Tag: Sustainable Community Development

Building for Birds Evaluation Tool: Breeding and Wintering Habitat for Forest Birds

A woodpecker on an oak tree. UF/IFAS Photo: Thomas Wright.

Several bird species use forest fragments and trees conserved in built areas as breeding, wintering, and stopover habitat. Scientists have created a Building for Birds online tool to help these birds and the people who appreciate them. This evaluation tool is most useful for small developments or developments in already fragmented landscapes.

The tool is designed for use when no opportunity is available to conserve large forest areas of 125 acres or more within a proposed development. Developers are sometimes reluctant to conserve trees and forest fragments in subdivided residential/commercial areas because it costs time and money, but there is value in this conservation effort not only for many different species of forest birds, but for future homeowners waking to birdsong in the mornings.

This 17-page fact sheet written by Mark Hostetler and Jan-Michael Archer and published by the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation describes the online tool and shows how it can help preserve breeding and wintering habitat for migrating birds.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw417

Building for Birds Evaluation Tool: Forest Fragments Used as Stopover Sites by Migrant Birds

Western meadowlark perched on a fence post near Ona, Florida. UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones.

Several bird species use forest fragments and trees conserved in built areas as breeding, wintering, and stopover habitat. Scientists have created a Building for Birds online tool to help these birds and the people who appreciate them. This evaluation tool is most useful for small developments or developments in already fragmented landscapes.

The tool is designed for use when no opportunity is available to conserve large forest areas of 125 acres or more within a proposed development. Developers are sometimes reluctant to conserve trees and forest fragments in subdivided residential/commercial areas because it costs time and money, but there is value in this conservation effort not only for many different species of forest birds, but for future homeowners waking to birdsong in the mornings.

This 18-page fact sheet written by Mark Hostetler and Jan-Michael Archer and published by the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation describes the online tool and shows how it can help preserve stopover habitat for migrating birds.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw416

Ten Strategies for Working With Your Home Owner Association to Convert to a Florida-Friendly Yard

Figure 13. Example of an image that clearly shows plant material.Many homeowners are beginning to rethink their landscapes for several reasons, including mandated water and fertilizer restrictions, increasing maintenance costs, and concern for the environment. But over sixty million people now live in neighborhoods governed by Homeowner Associations, whose regulations can make it difficult to implement some changes by mandating types of plants, percentages of turf and plant material, location of plant materials, and restricting specialty gardens to back yards. More environmentally sound landscapes are possible with careful planning and design and by using an educated and knowledgeable approach to working with the HOA board to gain approval for a new landscape. This 9-page fact sheet offers several strategies for working within HOA regulations to gain approval for a Florida-Friendly landscape. Written by Gail Hansen and Claire Lewis, and published by the UF Department of Environmental Horticulture, February 2015. (Photo credit: Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program)
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep513

Mapping Your World with Community Analyst: An Easy to Use Tool to Map the Characteristics of U.S. Communities

Figure 1. Standard geographies available in Community Analyst for summarizing dataIn recent years, the number of mapping and geospatial tools that are both feature-rich and easy to use has increased. This is good news because it allows many more of us to capitalize on the power and unique insights that such tools can provide without having to spend inordinate amounts of time learning how to use them. This article presents Community Analyst, a web application that provides access to thousands of business, demographic, economic, education, and health data variables for the United States. The application’s extensive suite of data metrics, in conjunction with on-demand reports and interactive color-coded maps, allows one to quickly explore the characteristics of one or more geographic areas. This 9-page fact sheet was written by Robert Swett and Lisa Krimsky, and published by the UF Department of School of Forest Resources and Conservation, October 2014.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fr383

Improving Savings, Health, and Happiness by Re-examining Your Practices and Surroundings series

kids townThis series of EDIS publications introduces readers to the concept of overall community performance and suggests minor modifications to neighborhoods, public schools, and public services that could help citizens improve their communities. This publication is for a general audience and provides a list of changes to public schools that, if enacted, may help improve a community’s performance.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/topic_series_improving_savings_health_and_happiness

Small-Scale Natural Wastewater Treatment Systems: Principles and Regulatory Framework (SL365/SS566)

Figure 1. Schematic of constructed wetland at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.Natural systems use the natural processes of wetland ecosystems to both transform and hold on to many of the common pollutants that occur in household wastewater. This 8-page fact sheet briefly describes the principles and added benefits of natural systems. It then focuses on their use for treating small municipal wastewater flows from commercial and residential sites (i.e., septic systems or decentralized wastewater systems). Written by Kiara Winans, Shanin Speas-Frost, Mike Jerauld, Mark Clark, and Gurpal Toor, and published by the UF Department of Soil and Water Science, May 2012.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ss566

FCS7242/FY1134 Understanding Sustainability: The Importance of Sustainable Development and Comprehensive Plans: Goals, Objectives, Policies

FCS7242, a 4-page fact sheet by Jeffrey P. Gellerman, Mickie E. Swisher, and Karla A. Lenfesty, discusses the comprehensive plan, its components, and its role in sustainable community development. Published by the UF Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, February 2010.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy1134

FCS7237/FY1104 Understanding Sustainability: The Importance of Sustainable Development and Comprehensive Planning

FCS-7237, a 6-page paper by J.P. Gellerman, M.A. Brennan, Devesh Nirmul, and Karla Lenfesty, discusses sustainable development — different perspectives, aspects of sustainable communitites, and strategies for achieving sustainable communities. Includes references. Published by the UF Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, September 2009.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FY1104