Oral Abstract Details

Author(s):
David W. Dickson

Affiliation:
University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension, Center for Land Use Education and Research

Presentation Type:
Oral

Topic Area:
Science delivery and exchange of information for natural resource professionals, policymakers, and private citizens

Abstract Text:
It has long been understood that the forested landscape is closely linked to water quality, and, more broadly, the overall ecologic, economic, and public health of our communities. As communities continue to grow and develop, the health of our forest lands is threatened by their conversion to other uses, fragmentation, and parcelization. Because the majority of forested land is privately-owned, the majority of educational efforts seeking to protect the forest resource have focused on individual land owners. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that community land use decision makers are also critical to the sustainability of the forest resource. They make the decisions about where and how to grow, and where and what to preserve that are critical to confronting the continued fragmentation of our nation’s forests. This presentation will highlight one effort to begin addressing this audience - the national Forest Resource Education for Municipal Officials (FREMO) project, which is funded by the USDA. FREMO is an effort to engage and educate local land use officials about the fragmentation of the forest resource, its consequences for overall community health, and what can be done through land use planning to address it. Five states (OR, MN, NC, VT, CT) have initiated pilot projects to look at different ways to engage this audience and establish recommendations for action. This presentation will provide an overview of the efforts in these 5 states, as well as a detailed look at the forest fragmentation study conducted by the University of Connecticut’s Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR). The CLEAR study has tracked the fragmentation of the state’s forestlands from 1985 until today using a tool it developed and has made available to others. The results of the study have been posted on http://clear.uconn.edu and are being shared with local land use officials throughout the state in an effort to encourage changes to local land use planning practices and regulations. This presentation will highlight these efforts and provide recommendations and lessons learned for others looking to reach this critical audience.