Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 32(2): March 2006 55 capital funding; and insufficient planners and planning in rapidly growing suburban and rural areas. In contrast, an example of a successful process for open space conservation in three New York watersheds is provided by Ehlers et al. (2000). This process contains elements found in the creation of other meaningful (e.g., large areas, quality landscapes and habitats, connections, accessibility, and us- ability) open space plans and systems (City of Boulder 1995; City of Davis 1996; City of Thousand Oaks 1996) and in- cludes identifying and working with stakeholders in decision making; building multimunicipal and multiorganizational co- operatives; building public support; open space inventory and conservation prioritization at a regional or watershed level; strategy setting for open space to be protected and acquired, including regulatory (e.g., zoning) and nonregulatory (e.g., bond issue and grants) methods of acquisition and manage- ment; development of creative funding strategies (e.g., pri- vate donation); and implementation, monitoring, and evalu- ation. Where successful open space conservation has taken place, these tasks are performed by a dedicated entity such as the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency in Thousand Oaks, California (Towne 1998). The purpose of this study, funded by the Ford Foundation Community Forestry Fellowship, was to gather information from local leaders about open space conservation. In the spirit of participation (Park et al. 1993), information gathered in the key informant interviews was summarized and provided to interviewees; municipal, regional, and county planners; and elected and appointed officials. It was used in open space workshops for both the Pennsylvania Boroughs and Town- ship Associations. It was also printed as a Sunday opinion/ editorial article in the local paper, The Centre Daily Times, and used in the development of an open space element for a new Centre County comprehensive plan. METHODS Study Population To help select the population of study, a local research advi- sory committee was established that included officials of mu- nicipal planning agencies and land conservancies. With rec- ommendations from the local advisory committee, a number of key informants (Bailey 1994; Luloff 1999; Elmendorf and Luloff 2001) were selected, including municipal officials, county officials, business and industry leaders, local environ- mental organization leaders, a representative from an under- class interest, and a representative from the news media. In- dividuals on the initial informant list, except for elected of- ficials and appointed planning commissioners, were sent a letter giving a brief explanation of the research project and then later were contacted by phone to schedule an interview. In the case of the elected officials and planning commission- ers, township and borough managers were asked during their interviews to identify an elected official and a planning com- mission member in their municipality who should be inter- viewed as well. The officials were then sent letters and called for interview scheduling. As interviews were conducted, a snowball sampling procedure was used (Bailey 1994; Luloff 1999; Elmendorf and Luloff 2001) in which interviewees were asked to provide names of other interview prospects. When the names of individuals were mentioned several times, these people were then contacted and interviewed. Again, the purpose of using these interviews was to gather information from a group of community leaders about a par- ticular issue of importance, not to gather and compare infor- mation from randomized groups of people. Preparation of Survey Instrument To provide higher-quality information and consistency be- tween interviews, a key informant interview schedule was developed with review by and input from the local research committee. The information schedule contained three sec- tions: 1. Open Space: Interviewees were asked what the term “open space” meant to them, whether open space pro- vided benefits, and what those benefits were. They were also asked whether residents were satisfied with the way open space was being conserved, whether a mul- timunicipal or connected system of open space was im- portant, and what they considered to be the greatest obstacles to a shared system of open space. 2. Land Use and Comprehensive Planning: Interviewees were asked to describe planning in the watershed, how planning worked to conserve open space in the water- shed, and obstacles in planning to conserve open space in the watershed. 3. What Can Be Done: Interviewees were asked what resi- dents and leaders should do to conserve open space and why municipalities had difficulties working together. Administration of Survey Instrument A total of 104 key informant interviews were completed dur- ing a 2-month period with the following people in the 14 municipalities of the Spring Creek watershed: 15 organiza- tional and agency leaders, 14 municipal managers, 14 plan- ning commission members, 11 planners and landscape archi- tects, 10 local businesspeople, 9 township supervisors, 6 zon- ing officers, 5 borough council members, 5 municipal solicitors, 5 developers and real estate agents, 4 engineers and architects, 4 university administrators, 1 superintendent of schools, and 1 county commissioner. Municipal managers, elected officials, and appointed planning commission mem- bers were interviewed in all municipalities. A number of the informants had multiple responsibilities and projects within the watershed, which reached across multiple municipalities. ©2006 International Society of Arboriculture
March 2006
| Title Name |
Pages |
Delete |
Url |
| Empty |
Search Text Block
Page #page_num
#doc_title
Hi $receivername|$receiveremail,
$sendername|$senderemail wrote these comments for you:
$message
$sendername|$senderemail would like for you to view the following digital edition.
Please click on the page below to be directed to the digital edition:
$thumbnail$pagenum
$link$pagenum
Your form submission was a success. You will be contacted by Washington Gas with follow-up information regarding your request.
This process might take longer please wait
