Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 32(2): March 2006 59 • Sound and progressive zoning and subdivision ordi- nances. • A professional development application review process that supports conservation development. • Good working relations between developers and munici- pal officials. • An entity and process for multijurisdictional open space planning and acquisition. • Tools such as bond issues to provide public funding for land acquisition. • Strong leadership, citizen support, and education about the benefits of open space. A successful process for open space conservation is im- portant in sustaining healthy urban forests and the benefits they provide (Dwyer et al. 2003). Furthermore, arborists and urban foresters should play an important role in the dynamic planning and management processes required to conserve these landscapes. Thus, their knowledge of land use planning and other policy tools used during community development is important. Information gathered in this study indicated that a lack of multimunicipal and multiorganizational cooperation re- mained a problem because of funding, administrative, and planning realities (Towne 1998; Austin and Potter 2003). Years ago, Clawson (1962), Cline et al. (1964), and Levine (1980) described the weakest link in open space conservation as the lack of an organized and effective public interest group. Open space conservation is a political struggle in the broadest sense, and the opposition of developers and specu- lators can be highly funded, powerful, and determined. Al- though open space conservation was important in the water- shed, there was strong evidence that an organized and effec- tive public interest group did not exist to support it in a complicated arena of growth issues. In this study, local lead- ers commented that strong public involvement was a neces- sary tool for bringing about desired change, and that this was lacking. Open space conservation had not found a strong and organized public voice to help compete with other growth interests, to concentrate on open space conservation rather than other growth issues, and to build municipal and organi- zational cooperatives. An organized entity concentrating on these actions has been an essential part of successful pro- grams in other parts of the country (City of Boulder 1995; City of Thousand Oaks 1996). The interviews provided evidence that leaders of the Spring Creek watershed thought open space was important and were concerned about its conservation. However, for the most part, they did not fully understand the benefits of open space, the benefits of planning for open space, or the planning and collaborative techniques needed to conserve it in their rapidly growing watershed. These are important obstacles that have been facing open space conservation for the past 40 years. LITERATURE CITED Averbach, C., and L. Silverstein. 2003. Qualitative Data: An Introduction to Coding and Analysis. New York Univer- sity Press, New York, NY. Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. 1997. The 1996 Interna- tional Countryside Stewardship Exchange in the Chesa- peake Bay Watershed. Baltimore, MD. Appleyard, D. 1979. The environment as a social symbol within a theory of environmental action and perception. American Planning Association Journal (April):143–153. Arendt, R. 1994. Rural by Design. American Planning Asso- ciation, Chicago, IL. Austin, F., and H. Potter. 2003. Resident involvement in natu- ral resource management: Open space conservation de- sign in practice. Local Environment 8(2):141–153. Bailey, K. 1994. Methods of Social Research. Free Press, New York, NY. Benedict, M. 2000. Green Infrastructure: A Strategic Ap- proach to Land Conservation. Planning Advisory Ser- vices, American Planning Association, Chicago, IL. Bengston, C. 2002. Personal conversation. Social Scientist and Ecological Economist, USDA Forest Service North Central Research Station, St. Paul, MN. Brody, S., D. Godschalk, and R. Burby. 2003. Mandating citizen participation in plan making: Six strategic plan- ning choices. Journal of the American Planning Associa- tion 69(3):245–264. Center for the Study of Law and Politics. 1991. Open Space: Preservation and Acquisition. San Francisco, CA. Centre County Planning Commission. 1977. Directions for the Future, Guidelines for Decision Making: A Compre- hensive Plan for Centre County. 1977. Bellefonte, PA. City of Boulder. 1995. City of Boulder Open Space Depart- ment: Long Range Management Policies. Boulder, CO. City of Davis. 1996. City of Davis General Plan Update. Davis, CA. City of Thousand Oaks. 1996. City of Thousand Oaks Re- vised Comprehensive Plan: Conservation Element and Open Space Element. Thousand Oaks, CA. Clawson, M. 1962. A positive approach to open space pres- ervation. Journal of the American Institute of Planners 28(2):124–129. Cline, M.J., C. Feiss, and K. Lynch. 1964. Open Space for Human Needs. Marcou, O’Leary and Associates, Plan- ners, Washington, D.C. Creswell, J. 1998. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. Dey, I. 1993. Qualitative Data Analysis: A User-Friendly Guide for Social Scientists. Rontledge, NY. ©2006 International Society of Arboriculture
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