Community Green Infrastructure Planning 

The Southeast Watershed Forum has worked with over 80 communities throughout the Southeast on quality growth, designing workshops tailored to their local needs, audience and issues. Most recently, Forum training is focusing on Green Infrastructure planning, helping a community explore the economic and environmental value of its open spaces and protected lands. Strategic land conservation can help a community dramatically improve water quality, minimize stormwater flooding, reduce operation and maintenance costs, meet regulatory compliance and maintain local quality of life. In addition, strategic land conservation benefits watershed, habitat and forest protection, allowing a community to realize multiple resource values. Green spaces and preserved lands minimize the heat-island effect and enhance recreational and tourism opportunities. The Southeast Watershed Forum identifies tools for greenprinting, including low impact development and provides GIS resources to help community leaders design their own greenprint plan. 

Coastal Friendly Development (Taylor County, FL)               October 28, 2010 

Planning For Green Infrastructure at Fort Campbell (KY)      March 3, 2011 

Planning for Land Conservation in Cherokee County (GA)    October 12, 2011

The Southeast Watershed Forum offers a wide variety of training to help your community work through issues of urban sprawl, economic viability and watershed protection. Call 615-562-1960 to set up a date, now!

Growth Readiness Workshops  are tailored to each community’s specific goals and objectives. They provide an overview of the economic drivers for quality growth planning, watershed protection and stormwater management. Using group instruction, hands-on activities, proven techniques, regional case studies, and small group discussions, your community will come away with specific steps to shape growth, maintain water quality and preserve local quality of life.

The following communities have gone through a series of growth readiness workshops and extensively discussed ways to help make quality land use decisions and protect land and water resources. Each community has compiled a summary report available for download (pdf).

McMinn and Meigs County, TN: Growth Readiness Report 2008

Duck River Watershed, TN: Growth Readiness Report 2007

Greene County, TN: Growth Readiness Report 2007

Northeast Georgia: Growth Readiness Report 2007

Northwest Georgia: Growth Readiness Report 2007

Tazewell County, VA: Growth Readiness Report 2007

Wise County, VA: Growth Readiness Report 2007

"In Marshall County we were able to get our
Alternative Wastewater Resolution adopted into the Zoning Resolution... 
Because of this resolution, there is now a subdivision underway which will designate almost 100 acres as greenspace.  This resolution would not be in existence today without the ideas presented by the Tennessee Growth Readiness Workshop."  - Don Nelson, Marshall County Zoning Administration
Lewisburg, TN

 Water Efficient Growth Webinar

Across the Southeast, recent drought and local struggles to provide adequate water provided a wake-up call to the vulnerabilities in our water supply. Many communities were forced to put mandatory restrictions in place and take emergency measures to meet local water needs. 

At the same time, our water consumption in the Southeast has increased much more rapidly than population growth, further stretching finite resources. As we look to the future, it is clear that in order to accommodate existing water users and accommodate new projected growth, we need to look to key Water Efficiency strategies for both existing communities and new construction to meet our current and future needs.  

The Growth Readiness Program invites you to join us for a webinar to explore water supply issues in the Southeast and strategies for planners, elected officials, local governments and water utilities to link land and water planning, change how and where we build and change behavior to prepare for the challenges ahead. 

Who should participate:  Planners, Elected Officials, Local Government, Water Utilities.

Webinar Presentation Download (pdf): Part 1 / Part 2