Case Studies

Key Partners: City of Pasadena Parks and Recreation Department, Houston Parks Board, Asakura Robinson Company, Land and Water Connections Consulting

Goal: Under-resourced city agencies needed to revise an outdated Parks Master Plan. Demographics had completely changed since the previous plan, and the planning process needed to reach Latinx residents.

Successes: Partners were able to use a wide variety of engagement strategies to reach thousands of residents with a focus on equity-driven engagement with Latinx community members. Framing the project around a holistic approach to community health and environmental health brought groups together across sectors and created durable partnerships. The Parks and Recreation Department is using the Healthy Parks Plan as an ongoing guide for all its work, and an ambitious new 3-mile long “bayou greenway” project is already underway in partnership with Houston Parks Board.

Lessons Learned: It is important to dedicate a large enough budget for extensive engagement if you want to meet equity-focused goals. The project dedicated approximately $200K to engagement alone. (Funding came primarily from a private foundation, the Houston Endowment.)

Key Partners: The Nature Conservancy, Greenbelt Alliance, American Farmland Trust, Bay Area Open Space Council, Greeninfo Network

Goal: Partners needed to assemble a huge diversity of data across a large region, while taking into account the views and expertise of a large number of advisors from regional agencies and nonprofit organizations. The final tool needed to be usable for a wide variety of purposes.

Successes: The final tool makes a huge amount of data related to nine values/benefits available to the public. The tool is now used by many public agencies in priority-setting and evaluating funding requests. For example, it is used by the Priority Conservation Areas program and by transportation agencies to compare impacts of alternative routes.

Lessons Learned: The initial version of the tool should have incorporated data (and values) related to equity and environmental justice.

Key Partners: Trust for Public Land, Taos Land Trust, Town of Taos, National Parks Service’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program

Goal: Taos Land Trust was reassessing the way it did its work, and the Town of Taos had very little planning capacity. Both the land trust and the Town needed better data on community priorities related to open space.

Successes: The prioritization tool has been useful to the Taos Land Trust and the Town of Taos in identifying priority areas for conservation. Although the plan was initially focused on more traditional conservation goals in more rural areas, it evolved to also emphasize in-town access to active transportation and open space. This has included establishing “safe routes to parks” and setting the stage for the creation of a 20-acre park that incorporates placemaking, Pueblo history, habitat protection, traditional food production, and restoration of traditional irrigation systems (acequias).

Lessons Learned: Community engagement for the project took much longer (and cost much more money) than originally anticipated. Partners used creative approaches to engagement such as including the community survey in utility bills. Though the tool is still being used, resources were not allocated for ongoing maintenance and updates, which would have been very helpful.

Key Partners: Trust for Public Land, Idaho Conservation League, City of Ponderay, City of Sandpoint, Kaniksu Land Trust

Goal: To protect the Greater Sandpoint area's outdoor adventure and economic stability, helping the communnity to make informed decisions about how to grow while preserving the area's unique character, opportunities for recreation, clean water, environmental benefits and quality of life.

Successes: The steering committee developed strong partnerships across agencies and organizations, including with some from the working lands community. The mapping tool provided a much-needed resource for local planning departments and conservation groups looking to identify priority areas for conservation.

Lessons Learned: The project encountered opposition from anti-conservation and anti-government activists, and some initial resistance from the working lands community.

Partners should have been more careful with framing and messaging. For example, it may have helped to call the project the “Lake Pend Oreille Region Community Open Space Vision” instead of “Greater Sandpoint Greenprint.” It may also have helped to conduct a telephone poll that would have reached a broader group of local residents, particularly those in more rural areas.

In addition, there needed to be more resources dedicated to public engagement and public-facing products. (The mapping tool was password-protected because of parcel-level data, but that led to conspiracy concerns.) Because issues came up well after the project finished, it would have been helpful to have more funding and capacity for longer-term engagement.

Key Partners: Trust for Public Land, City of New Orleans

Goal: The City needed better data and decision making tools to identify areas for green infrastructure investments--particularly in places with high socioeconomic vulnerability and high risk of flooding.

Successes: The tool has been integrated into the City’s capital investment process. The City, and especially the Sewage and Water Board, use the tool to evaluate green infrastructure proposals; development applicants and consultants are required to use the tool to document potential environmental impacts.

Lessons Learned: It was important to incorporate health and equity data from the beginning of the project. The process helped build long-lasting partnerships. After the initial phase, it would have been very helpful to have more funding for ongoing maintenance of the tool and recurring training for new City staff.

