June 2008 Archives

Jessica LeVeen Farr, a senior regional community development manager in the Atlanta Fed's Nashville branch, points out that many, particularly small rural, communities are abandoning business recruitment, retention and expansion approaches to economic development in favor of "economic gardening," an approach designed to "grow your own" jobs through entrepreneurial activity within the community. Why? Because of mounting questions about traditional strategies, including the use of incentives and the "growing body of research that suggests small and local businesses are important drivers of economic growth in communities." For more information, go to http://www.frbatlanta.org/invoke.cfm?objectid=4AA2C253-5056-9F12-12D9273D84A914EB&method=display_body.
from Southern Compass

A new report by the Urban Institute provides case studies on how six cities, including Atlanta, Georgia, have attempted to lessen the pressures on neighborhoods being affected by gentrification. The case study neighborhoods range from those in the beginning stages of gentrification to those where gentrification has advanced to the point where little affordable housing remains. Strategies detailed in the report for avoiding the displacement of residents include producing affordable housing, retaining existing affordable housing, and asset-building among neighborhood residents. Learn more about the report at http://www.urban.org/publications/411294.html.
from Southern Compass

International visitation to the U.S. is booming, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce. In the first quarter of 2008, visitation was up 15 percent over the same period last year, and spending was up by 20 percent. This builds on a record-breaking year for international arrivals and receipts in 2007. Over the past year, visitation increased by 18 percent in the East South Central region, which encompasses Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, by 11 percent in the South Atlantic region, and by 4 percent in the West South Central region. View the latest tourism statistics at http://www.tinet.ita.doc.gov/view/m-2008-I-001/index.html and http://www.tinet.ita.doc.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/2007_States_and_Cities.pdf.
from Southern Compass

The deadline for entering events for the printed “2009 Alabama Calendar of Events” is Monday, June 30. If your event has already occurred for this year and you simply want to update your previous listing with new dates, you may e-mail those dates to kory.ward@tourism.alabama.gov.  If your event has not occurred for this year or you have other events to post for 2009, you must submit them directly to our website at http://www.alabama.travel/things-to-do/events/submit.cfm.
 
If you have questions, please feel free to contact Kory Ward at 334-242-4645 or Marilyn Stamps at 334-242-4544; marilyn.stamps@tourism.alabama.gov.  Don’t forget that 2009 is the Year of Alabama History, so please remember to check the designation on the form for any history-related events.

This Old House magazine (a spin-off of the popular PBS television show) highlights Selma in the article “Best Places in the South to Buy an Old House.” Selma is one of only 14 cities across the south chosen for the magazine’s list. In choosing the cities for the list This Old House factored in architecture, housing prices, and the livability of the city itself. The article begins by mentioning Selma’s place in history as the starting point for theRev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s voting-rights marches and its more than 1,250 historic structures and four National Historic Districts. Selma is described in the article as a community on the Alabama River “where you can walk to the grocery and the summer sun is distilled through a canopy of live oaks.”   http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20208091,00.html 

Applications are now being accepted in a new recognition program of the Preserve America initiative -- Preserve America Stewards -- which will honor exemplary volunteer efforts at historic resources around the country.

The program will recognize stewardship programs that have demonstrated a successful use of volunteer time and commitment in order to help care for our cultural heritage. Government entities (federal, tribal, state, or local), non-profit organizations, and businesses are eligible to apply to have their programs recognized.

The application form and guidance is available at www.preserveamerica.gov. For further information, contact Druscilla Null at dnull@achp.gov or at (202) 606-8532.

On June 17, 2008 the U.S. Department of Commerce published in the Federal Register the announcement for this year's Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP) grant award competition. Applications will be due on July 31, 2008. For further information on the schedule, how to apply, help links, or for an application, please go to the MDCP website at: http://www.ita.doc.gov/mdcp/ or contact Brad Hess, Manager, Market Development Cooperator Program (202) 482-2969.

A draft policy statement entitled "Using Archaeological Resources for Public Benefit, including Education and Heritage Tourism," is the product of the ACHP’s Archaeology Task Force subcommittee and is being circulated for public comment in the Federal Register, and on the ACHP's website at www.achp.gov. After review of comments received, the Chair of the Task Force plans to bring the policy and guidance before the full ACHP membership for adoption at its August 15, 2008 quarterly meeting.

