Oakland County Wins Green Infrastructure Implementation Award
Oakland County, Michigan, is among three regions in the nation which will receive the National Green Infrastructure Implementation Award Feb. 24 at the National Green Infrastructure Conference in Shepherdstown, W. Va.
"Oakland County continues to serve as a national model for others to follow," said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson. "The National Green Infrastructure Implementation Award recognizes the excellence of one of our many green initiatives."
Oakland County's Green Infrastructure Vision is a collage of local open space efforts among its 62 communities, intended to guide and coordinate local and multijurisdictional preservation efforts. The process takes a broad-based ecosystem approach to planning for the protection and stewardship of sustainable biological diversity. The county's vision also provides a roadmap into the future and creates opportunities to connect to the land through trails, parks, open space and waterways.
Said Jim Keglovitz, a senior planner for Oakland County: "It gives us the opportunity to celebrate the hard work of several hundred individuals and the many organizations that shaped our Green Infrastructure Vision."
The panel selecting the final award winners was comprised of representatives from The Conservation Fund; the United States Department of Defense; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; the U.S. Forest Service; the U.S. National Park Service; the Federal Highway Administration; the American Planning Association; the National Association of Clean Water Agencies; the Clean Water America Alliance; and the Green Infrastructure Community of Practice.
Oakland County's Green Infrastructure Vision is one among several green initiatives by the county.
* Construction of the nation's first green airport terminal, set to open this summer at Oakland County International Airport. The terminal will feature wind and solar power, and geothermal heating and cooling, among other energy saving technologies.
* The formation of a Green Team to identify and implement energy saving procedures and devices on the government campus. Since 2005, Oakland County has saved taxpayers more than $4 million on utility costs.
* The OakGreen Challenge issued by Patterson in May, 2010 to encourage local residents, businesses and governments to reduce their energy consumption 10 percent by the end of 2012. Oakland County is working to reduce its energy consumption 15% by 2015.
* Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants to identify and fund energy saving retrofits to county buildings which will save taxpayers up to an additional $500,000 a year on utility bills.
* Oakland County's Emerging Sectors job retention and attraction strategy is fostering the growth of alternative energy companies in the region. Currently, alternative energy is the county's second fastest growing sector next to life sciences.
Other winners include "Green Infrastructure Planning: Linking Arkansas Communities," a partnership between the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association, the Arkansas Forestry Commission's Urban and Community Forestry Program and Beaver Water District to evaluate priorities for natural resource conservation in Northwest Arkansas communities in order to create a Green Infrastructure Network Map, and the Carroll County, Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program Leveraged Installment Purchase Agreement, a financing program designed to significantly increase the pace of conservation easement acquisition.
"These three projects stood out not only because they were able to accomplish real, on-the-ground solutions to their conservation priorities, but also because they are ahead of the national trend in which more and more communities are turning to green infrastructure planning to effectively address natural resource use," said Kris Hoellen, director of the Conservation Fund's Conservation Leadership Network.
The three-day National Green Infrastructure Conference, organized by the Conservation Fund, will bring together expert policymakers and practitioners from across the country for the first time to explore the extensive growth of green infrastructure and chart its course for the next 10 years. Targeted sessions will allow attendees to investigate the concepts and applications of infrastructure projects in industries like transportation and renewable energy; discuss the societal benefits -- public health, livability and sustainability -- of successful implementation; and assess the future of green infrastructure planning with relation to climate change and food security.
Green infrastructure is a strategically planned and managed network of natural areas and open spaces -- woodlands, wetlands, trails and parks -- that conserves ecosystems, helps sustain clean air and water and provides many other benefits to people and wildlife.