NORC (national outdoor recreation conference)

How do we stop loving our public lands to death? Planning for sensitive lands in concurrence with outdoor recreation amenities and facilities is critical to ensuring the places we love to visit remain. Western states are often characterized by a strong connection between clean water, abundant wildlife, productive agriculture, and cultural heritage which provides a high quality of life for generations. 

Due to the high quality of life, western states continue to experience unprecedented growth, increased demand for recreation amenities, and pressures on natural and cultural resources. Planning for wildlife corridors, habitat preservation, and sensitive lands is the first step in protecting valuable natural and cultural resources in communities, but often times, implementation falls short. 

Moving from planning to implementation requires detailed action items, political will, and focused community engagement to develop specific land development code changes, new policies or programs, or revised processes/procedures for new development. This presentation will explore successful implementation approaches for a variety of sensitive area protections to assist outdoor recreation planners in moving the needle to protect valuable community resources at the regional and local levels.

• Think critically about the role of sensitive lands that include multiple benefits for economic development, community health and recreation, and ecosystem services.
• Learn tactics for interactive and successful engagement of diverse groups of constituents, especially those who sometimes have contrary interests.
• Learn about key implementation strategies for successful recreation management in growing communities.