Urban Ecosystem Analysis -Calculating the Value of the Urban Forest Published by American Forests The challenge to the community is how to manage growth and foster mixed-use development while balancing green and gray infrastructure. Using the data from this study, planners will have the tools they need to manage, maintain, and balance the natural environment with the built one.   Cooperating Across Boundaries - Partnerships to Conserve Open Space in Rural America Published by the USDA Forest Service Growth and land conservation are often seen as two opposing forces—with proponents of each scrambling to beat the other to valuable land. Fortunately, a new paradigm is emerging. Development and conservation of open space can be compatible and complementary when applied in strategic, collaborative ways. This publication focuses on the benefits of partnerships and working across jurisdictional boundaries to conserve the rapidly dwindling open space of rural America.     Forest Service Open Space Conservation Strategy  Cooperating across boundaries... Published by the USDA Forest Service Open space—forests, grasslands, farms, ranches, wetlands, riparian areas, and urban greenspaces—provides vital ecosystem services and benefits for society. Each day, we lose 6,000 acres of open space in the United States as more people choose to live at the urban fringe and in scenic, rural areas. While growth and development provide homes, jobs, and other positive benefits for society, where and how we grow impacts the sustainability of natural systems and the overall quality of life for Americans.     When The Forest Becomes A Community - A Forester’s Handbook for WUI Published by the Southern Group of State Foresters State forestry agencies are responsible for providing many forestry related services in forest/urban interface areas. Services include fire management, urban forestry assistance, forest management, insect and disease advice, and assistance with the aftermath of natural disasters. This handbook was written by members of the Southern Forest/Urban Interface Council and other contributors to provide State forestry personnel with ideas about the importance of the interface, and ways to deal with some of the problems that may arise.     Additional Resources:   Green Infrastructure The Conservation Fund’s Green Infrastructure Leadership Program was created in 1999 to build the capacity of land conservation professionals and their partners to undertake strategic conservation activities that are proactive, systematic, well integrated and applied at multiple scales. The program is a cooperative effort of the Fund and multiple public and private partners.   Smart Growth online Smart growth encourages communities to craft a vision and set standards for development and construction which respond to community values of architectural beauty and distinctiveness, as well as expanded choices in housing and transportation. It seeks to create interesting, unique communities which reflect the values and cultures of the people who reside there, and foster the types of physical environments which support a more cohesive community fabric.   Low Impact Development Center The Low Impact Development Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of Low Impact Development technology. Low Impact Development is a new, comprehensive land planning and engineering design approach with a goal of maintaining and enhancing the pre-development hydrologic regime of urban and developing watersheds.   Walkable Communities Walkable Communities was established in the state of Florida in 1996. It was organized for the express purposes of helping whole communities, whether they are large cities or small towns, or parts of communities, i.e. neighborhoods, business districts, parks, school districts, subdivisions, specific roadway corridors, etc., become more walkable and pedestrian friendly.   Your Town Alabama Designing Our Future Towns, villages and neighborhoods in Alabama, and across America, face an uncertain future—a future which is increasingly threatened by large scale economic changes, population shifts, land policy changes, the impact of electronic commerce and mass merchandising. In the face of these changes, communities find themselves struggling to maintain their vitality and even their sense of identity. Whether the threat is sudden growth or stagnation, planning and design decisions can often make the difference between survival and decay, between healthy prosperity and decline. Despite the crucial importance of planning and design, small communities rarely have good access to professional assistance or information regarding the application of planning and design to their communities' issues.