Comments are due to ACHP by July 11, 2008. Please note that all comments received will become part of the public record. For further information contact: Dr. Tom McCulloch, (202) 606-8554, or visit www.achp.gov.

May 21, 2008 - At the 110th Congress, 2nd session, H Con Res 305 - a concurrent resolution recognizing the importance of bicycling in transportation and recreation - was passed by the House of Representatives.

The resolution made statements and addressed statistics on bicycle use and non-motorized vehicles, including, “…the American bicyclist generates enormous economic returns - in 2006, the national bicycling economy contributed $133 billion to the U.S. economy, supported nearly 1.1 million jobs across U.S., generated $17.7 billion in annual Federal and State tax revenue, produced $53.1 billion annually in retail sales and services, and provided sustainable growth in rural communities.” The resolution recognized “increased and safe” bicycle use and included references to safety, intermodal transportation, support of funding for non-motorized travel, facilitated development of a coordinated system of bicycle routes across the country, and more. For full text of the resolution, visit http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:hc305eh.txt.

The Mix It Up Grants Program, administered by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, provides $500 grants to youth-directed activist projects that focus on identifying, crossing, and challenging social boundaries in schools and communities. Funded projects must promote collaboration across social boundaries — different youth groups, clubs, or community groups working together. Ideally, the project should be created and implemented by youth; however, various adults and community volunteers should also be invited to participate.
Applications are accepted throughout the year. For more information, please see www.tolerance.org/teens/grants.jsp.   

The Southern Partners Fund serves rural communities in the southeastern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Through the Fund's Regular Grants Cycle, support is provided to grassroots organizations striving for progressive fundamental change in the areas of social, economic, and environmental justice.

Applications for this program must be submitted by August 1, 2008. The Fund also accepts applications on a rolling basis for the Katrina relief, technical assistance, and travel grants programs.
Please go to http://www.spfund.org/.

The Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust supports nonprofit organizations located in the United States that provide long-term service projects offering direct assistance to disabled veterans and their families. The Trust’s grant-making interests include physical and psychological rehabilitation programs, programs that meet the special needs of veterans with specific disabilities such as amputation or blindness, and shelters for homeless veterans.

Requests are reviewed quarterly; the next application deadline is July 20, 2008.

For more information or print an application, please go to http://www.dav.org/cst/index.html.

Rural by Design: Maintaining Small Town Character by Randall Arendt

Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities by Jim Howe, Ed Mcmahon, Luther Propst
The Conservation Fund And The Sonoran Institute

Saving America's Countryside: A Guide to Rural Conservation (National Trust for Historic Preservation) by Samuel Stokes, Elizabeth Watson, Shelley Mastran. The National Trust For Historic Perservation

Save Our Land, Save Our Towns: A Plan For Pennsylvania by Thomas Hylton

Getting To Smart Growth: 100 Policies For Implementation from the Smart Growth Network

Getting To Smart Growth II: 100 More Policies For Implementation from the Smart Growth Network

Building Greener Neighborhoods: Tree As A Part Of The Plan American Forests/national Association Of Homebuilders

The Motorola Foundation, in partnership with the Chicago History Museum, will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth through the Motorola Abraham Lincoln Grants Program. The program will provide grants to projects developed by U.S. civic, educational, and cultural organizations that actively engage the public in the lessons from Lincoln's life. Funded projects should focus on one of the following three themes: bringing history into the future, engaging in current events, or leadership skills. Eligible applicants include schools and school systems; community organizations; arts and culture organizations; museums; universities; and, other nonprofit organizations with programming on diversity, freedom, history, and leadership.
The application deadline is July 30, 2008.
For more information, please see the following website: http://www.motorola.com/content.jsp?globalObjectId=8772

Green Communities offers Charrette Grants for up to $5,000 to assist housing developers with integrating green building systems in their developments and engage in a serious discussion of green design possibilities, Enterprise will award planning grants to affordable housing developers to coordinate green charrettes.  A Green Communities Charrette is a working session that will bring together a diverse group of housing development professionals, as well as funders, policymakers, and community stakeholders to integrate sustainable green design principles into affordable housing developments.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis
http://www.greencommunitiesonline.org/Charrettes.asp