Key Partners: City of Chattanooga, Trust for Public Land

Goal: The City had limited data on park connectivity and the role of parks in providing key environmental benefits such as helping to reduce stormwater runoff. They needed a better approach for priority-setting for green infrastructure investments.

Successes: The plan’s analysis has helped identify priority areas for green infrastructure. The analysis has supported successful proposals to establish two new parks in areas with equity gaps, a new greenway, and other projects focused on park access and connectivity. Members of the steering committee have continued to push for increased connectivity of the city’s open spaces.

Lessons Learned: It would have been helpful to have more funding for partner training and technical assistance and for updating data. Collecting data related to parks’ role in stormwater and water quality was one of the more difficult aspects of the project, but it was very useful.

Key Partners: The Nature Conservancy

Goal: Partners needed to create a shared conservation vision in a landscape where agencies, conservation orgs, and ranchers had been fighting for years.

Successes: This effort has established better communication among key groups, created enduring partnerships, and helped build trust--particularly with the representatives of the working lands community. There are ongoing meetings of the steering committee, the “Pajaro Compass Network,” and work is now underway on a habitat conservation plan for the watershed. In addition, there is continued interest in “iCompass” mapping tools for identifying conservation priorities. For example, the San Benito Agricultural Land Trust is using the tools in its strategic plan.

Lessons Learned: The network that was created through the process of developing the Compass has ended up being the most important result of the entire effort. It was important not to rush the process in order to provide time and space to build trust. In retrospect, Tribal communities and farm works should have been engaged more intentionally and thoughtfully.

Key Partners: Trust for Public Land, Bernalillo County

Goal: The County needed a science-based way to allocate open space funding, and they needed to understand community priorities.

Successes: The County integrated the greenprint tool (and its community-informed weighting of goals) into its open space acquisition process, which ensured that new open space acquisitions would meet community goals. An associated story map was used in educational materials developed for local schools.

Lessons Learned: TPL helped convene key partners from public agencies, community groups, and health partners for about a year after the project was finished, but the group fell apart when there was no longer funding for TPL to provide capacity. The effort did not lead to as many new conservation projects as partners hoped. It would have been helpful if there had been a larger group of target users of the tool outside of County open space staff.

Key Partners: Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority

Goal: The Open Space Authority needed to establish a clear vision for conservation to help prioritize spending from a $200 million ballot measure.

Successes: The Greenprint still helps guide the work of the Open Space Authority. The process helped build trust with partners and buy-in from funders, particularly through careful attention to science and emphasis on a multibenefit approach. The conservation priorities that emerged led directly to important projects such as the preservation of Coyote Ridge (3,600 acres).

Lessons Learned: Multibenefit framework helped identify the most critical areas to protect. It was very useful for the Open Space Authority to have their own staff do as much of the work as possible because it led to the staff feeling a strong sense of ownership. In retrospect, it would have been beneficial to have more engagement with the larger community and with local Tribes.

Key Partners: Friends of Harbors, Beaches, and Parks (FHBP)

Goal: Conservation groups needed to be able to identify the highest priority areas for acquisition.

Successes: The Green Vision Map helped unify conservation groups and led to the creation of the Green Vision Coalition, which now includes 85 member organizations. Conservation groups associated with FHBP across southern California use the map to identify potential conservation areas; the map is updated every year to remove developed areas.

Lessons Learned: The map became much more useful when it incorporated parcel level data and established criteria related to size and ownership for prioritizing potential conservation areas.

Key Partners: The Nature Conservancy

Goal: TNC wanted to help local leaders better understand where investments in nature-based solutions could help protect air quality, reduce flood risk, and mitigate extreme heat. This is especially important in Bridgeport, which is very densely populated and faces major challenges with health inequity.

Successes: The greenprint helped establish relationships with municipal leaders and helped identify priority areas for interventions such as tree planting. It has served as a successful communications tool.

Lessons Learned: It would be helpful to have the next version of this project where a formal advisory committee could be engaged and could help with gathering data and planning for future implementation.

Key Partners: The Nature Conservancy Illinois chapter

Goal: TNC wanted to reduce stormwater impacts and safeguard urban biodiversity while simultaneously connecting people with nature within the greater Chicago metropolitan areas and throughout Cook County. Therefore, the key goals were to identify areas with the greatest need for tree canopy and stormwater interventions.

Successes: By designing a story map on this work, it has allowed them to connect with partners and prospective users of the greenprint, and scope out a Chicago Greenprint 2.0 that would establish an advisory committee, maintain up to data data and update processes for identifying urban heat and particulate matter.

Lessons Learned: It’s necessary to identify a long term plan when making updates and identify stakeholders across the process.