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Revitalization / ConservationRevitalization / Conservation
Since 2002, Central Park NC’s Small Town Area Revitalization (STAR) program has worked with small towns throughout the region to help them adopt long-term, sustainable answers to ongoing civic challenges. Most of these towns have fewer than 1,000 residents, many have volunteer mayors and other civic officials, and almost all lack a town government (including a town manager) to take a long-range, strategic approach to civic change. The STAR program has two coordinators who meet with volunteers from the town and assist them with formulating, and implementing, a strategic plan. In the short term this program hopes to provide residents with the tools to effect positive change in their community but the long-term goal is to get residents thinking regionally in ways that link their towns to others throughout the area. The five building blocks of the STAR process are: 1. Organization – Cultivating a cohesive, committed community organization to plan and implement a set of strategies that will revitalize the town. 2. Economic Development – Developing new business sectors that include - but are not limited to - creative enterprises, small-scale and value-added agricultural activities, cultural tourism businesses such as indigenous restaurants, coffee shops, bed and breakfast establishments, and outdoor recreation-based businesses such as outfitters, cycling shops, equestrian supplies and more. 3. Historic Preservation – Preserving the town’s historic architecture and encouraging new design that is in keeping with the culture and heritage of the place. 4. Recreation – Creating attractive and appealing public spaces that encourage community interaction, walking and biking paths that connect neighborhoods to each other, to schools, churches and downtown and enhancing other healthy outdoor activities. Taking advantage of natural resources to promote healthy human-powered recreation. 5. Promotion & Marketing – Promoting the development of the town’s unique identity to cultivate community pride and developing communication systems that ensure townspeople are informed. Marketing local assets and attractions to visitors and embracing the strategy to develop North Carolina’s Central Park as a tourism destination. Each community is unique but generally the STAR program takes 12 to 18 months and occurs in four phases: • Phase I: Prepare – Present program to Town Council, identify, recruit and prepare Steering Committee • Phase II: Study – Resource team visits, then develops recommendations for revitalization based on town’s unique assets and challenges. • Phase III: Plan – Review and refine recommendations with Steering Committee. Form and train five focus area teams. • Phase IV: Implement – Launch small-scale projects to catalyze community involvement and demonstrate potential. Begin sourcing and securing funds for full implementation of plan. The STAR program is currently active in the towns of Ellerbe, Star, Franklinville, Ansonville, and Denton. If you would like to contribute to the volunteer efforts of one of these small towns please contact coordinators Casey Harris or Tim Emmert. Wildlife Resources Conservation The Central Park region of North Carolina has an opportunity that many places in North Carolina no longer have, an opportunity to conserve the rural and natural resources that make the region unique, even as vital economic growth occurs. In addition to providing wildlife, natural areas serve our communities by providing the resources many seek to cultivate, such as aesthetic beauty, tourist attractions, recreation areas, water and soil quality and quantity, resources that can maintain our agricultural economy and the attractiveness of our counties to new business and residents. Our region can attain the economic growth it needs while conserving vital wildlife habitat that maintains and improves water quality and quantity, and which can enhance our economic health by keeping the region unique and beautiful.
Why does wildlife habitat matter? The North Carolina Piedmont is one of the top 10 wildlife hotspots in the country with a rich diversity of mammals, butterflies, plants, birds, amphibians and reptiles. Do you enjoy seeing the bald eagles soar over our lakes and rivers or hearing a bright red summer tananger singing in the woods? How about watching your kids find salamanders and frogs? Most of these animals are rare and disappearing as suburban and urban areas are developed statewide. Development growth was not planned in most areas with consideration for our natural heritage and wildlife. In these urbanizing areas, forests and small wetlands are all but gone and soil erosion and sewer overflows have caused stream pollution. We all know it is important to preserve our hunting and fishing heritage and the 29,000 recreation-based jobs in the state. One of the top priorities for new businesses seeking to relocate is the aesthetic beauty of an area. But how should we weigh development growth needed against the survival of the hundreds of species found in our region? If we place development in the appropriate places, without harming private property rights, we can maintain sufficient wildlife habitat and job growth. How can we do this? Tools such as conservation development design are one answer. Conservation development design protects the rights of the landowner to get the maximum profit from the sale of his land for development while preserving the natural lay of the land and natural open space by design. This approach saves money for county taxpayers and developers because it requires fewer roads and water lines. County and municipal land-use planning is a tool that can help encourage conservation development design that is in line with community vision and safe, cost-effective, growth patterns. Conservation easements allow private landowners to continue working their land but protect it from development in the future by compensating the land owner with extensive income tax cuts. There are also a suite of cost-share programs whereby landowner’s costs for habitat enhancement are partially covered by state and federal agencies. These measures can create a healthy balance between economic development and wildlife habitat that works to the benefit of communities and their surrounding environs. For more information on wildlife resource conservation contact Piedmont Land Conservation Biologist Kiersten Cook. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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