Grantee(s) will be required to submit a research update at the October 2008 meeting of the Alabama Women’s Commission. A final research report should be submitted to the Commission at its January 2009 meeting.  All reporting requirements will be included in detail in the grantee award contract.  Grantees must comply with all applicable state and federal laws. Grantees must begin the project within thirty days of receipt of the grant award.
One or more awards not to exceed $15,000.
Applicants will be notified in writing once the final funding decisions have been made by the Alabama Women’s Commission. All applications must be received no later than June 27, 2008 at 5:00pm CST to the address below. No late or faxed proposals will be accepted.
Sarah Skipper, Executive Director, Alabama Women’s Commission,  202 Marsh Lane, Oxford, Alabama 36203

The mission of Network for Good’s new online Learning Center is to provide nonprofits with free access to the best available web-based fundraising and nonprofit marketing resources. The Learning Center features hundreds of articles in six areas: Online Fundraising, Social Networking, Website 101, Email 101, Donor Database, and Nonprofit Marketing. Much of the content comes from nonprofit professionals, coaches, trainers, bloggers, and consultants who are working everyday to improve fundraising and marketing effectiveness. To review the resources offered by the Learning Center, please visit http://www.fundraising123.org/
 

 recent editorial questions the merits of building new schools in remote, suburban locations as opposed to building or improving facilities in more central areas. The author contends that new schools, though cheaper to build in suburban areas, create hidden costs by encouraging sprawl, traffic congestion, and pollution. Additionally, suburban schools prevent most students from walking to school and require parents to spend more time chauffeuring their children. To learn more about the effects of school locations, and what can be done to encourage the renovation of existing center-city schools, visit www.blueridgepress.com/
from Southern Compass

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost

The roads less traveled in Alabama are often our most beautiful. Everyone uses roads—they’re the backbone of our transportation system and without them, not much could get done. They’re how we get to work… how groceries get to market. But they are so much more, particularly when we open our eyes. Roads are how the world sees us. Roads are how impressions are made. Mostly, we see the world through our windshield.

Take the old-fashioned Sunday drive. No one got into the car after lunch on Sunday expecting to go anywhere—it wasn’t the destination that mattered, just that the wheels rolled and the scenery went by.

It is the idea of a Sunday afternoon drive that is the foundation of any pleasurable drive. If you’ve ever gone riding just to ride, you know. You know too if you’ve been on one of America’s most well known scenic drives, the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. The road IS the destination. Over ten million visitors drive some part of this 430 mile Parkway every year, stopping to purchase gas, food, crafts, lodging and services along the way.

You are invited to spend the day with us at Black Belt Treasures on Saturday, June 28, 2008, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

We will host this year’s Folk Life Festival which will feature potters Sam Williams of Monroe County and Robin Rogers of Dallas County; bird carver John Sheffey of Dallas County; vine basket maker Ronald “Buster” Scruggs of Butler County: white oak basket maker Walter Brooks of Monroe County; decorative birdhouse builder Sam Cheek of Macon County; That’s Sew Gee’s Bend quilters Tinnie and Minnie Pettway of Wilcox County; stained glass artist Tyree McCloud of Wilcox County; monogram seamstress Jan Autrey of Dallas County; painters Catherine Watson of Monroe County, Mary Croley of Butler County, and Lynda Ray of Marengo County; and the Martin-Hicks Bluegrass/Gospel Band.

Cowboy Bruce Brannen, an artist from Montgomery County, will entertain through stories, poems, and rope tricks.  He will also exhibit his paintings of Wild West scenes. Enjoy delicious catfish and fixings’ prepared by Little Ezell's Catfish, of Choctaw County. 

more workshop photos coming soon!

Spirit of America Festival
Decatur; July 3-4
Area's largest free patriotic festival, featuring awards, the Miss Point Mallard Pageant, children's activities, musical entertainment and a large fireworks display.

Grand Bay Watermelon Festival
Grand Bay; July 4
Daylong festival with all the free watermelon you can eat, music, games, seed-spitting contest, watermelon-eating contest, beautiful baby contest and lots of arts and crafts. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Well-shaded area.

