Spring 2011 Environmental Planning Lecture

Landscape Conservation in the Northeast Megaregion
Robert Pirani
Vice President for Environmental Programs - Regional Plan Association
Executive Director - Governors Island Alliance

Wednesday, 04/6 at 4:00 pm
Cook/Douglas Lecture Hall
3 College Farm Road

A key challenge for the protection of water, habitat and other natural resources is placing these concerns into the broader policy framework of land use decision making and infrastructure investment.   Planners and conservation advocates are meeting this challenge by working across political jurisdictions to establish landscape conservation initiatives that protect watersheds, ecosystems and other landscape-scales processes.

This is especially true across the twelve mega-regions that are the locus of much of the nation's growth and development, where there are hundreds of locally driven initiatives that are bringing together local, state, and federal partners.   Regional Plan Association is helping landscape conservation initiatives succeed in implementing their goals in one of these: the 13 state northeast mega region.

Rob Pirani will present the initial findings from RPA's inventory of these landscape conservation initiatives.  A GIS assessment and interactive website (www.rpa.org/northeastlandscapes/) is being used to map and understand the spatial relationships between landscape conservation initiatives, important natural resources, and urban growth and infrastructure investment.

Robert Pirani is Regional Plan Association's Vice President for Environmental Programs and Executive Director of the Governors Island Alliance.  Mr. Pirani has authored or co-authored several of the Association's recent publications, including Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway: West Street Sustainable Stormwater Study; The Path Forward: Public Input on the Future of Gateway National Recreation Area; A Systems Approach to Water Resources; Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway: Concept Plans for Community Boards 1,2 and 6; On the Verge: Caring for New York City’s Emerging Waterfront Parks & Public Spaces;  Governors Island: Guidelines for Parks and Public Spaces; and The Economics of Transferring Development in the New Jersey Highlands.  Mr. Pirani holds a Master's Degree in Regional Planning from Cornell University and a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies from Hampshire College.
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