| In Nashville, Finding Nature Next Door |
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In April, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and the Land Trust for Tennessee released the region’s first comprehensive open space plan, “Nashville: Naturally,” which The Conservation Fund designed. For the first time, this conservation plan maps every inch of protected open space in Davidson County—and charts a clear vision for how to protect and connect this green infrastructure so that “Music City” can remain a southern superstar.
Like many American cities, fast-growing Nashville needs green strategy. There are too few places for people to easily access the outdoors, with only about 3% of Davidson County in Metro parkland today, even as the area population grew by 10% over the last decade. Obesity-related conditions cost area residents an estimated $255 million annually. And a devastating 2010 flood—killing 10 and costing roughly $2 billion—has underscored the need to better protect floodplains and buffer waterways that feed the mighty Cumberland River.
Our new open space plan provides 27 recommendations to address these issues. By putting those recommendations into play, Nashville’s leaders and residents could: improve public health by providing more and easier places for people to bike, walk and play; improve and protect the Cumberland River system, which provides all of the county’s drinking water; build up the sustainable local food supply through urban and rural farming; and protect scenic and historic places from disappearing to development.
“With so much natural beauty, a vibrant tourism economy and a creative spirit, Nashville has what it takes to maximize its green infrastructure,” says Will Allen, director of strategic conservation at the Fund. “Like so many of our urban areas, the region must now get strategic about what land to protect, what to develop and how to encourage the community to rediscover its beautiful backyard.”
Nashville leads a national trend in urban areas, where cash-strapped government leaders can no longer afford haphazard conservation and are actively seeking more cost-effective solutions, like buying waterfront land to soak up water during storms, encouraging green roofs and rain gardens, planting trees and creating more access for people to enjoy the outdoors. The Fund has worked in Milwaukee, Indiana and the Chesapeake Bay to provide such strategies. We’re now launching a new plan for greater Houston.
“With thousands of acres a day lost to development, we don’t have time for plans that grow dusty on shelves,” Allen says. “We need to make the smart decisions now.”
Click here to download the plan from our website.
Photos: An elevated walkway through a greenway in Nashville / Erric Renshaw, Flickr
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