World Championship Domino Tournament, 34th Annual
Andalusia; July 11-12
More than 300 people participate in this tournament filled with fun, fellowship and competition for all ages. More than $20,000 in cash and trophies awarded. Fri. & Sat.; Registration 6:30 a.m.; Game begins 8 a.m.; Sweepstakes drawings, Sat., 7 p.m.

Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo
Dauphin Island; July 18-20
76th annual rodeo featuring the nation's largest saltwater fishing tournament. Sponsored by Mobile Jaycees with more than 3,000 fishermen. Fri., 5 a.m.,-Sun., 5 p.m.

Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series:
6th Annual Porsche 250
Birmingham; July 18-20
Join us for the 6th annual Porsche 250 presented by Bradley Arant as the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series returns to the Barber Motorsports Park. America's fastest growing sports car series features sleek Daytona Prototypes and GT cars racing on one of North America's finest road courses. Grand American Road Racing boasts two strong series - the Rolex Sports Car Series and the Koni Challenge Series. Be sure to visit the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, home of more than 1,000 vintage motorcycles and 50 cars - the largest collection of vintage motorcycles in the world.

The Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce won a $4,000 ad in Southern Living thanks to the writing skills of executive director Laurie Cothran. She won a news release writing challenge held at the Alabama Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus meeting held last week in Foley. It was part of a publicity workshop conducted by state tourism director Lee Sentell.

The recently completed Your Town Alabama workshop marks the 10 year anniversary for the workshop. Check back soon for photos of the workshop!

Based on market analysis findings of many communities, coupled with business examples being submitted to the University of Wisconsin-Extension's Innovative Downtown Business online clearinghouse, 10 broad categories of retail are emerging as good fits for downtown. These can include both chains and independents and should be considered when downtown develops its business expansion and recruitment wish list, the university's community business development specialist Bill Ryan writes in this month's Perspectives column.

Read what those ten themes are in his column here: http://www.DowntownDevelopment.com/perspectives.php

(from Downtown Digest)

Please submit your local heritage events – pilgrimages and house tours, museum events, local heritage festivals, etc – to their website (www.alabama.travel) to be included in promotional material. Events submitted will be included in printed 2009 Alabama Calendar of Events booklet that is distributed throughout the year.  
 
DEADLINE: June 30th, 2008
 
Submission Instructions:

• go to www.alabama.travel
• click on “Events”
• then click on “Submit an Event”
• fill out the form completely

 
To be included in the printed 2009 Alabama Calendar of Events booklet, your event(s) must be posted on Tourism site by June 30, 2008.
 
For more information, contact:
 
Kory R Ward
Managing Editor
Alabama Calendar of Events
PH: 334-242-4514
Kory.Ward@tourism.alabama.gov
 

The Alabama Civil Rights Trail was the feature travel article in the Sunday, June 1 edition of The Tennessean. The article started with the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and continued with the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and Kelly Ingram Park. Sites along the trail in Montgomery included the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and parsonage, the Civil Rights Memorial Center, and Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum. Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, the Brown Chapel AME Church, the Voting Rights Trail Interpretive Center, and the National Voting Rights Museum were featured. Tuskegee Institute, the Carver Museum and the Oaks, and the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site and Moton Field were also highlighted in the article.
 
For the full article “Alabama trail recounts quest for civil rights- From Birmingham to Selma, state took center stage” by Becky J. Beall see http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806010303     
 

More than 500 people participated in the first of the June Saturday Walking Tours being offered in 30 cities across Alabama. Each tour attracted an average of 17 participants. Tops in attendance were the Birmingham Civil Rights district tour with 46, Athens with 43, Tuscumbia with 41, Guntersville with 40, and Huntsville and Fairhope both with 35. For a complete list of the cities participating in the Saturday Walking Tours see http://www.alabama.travel/things-to-do/tours-trails/saturday-walking/.
 

Is your state facing threats of demolition or abandonment of neighborhood schools?  When new schools are built, can your children to walk to their school?  Do decision-makers understand the many roles schools play within your community?  In addition to reaching educational objectives, do you believe that schools can serve other purposes in your neighborhood?

