What is Green Infrastructure and why do it?
What is Green Infrastructure?
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.
Why Green Infrastructure?
Most land and water conservation initiatives in the United States are reactive not proactive; haphazard not systematic; piecemeal not holistic; single-scale not multi-scale, single-purpose not multi-functional. Current conservation efforts often focus on individual pieces of land, limiting their conservation benefits to the environment and human health. Identifying and planning for Green Infrastructure - multi-purpose green space networks - provides a framework for smart conservation and smart growth.
A city, county or state would never build a road, water and electrical system piece by piece, without any advanced planning or coordination between different system components and jurisdictions. These built infrastructure systems are planned, designed and invested in far in advance of their actual use. We should plan, design and invest in our Green Infrastructure following the same principles and approaches that are used for built infrastructure. A large coalition of public and private organizations are advancing the concept of Green Infrastructure nationwide, and NARC is doing its part to promote these concepts and enrich green infrastructure data, collection and planning.
Email Peggy Tadej, Director of Research and Grants or call 202.986.1032 Ext: 224