Number: 1997-03
WHEREAS, the quality of our ambient environment–particularly our natural landscapes with woodlands, wetlands, ponds, lakes, and free-flowing streams and rivers– is a critical element of our quality of life and continued economic prosperity; and
WHEREAS, such natural features comprise essential habitat for the plants and animals that we enjoy for their beauty and educational and recreational values, and that may be important objects of scientific research for medicinal and other economic purposes, and which are genetic entities for future purposes yet undetermined; and
WHEREAS, rapid expansion of human population and the demand for housing, shopping, offices, and roadways has led to rampant changes in land use, characterized by unbridled growth and undirected development patterns, with the number of developed acres in the U.S. increasing by 18% versus a population growth of 10% between 1982 and 1992; and
WHEREAS, this urban sprawl and land conversion is experienced nationwide and inescapably results in:
Increased use of cars, trucks, and other vehicular transportation which contributes to reduced air quality through greater emissions of ozone- and smog-forming compounds,
Degraded ground and surface waters due to impairment of recharge and increased storm water runoff caused by an increase in impervious surface,
Severe fragmentation of natural landscapes and essential plant and animal habitats; and
WHEREAS, the property tax revenues generated by urban sprawl do not meet the required expenditure of public money to provide for the installation and maintenance of the infrastructure (i.e. water, sewer, schools, public safety and roads) required to support the urban sprawl, requiring local governments to borrow more money and to decrease other vital services to the residents of the urbanized area; and
WHEREAS, habitat fragmentation further results in extirpations and extinctions of plant and animal species, genetic isolation of animal populations leading to significant weakening of strains, deleterious imbalance in ecological communities, and other diminution of the diversity and numbers of plants and animals appreciated, enjoyed, and valued highly by members of the National Wildlife Federation and the general public;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in its Annual Meeting assembled April 3-6, 1997, in Tucson, Arizona, calls upon federal, state, county, and local jurisdictions with land use planning responsibility to make a commitment to curtail sprawl and its environmentally destructive consequences by:
Eliminating existing financial incentives that promote urban sprawl through legislation, regulation, taxation, and policy and, instead, promote the preservation of existing green open lands and redevelopment of urban/suburban “brownfield” (contaminated) sites, decayed residential areas, and abandoned commercial properties; and
Providing incentives for compact development, for example, the “village” or mixed-use concept that incorporates services and places of employment with residential development and green spaces; and
Developing urban revitalization programs that honor the spirit of neighborhoods and the health and safety of their citizens, and affirm the need for community involvement in the design of such development; and
Instituting programs that employ tools, such as transferable development rights, urban boundaries, and withholding funds for infrastructure development that promote sprawl; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation calls upon federal, state, county, and local land use planning entities to:
Require that land use and open space plans be coordinated across political boundaries to minimize habitat fragmentation,
Incorporate into growth management measures and practices the reconnection of vital plant and animal habitats through, for example, mandatory open space requirements, establishment of greenway connectors, and public-private ecological restoration projects; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that National Wildlife Federation affiliate organizations and their members will provide leadership for discouraging future sprawl by:
Actively supporting and promoting policies in their communities that favor reduced reliance on the individual automobile; and
Encouraging (and using) mass transit and biking and walking trails that connect shopping and service facilities with residences and workplaces; and
Supporting land use planning efforts that incorporate growth management measures as part of their implementation.