks and conservation acquisition needs in each county based on local weighting of goals.
Click here for an overview of the Central Texas Greenprint for Growth work plan.
