Livability A New Focus Area for 2013

The Conservation Leadership Network will be strengthening livability capacity in five communities starting in 2013.  Through a partnership with the Federal Lands Livability Workgroup comprised of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Park Service (NPS) and other land management agencies, we will assess trends in livability associated with federal lands and their surrounding gateway communities, including identifying transferable lessons learned, and providing specific recommendations/action plans for moving forward.    The initiative expects to include a broad mix of public lands, refuges, forests, and parks, from a geographic and demographic cross-section of the country. 

The Conservation Leadership Network will work with each gateway community / federal land partner pair by first conducting a livability assessment, then documenting the community’s potential for livability and sharing the lessons learned through Webinars and other outreach, and finally, convening an action planning workshop crafted to engage community leaders and public land managers in developing a strategy for implementing on-the-ground change.  

 The Livability Initiative draws from our deep track record of working with Gateway Communities throughout the country for the past 15 years on Balancing Nature and Commerce and is a natural extension of this work.  Stay tuned for periodic updates and additional information.