Forest Connectivity
in the Developing Landscape
A Design Guide for Conservation Developments
By Karen Firehock
Green Infrastructure Center Inc.
September 2019
, Preface
This guide provides the reasons, steps, proce
works on this topic by incorporating modern
best design practices for maximizing forest c
this design by focusing, not just on the notio
habitat and restoring it where it has been im
The Green Infrastructure Center Inc. has authored this guide and designed the case guide’s writing, one in North Carolina and on
examples presented. The contents of this guide do not necessarily reflect the views by-step through the design process and the
or policies of the USDA Forest Service, nor does mention of trade names, commercial with all the inherent site and policy constrain
productions, services or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
The work upon which this publication is based was funded in whole, or in part, Audience for This Guide
through an Urban and Community Forestry Grant awarded by the Southern Region,
This guide was written for:
State and Private Forestry, U.S. Forest Service, and administered by the North Carolina
n Developers who want to design development
Forest Service and the South Carolina Forestry Commission.
cost less to build, sell faster and for better profi
In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) policy, who want to leave a green legacy.
this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national n Foresters who want to ensure that their forest
conserved as much as possible, and to help th
origin, sex, age or disability.
communicate the value of forested landscape
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room developers, builders and planners.
326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250- n Planners who want to show developers, coun
9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider commissioners, and city councils how and wh
forests can be accommodated in the develop
and employer. landscape, while avoiding the creation of new
Publication Date: September 2019 for fire, water quality or loss of open space and
scenic and cultural assets.
n Land Trusts who may either:
—wish to sell or share parts of their land for
development, but want to create assurances t
land can still function for wildlife, recreation, w
recharge and other values
—become holders of open space easements
conservation developments
n Conservationists who want to ensure connect
and habitat for wildlife or to protect rare, threa
,Contents 1 A Better Way To
Preface ................................................................................................................................................. i 1.1 Development of Our Forested
Audience for This Guide.................................................................................................................................i Landscape in the United States
About the Author.............................................................................................................................................i Land development for commercial and residential
Funders................................................................................................................................................................i uses is the single greatest threat to our southern
forests and the potentially the most impactful
1. A Better Way To Develop ............................................................................................. 1 practice to our landscape. Development in
forested landscapes also can significantly impact
1.1 Development of Our Forested Landscape in the United States............................................. 1
water supply by removing trees that filter runoff
1.2 Why This Guide Is Needed.................................................................................................................... 3 or help recharge aquifers. When land is stripped
1.3 Creating the Dream Team – What Expertise Is Needed For Conservation Design?......... 6 – lot line to lot line clearing – it can take decades
for newly planted trees to replace the values
2. Why Design For Forest and Habitat Connectivity ........................................ 8 mature trees provided for shade and urban
2.1 Economic Reasons for Selling Nature’s Values and Protecting It .......................................... 8 cooling, stormwater uptake, natural beauty and
real estate values. The habitat of a forest is lost
2.2 Ecological Reasons for Forest Conservation................................................................................10
when we replace woodland with street trees.
2.3 Legacy: Developments Should Create Places of Lasting Value However, we do not have to design in ways that
and Healthful Landscapes..................................................................................................................16 are so impactful. Every development does not
need to start with the landscape as a blank slate
3. Guiding Principles For Fostering Connectivity and Forest Health .20 entirely stripped of its trees.
3.1 Thinking like a network (not an island).........................................................................................20
In America, and especially in the southern United
3.2 Selecting/Designing the Site for Connectivity ..........................................................................25 States, where we are rich in natural beauty and
3.3 Communities That Work – What Makes For Good Design......................................................26 abundant water, it is easy to forget that our land
3.4 Designing With Both People and Wildlife In Mind....................................................................29 is a finite resource. Fifty years ago, in 1969, Ian
McHarg penned his now famous book Design
4. Designing For Forest Connectivity and Productivity ............................ 31 With Nature in which he advised developers,
4.1 Site Inventory and Data.......................................................................................................................31
4.2 Design Options: Deciding What to Protect/Conserve/Restore/Connect..........................33
4.3 Case Examples........................................................................................................................................36
1: South Carolina: Long Branch, Greenville County.............................................................36
2: North Carolina: Little White Oak Mountain, Polk County .............................................54
5. Marketing and Managing a Conservation Design ..................................... 70
5.1 Financing Conservation Design -- Arguments For Bankers and Investors.......................70
5.2 Marketing Conservation Development For Buyers...................................................................72
, 1.2 Why This Guide Is Needed
This guide shows how to develop in ways that
maximize forest abundance and connectivity
and provides best practices for ensuring trees
planted during development will survive. So, why
do we need a guide for how to protect forests in
developing landscapes?
