Resources for Community Planners

ELI's Resources for Community Planners

The Naturally Green Planning Program helps integrate conservation science and land-use planning through publications that identify effective policies and policy reforms and translate science into practical guidelines. The recommendations in our publications are designed to help planners ensure that traditional land-use tools are science-based and reflect conservation principles.

Featured Areas of Expertise and Resources:

Planner's Guide to Wetland Buffers for Local Governments (2008). Based on ELI's detailed examination of more than 50 enacted wetland buffer ordinances around the nation and several hundred scientific studies and analyses of buffer performance, this report identifies both the state of the art and the range of current practice in protection of wetland buffers by local governments.

Nature-Friendly Ordinances (2004): This book is designed to help ordinance drafters integrate conservation considerations into their land-use actions. It defines the basic ecological guidelines that should guide land-use decision-making by local governments. It identifies sources of biodiversity information and explains how local governments can tailor familiar types of local land-use regulations to apply the ecological principles. Finally, it provides examples of specific local governments that have deployed these land-use tools.

Conservation Thresholds for Land Use Planners (2003): A review and synthesis of information from the biological literature, this report provides planners with rules of thumb on how much land to protect, the adequate size and location of habitat corridors, and appropriate widths for riparian buffers. The conservation thresholds recommended in our publication have been used extensively across the country in land-use plans, regulations, and other land-use standards.

Planning for Biodiversity: Authorities in State Land Use Laws (2003): Prepared in partnership with Defenders of Wildlife, this report is the first to examine the land-use planning enabling and growth management laws in each of the fifty states. It identifies a wide range of currently underutilized and potentially powerful authorities related to biodiversity protection, including planning requirements for natural resources, open space, wildlife habitat, and critical and sensitive areas.

ELI’s Land & Biodiversity Program focuses on:

Land & Biodiversity Publications

Contact Land & Biodiversity Program

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