Land Use & Open Space Conservation

Amy Clipp gave a webinar for us that offered ideas for bridging the gap between science and policy, with a particular focus on helping scientists apply their work in complex, political environments. Her stories are based on lessons learned advising the State of Louisiana on its 2012 Coastal Master Plan.

As an associate conservation scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, Sarah Reed studies conservation development as a way to develop property by clustering homes and protecting or restoring ecological resources.

It all started more than five years ago, when Tershy and his wife, Erika Zavaleta, were living in a different house on the Bethany Curve Greenbelt on the Westside. They knew they wanted to remodel their home, but they kept running into the same roadblock. “What we really wanted to do was turn our house, which was facing the street, around 180 degrees so it faced the park, but it seemed impossible,” explains Tershy. Luckily fate stepped in, and another lot on the park went up for sale.

Editor's Note: The Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation helped fund Sarah's early work on Conservation Development with the Wildlife Conservation Society through a Leadership Grant.

"It's an evolution, not a revolution," said Stuart Cohen, head of TransForm, a transportation and land-use coalition that supports the plan. "What's stronger than ever is how we're spending our (transportation) money, and where growth is happening."