Today our forests are under threat from pests,
storms and alternating droughts and floods;
however, the greatest impacts are from forestland
conversions. What is different today from decades
past is the rate at which we are using up the land.
Development is occurring across the southern
United States at a rapid pace. And it is not just the
rate of growth, but the sprawling patterns of that
growth.
Sprawl-patterned development uses more land
Clearing an entire site before building destroys the site’s natural beauty and removes nourishing topsoil. but accommodates less people. Larger lot sizes
and road networks that wind around and are
Clearing and flattening a site entirely before Ironically, we often name developments for the not connected take up more space. Since many
building – a scorched earth method – while easy, very features we destroy in making them, such subdivisions lack inner-connectivity, they rely on
is not without consequences. Places built on as Tall Oaks or Pine Lake. One development access to feeder roads, requiring wider, multi-
top of filled wetlands complain of poor drainage was named ‘Still Meadow,’ which to those who lane roads to carry the traffic volume. All of this
and excessively humid environs, while people know anything about meadows, connotes a translates to more land disturbance.
“Ironically, we downslope complain of new ‘floods’ that didn’t ‘dead meadow.’ A living meadow is anything
often name happen before the filling. People move to lakes to but still – it should hum with the sounds and
In addition, the practice of lot-line-to-lot-line
clearing so that there are no obstacles to earth
developments for enjoy the water and build their dream homes, but sights of birds, bees, crickets, beetles, dragonflies,
moving, such as a woodland grove, means
the very features strip their lots of all vegetation and then wonder butterflies – and perhaps the sounds of children
why the lake is so cloudy and the fishing so poor. playing a game of hide and seek in the tall grass.
we destroy in Neighborhoods developed in this way suffer A meadow is a very alive landscape, especially
making them, tremendous heat without shade trees, while little when it is populated with native plants and
such as Tall Oaks tree saplings wither in yards built on clay, since all enjoyed by all manner of avian and earthly
or Pine Lake. the nutrient-rich topsoil has been stripped away. creatures.
This guide asks you, the reader – whether designer, forester, developer, planner,
elected or appointed official, or concerned citizen – to ask for, demand and
design land developments that conserve the best aspects of a landscape while
maintaining or restoring landscape connectivity with adjacent lands and beyond.
We can all design developments of lasting value that are also healthful places
in the Developing Landscape
A Design Guide for Conservation Developments
By Karen Firehock
Green Infrastructure Center Inc.
September 2019
, Preface
This guide provides the reasons, steps, proce
works on this topic by incorporating modern
best design practices for maximizing forest c
this design by focusing, not just on the notio
habitat and restoring it where it has been im
The Green Infrastructure Center Inc. has authored this guide and designed the case guide’s writing, one in North Carolina and on
examples presented. The contents of this guide do not necessarily reflect the views by-step through the design process and the
or policies of the USDA Forest Service, nor does mention of trade names, commercial with all the inherent site and policy constrain
productions, services or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
The work upon which this publication is based was funded in whole, or in part, Audience for This Guide
through an Urban and Community Forestry Grant awarded by the Southern Region,
This guide was written for:
State and Private Forestry, U.S. Forest Service, and administered by the North Carolina
n Developers who want to design development
Forest Service and the South Carolina Forestry Commission.
cost less to build, sell faster and for better profi
In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) policy, who want to leave a green legacy.
this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national n Foresters who want to ensure that their forest
conserved as much as possible, and to help th
origin, sex, age or disability.
communicate the value of forested landscape
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room developers, builders and planners.
326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250- n Planners who want to show developers, coun
9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider commissioners, and city councils how and wh
forests can be accommodated in the develop
and employer. landscape, while avoiding the creation of new
Publication Date: September 2019 for fire, water quality or loss of open space and
scenic and cultural assets.
n Land Trusts who may either:
—wish to sell or share parts of their land for
development, but want to create assurances t
land can still function for wildlife, recreation, w
recharge and other values
—become holders of open space easements
conservation developments
n Conservationists who want to ensure connect
and habitat for wildlife or to protect rare, threa
,Contents 1 A Better Way To
Preface ................................................................................................................................................. i 1.1 Development of Our Forested
Audience for This Guide.................................................................................................................................i Landscape in the United States
About the Author.............................................................................................................................................i Land development for commercial and residential
Funders................................................................................................................................................................i uses is the single greatest threat to our southern
forests and the potentially the most impactful
1. A Better Way To Develop ............................................................................................. 1 practice to our landscape. Development in
forested landscapes also can significantly impact
1.1 Development of Our Forested Landscape in the United States............................................. 1
water supply by removing trees that filter runoff
1.2 Why This Guide Is Needed.................................................................................................................... 3 or help recharge aquifers. When land is stripped
1.3 Creating the Dream Team – What Expertise Is Needed For Conservation Design?......... 6 – lot line to lot line clearing – it can take decades
for newly planted trees to replace the values
2. Why Design For Forest and Habitat Connectivity ........................................ 8 mature trees provided for shade and urban
2.1 Economic Reasons for Selling Nature’s Values and Protecting It .......................................... 8 cooling, stormwater uptake, natural beauty and
real estate values. The habitat of a forest is lost
2.2 Ecological Reasons for Forest Conservation................................................................................10
when we replace woodland with street trees.
