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PUBLIC
SERVICE & OUTREACH Institute of Ecology’s Office
of Public Service and Outreach, led by Laurie
Fowler, has helped develop a new state program, the Insitute for Georgia
Environmental Leadership (IGEL). IGEL brings together diverse stakeholders
for intensive two-day sessions on developing a dialog and framework to
resolve the state's environmental issues. Other ecology faculty -- Bud
Freeman, Liz
Kramer, Jim
Kundell and Ron
Carroll -- have also helped with specific sessions. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funded an ecology outreach project
to develop the Southeast's first regional aquatic habitat conservation
plan, pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act. The Institute’s
outreach program is partnering with over twenty local governments in the
Etowah watershed in this multi-year effort. Bud
Freeman and Laurie
Fowler are the PIs. The 2002
Outstanding Planning Document Award, given in October by the Georgia
Planning Association, went to an Institute of Ecology outreach project
-- the Gwinnett
County Open Space and Greenways Master Plan. It focussed on recommending
policy tools to protect greenspace. Laura Kraul (MLA
‘02) assisted. Nanette
Nelson (MS ecology‘00) completed a hedonic
study on the impact
of greenspace preservation on property values. The study, funded by
the Georgia Forestry Commission, looked at a variety of greenspace types,
including bike and pedestrian trails, parks, tree-protected neighborhoods
and lands protected by the Metropolitan River (Chattahoochee) River Protection
Act. It found that, in general, property
values rise as a result of proximity to protected greenspace. SED’s PS&O office recently contracted with the cities of TyTy and Harlem, Georgia to conduct community design charrettes (intensive workshops aimed at solving specific problems). Issues for TyTy involved the reintroduction of a town center surrounding a central park that has been developed along abandoned railroad tracks. The issue in Harlem was to unite visual elements in the city, especially as they relate to Georgia's largest small-town festival. The festival honors Harlem native Oliver Hardy. A
land-use clinic has been established with the UGA law school, allowing
law students to assist local and state governments in developing proactive
growth management policies. The first project, guided by Laurie
Fowler, drafted a transferable development rights ordinance to protect
40,000 acres of rolling greenspace adjacent to the Chattahoochee River. CED is partnering with Athens Area Habitat For Humanity (HFH) to construct an environmentally friendly, low-cost house as a demonstration project in sustainable construction methods, interdisciplinary cooperation and community-building. The house will be part of Hawthorne Extension, Athens’ first low-income HFH subdivision. Funding and volunteers are being sought. For more information, contact Alison Roy or Nanette Nelson, or visit the CED Habitat for Humanity website. A team of undergraduate and graduate landscape design students are helping to create a garden around a new playground in Southeast Clarke County Park. The garden will incorporate recycled materials and native, drought-resistent plants. Volunteers are still needed for its construction, tentatively planned for October 2003. If interested, contact Dr. Ashley Calabria.
This page last updated June 23, 2003.
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University of Georgia | Institute
of Ecology | School of Environmental
Design The College of Environment and Design • Caldwell Hall • University
of Georgia • Athens, GA 30602-1845 USA |
