Stop the bulldozers!
Push your town or county to plan its growth more carefully. Urban and suburban sprawl eats up more than 3 million acres of farmland and wildland each year. And new developments often cost more in services (schools, sewer lines, fire protection) than they add in tax revenues.
When you move, choose a house or an apartment in a city or a
"traditional neighborhood development," where houses are close enough to
each other and to stores and parks that you can walk, bike, or take mass
transportation to most of your destinations. Many zoning codes actually
work against compact development, separating stores from residential areas
and requiring houses to be set on large lots–which eat up wildlife habitat.
If you own a farm or other undeveloped property, donate or sell
a conservation easement on it. You’ll give up rights to develop the land
in perpetuity, often in return for a lower tax rate and/or tax deduction.
For more information, call the Land Trust
Alliance (below) or visit its web site.
Vote for open-space protection, since buying land is often the
only way to guarantee that it won’t become a subdivision. And press your
congressmembers to fully fund the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund,
which was set up to use revenues from oil and gas leases to purchase important
land.
Sprawl Busters
Environmental Protection Agency
312-353-2000; www.epa.gov/region5/sprawl
Land Trust Alliance
202-638-4725; www.lta.org
National Audubon Society
518-766-0167; http://ny.audubon.org/smart.html
Planning Commissioners Journal
888-475-3328; www.plannersweb.com
Preservation Institute
510-848-7827; www.preservenet.com
Sierra Club, Challenge to Sprawl Campaign
415-977-5500; www.sierra-club.org/sprawl
Smart Growth Network
202-962-3591; www.smartgrowth.org
Sprawl Watch Clearinghouse
202-974-5133; www.sprawlwatch.org
Sustainable Communities Network
828-681-1955 or 202-328-8160;
www.sustainable.org
Trust for Public Land
800-714-5263; www.tpl.org
© 2000 NASI