2.3 Legacy: Developments Should Create Places of Lasting Value However, we do not have to design in ways that
and Healthful Landscapes..................................................................................................................16 are so impactful. Every development does not
need to start with the landscape as a blank slate
3. Guiding Principles For Fostering Connectivity and Forest Health .20 entirely stripped of its trees.
3.1 Thinking like a network (not an island).........................................................................................20
In America, and especially in the southern United
3.2 Selecting/Designing the Site for Connectivity ..........................................................................25 States, where we are rich in natural beauty and
3.3 Communities That Work – What Makes For Good Design......................................................26 abundant water, it is easy to forget that our land
3.4 Designing With Both People and Wildlife In Mind....................................................................29 is a finite resource. Fifty years ago, in 1969, Ian
McHarg penned his now famous book Design
4. Designing For Forest Connectivity and Productivity ............................ 31 With Nature in which he advised developers,
4.1 Site Inventory and Data.......................................................................................................................31
4.2 Design Options: Deciding What to Protect/Conserve/Restore/Connect..........................33
4.3 Case Examples........................................................................................................................................36
1: South Carolina: Long Branch, Greenville County.............................................................36
2: North Carolina: Little White Oak Mountain, Polk County .............................................54
5. Marketing and Managing a Conservation Design ..................................... 70
5.1 Financing Conservation Design -- Arguments For Bankers and Investors.......................70
5.2 Marketing Conservation Development For Buyers...................................................................72
, 1.2 Why This Guide Is Needed
This guide shows how to develop in ways that
maximize forest abundance and connectivity
and provides best practices for ensuring trees
planted during development will survive. So, why
do we need a guide for how to protect forests in
developing landscapes?
Today our forests are under threat from pests,
storms and alternating droughts and floods;
however, the greatest impacts are from forestland
conversions. What is different today from decades
past is the rate at which we are using up the land.
Development is occurring across the southern
United States at a rapid pace. And it is not just the
rate of growth, but the sprawling patterns of that
growth.
Sprawl-patterned development uses more land
Clearing an entire site before building destroys the site’s natural beauty and removes nourishing topsoil. but accommodates less people. Larger lot sizes
and road networks that wind around and are
Clearing and flattening a site entirely before Ironically, we often name developments for the not connected take up more space. Since many
building – a scorched earth method – while easy, very features we destroy in making them, such subdivisions lack inner-connectivity, they rely on
is not without consequences. Places built on as Tall Oaks or Pine Lake. One development access to feeder roads, requiring wider, multi-
top of filled wetlands complain of poor drainage was named ‘Still Meadow,’ which to those who lane roads to carry the traffic volume. All of this
and excessively humid environs, while people know anything about meadows, connotes a translates to more land disturbance.
“Ironically, we downslope complain of new ‘floods’ that didn’t ‘dead meadow.’ A living meadow is anything
often name happen before the filling. People move to lakes to but still – it should hum with the sounds and
In addition, the practice of lot-line-to-lot-line
clearing so that there are no obstacles to earth
developments for enjoy the water and build their dream homes, but sights of birds, bees, crickets, beetles, dragonflies,
moving, such as a woodland grove, means
the very features strip their lots of all vegetation and then wonder butterflies – and perhaps the sounds of children
why the lake is so cloudy and the fishing so poor. playing a game of hide and seek in the tall grass.
we destroy in Neighborhoods developed in this way suffer A meadow is a very alive landscape, especially
making them, tremendous heat without shade trees, while little when it is populated with native plants and
such as Tall Oaks tree saplings wither in yards built on clay, since all enjoyed by all manner of avian and earthly
or Pine Lake. the nutrient-rich topsoil has been stripped away. creatures.
This guide asks you, the reader – whether designer, forester, developer, planner,
elected or appointed official, or concerned citizen – to ask for, demand and
design land developments that conserve the best aspects of a landscape while
maintaining or restoring landscape connectivity with adjacent lands and beyond.
We can all design developments of lasting value that are also healthful places
