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.In combination, as we seein the experience of Lincoln, Nebraska, these growth management toolscan provide highly effective approaches to responsible growth manage-ment.4Protecting Environmental andNatural Resources:  Where Not to GrowIn his seminal work, Design With Nature, Ian McHarg writes of the in-teraction of man and nature:A single drop of water in the uplands of a watershed may appearand reappear as cloud, precipitation, surface water in creek andriver, lake and pond or groundwater; it can participate in plantand animal metabolism, transpiration, condensation, decomposi-tion, combustion, respiration and evaporation.This same dropof water may appear in considerations of climate and microcli-mate, water supply, flood, drought and erosion control, industry,commerce, agriculture, forestry, reaction, scenic beauty, incloud, snow, stream, river, and sea.We conclude that nature is asingle interacting system and that changes to any part will affectthe operation of the whole.1McHarg makes us aware that human and natural systems are intri-cately bound together.Cities, he believes, exist in natural settings whosequalities are essential to maintaining life.The currently popular concept of sustainable development builds onMcHarg s insights.It calls for maintaining the integrity of complex eco-logical systems while promoting economic viability and social equity.Al-though development is necessary to further economic and social ends, itshould be undertaken in ways that minimize impacts on the naturalfunctions of landscapes.Development should be designed to maintain8384 4.PROTECTING RESOURCES:  WHERE NOT TO GROWsensitive lands and habitats, to minimize its footprint on the land inorder to retain natural features, and to make use of natural resourcesrather than engineered facilities wherever possible.As John Rogers and B.Fritts Golden state,  in the struggle to find ef-fective strategies to maintain a stable and sustainable environment, man-agers, policy makers, and the public are discovering the limitation of aphilosophy based on subduing the earth and making economic use of allresources. 2 They suggest that managing ecosystems to retain multiplebiological species as part of an integrated natural community not onlyprotects species but also provides natural functions that benefit humans,such as retarding floods and filtering nonpoint pollution.Urban histori-ans Christine Rosen and Joel Tarr add that  the natural and built envi-ronments evolved in dialectical interdependence and tension, in whichthe built environment,  through its effects upon and interaction with thenatural environment, is a part of the earth s environmental history. 3Together with the new focus on sustainable communities, McHarg s vi-sion in 1969 of the intrinsic values of regional landscapes in shaping andsupporting human settlements remains a powerful force in managingcommunity growth.The concepts of  design with nature are embodiedin countless planning policies, zoning and subdivision provisions, andgrowth management techniques in use today.Communities and regionsthroughout the United States are managing growth to preserve valuednatural qualities.Planners usually begin their analysis of future development patternsby identifying significant natural features that ought to be conserved.McHarg identified eight natural features that should be respected inplanning future development: surface water, marshes, floodplains,aquifers, aquifer recharge areas, steep lands, prime agricultural land, andforests and woodlands.These features, he taught, form natural systemsthat are an essential component of our living environment.Land, inother words, is not simply a commodity awaiting development, andstream valleys are not just handy places to dump trash.Prime agricul-tural land is a finite resource that should not be indiscriminately coveredwith concrete.Marshes and floodplains perform valuable functions forhumanity s benefit as well as for the natural order.The state of Florida, for example, requires a conservation section in allcomprehensive plans that addresses needsfor the conservation, use, and protection of natural resources inthe area, including air, water, water recharge areas, wetlands, wa-terwells, estuarine marshes, soils, beaches, shores, floodplains,rivers, bays, lakes, harbors, forests, fisheries and wildlife, marinehabitat, minerals, and other natural and environmental re-sources.4THE FRAMEWORK OF FEDERAL LAWS 85In addition, subdivision regulations now routinely require stormwaterretention measures to control erosion, setbacks to buffer stream valleys,protection of floodplains, and other measures.Zoning ordinances fre-quently incorporate conservation, agricultural, and open space districtsto protect valuable natural areas.By identifying and planning for protection of these resources, com-munities are determining  where not to grow. Implementing theseplans, they use a variety of regulatory, funding, and programmatic ap-proaches to guide and restrict development in open areas.In this en-deavor, local governments are supported by an array of powerful federallaws that call for protecting essential environmental qualities.The Framework of Federal LawsBeginning in the 1960s, environmental activists backed by a broad con-stituency of concerned citizens persuaded the U.S.Congress to enact amultitude of ambitious laws to recognize the public responsibility to pro-tect vital environmental qualities [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]