Concerned about the abandonment of older neighborhood schools and the siting of new schools outside of communities, the National Trust is offering an opportunity for organizations and coalitions in up to five states to analyze their state’s current policies and develop an educational outreach program with policy recommendations to help citizens and officials make informed choices when spending their limited dollars on school facilities. Selected organizations will receive a year of technical assistance and a $6,000 grant to: 1) research state policies and practices; 2) convene a policy summit to develop recommendations; 3) develop educational materials; and 4) hold a press event to announce policy findings. By participating in this program, organizations will secure community-centered schools for their state through the implementation of state-level policies.  The proposal deadline is July 14, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. eastern.

Through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and with support from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, the National Trust launched the Helping Johnny Walk to School: Sustaining Communities through Smart School Siting Policies program to help localities site their schools in a way that not only achieves their educational objectives, but also anchors the local neighborhood, supports better public health, creates a cleaner environment, spurs economic development, and offers additional amenities to the community.

Since publishing the seminal work Why Johnny Can’t Walk to School: Historic Neighborhood Schools in the Age of Sprawl and listing the threat to older neighborhood schools on the America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Sites list in 2000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has continually sought ways to raise awareness about the important link between community vitality and walkable neighborhood schools. This new program is a program of the National Trust Center for State and Local Policy which provides technical assistance, trains advocates, and conducts research on policies that impact the country’s historic resources.  Partners in this work with include authors Constance Beaumont and Tom Hylton, as well as organizations such as Safe Routes to School, The Rural School and Community Trust, and the 21st Century School Fund.

For more information about this issue and details about applying for this new grant opportunity, visit http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/historic-schools/ or contact Renee Viers Kuhlman, Director of Special Projects, Center for State and Local Policy, at Phone: 202-588-6234, e-mail: renee_kuhlman@nthp.org

The Tuskegee Airmen will be the focus of George Lucas' next film. Lucas has talked about such a movie since 2005, but he's now hired a screenwriter and told USA TODAY that he hopes to shoot it later this year. The name of the film will be "Red Tails." It's a nod to the candy apple color pilots painted the tails of their fighter planes. The Tuskegee Airmen were the nation's premier black combat aviators who flew largely in North Africa and Italy during World War II.

The Alabama Scenic River Trail was designated as a National Recreational Trail this week by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. The announcement of the national designation came Friday at the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the scenic river trail at Montgomery’s Riverwalk. The Alabama Scenic River Trail was recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior as "the nation’s longest one-state river trail" stretching approximately 631 miles from the Coosa River to the Gulf of Mexico.
 

This Saturday over 30 cities across the state will host the first of the June Saturday Walking Tours. The tours will place at 10 a.m. on June 7, 14, 21, and 28. These free guided walking tours are designed to take about one hour to complete. Different community leaders will lead the walks through the historic districts or courthouse square areas of their hometowns, sharing their own personal remembrances and even some local “tall tales.”
 
“Alabama is the only state in the nation to hold statewide, simultaneous walking tours,” said Brian Jones with the Alabama Tourism Department. This is the sixth year the Saturday Walking Tours have been conducted across the state and they keep increasing in popularity every year. We have done more than 750 tours over the course of the program.” Jones said.

In 2009, Alabama Communities of Excellence (ACE) will have many newly eligible cities as per the new population range of 2,000 to 18,000 people.  Among the newly eligible cities are the following North Central Alabama communities:  Hueytown, Pelham, Jasper, and Trussville.  ACE serves as a technical assistance provider to help communities ensure long-term economic success.  For more information, go to www.alabamacommunitiesofexcellence.org or call toll free (866) 557-0007.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Program was created in 1965 “…to assist in preserving, developing and assuring accessibility to all citizens of the United States of America of present and future generations …such quality and quantity of outdoor recreation resources as may be available and are necessary and desirable for individual active participation…” The LWCF Program provides matching grants to states, and through the states to local governments, for the acquisition and development of public outdoor recreation areas and facilities. FUNDING CYCLE:  All eligible project sponsors will be notified of the timing and application procedures, in writing, at the beginning of the funding cycle. Applications for FY2009 funding will be accepted from May 1, 2008, through September 2, 2008. 

The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is soliciting applications for Transportations Enhancement (TE) projects for FY2009.  Applications were mailed to Mayors of Cities and Towns, County Commission Chairmen, Presidents of Universities and Colleges.  Enhancements (TE) activities are federally funded, community-based projects that expand travel choices and enhance the transportation experience by improving the cultural, historic, aesthetic and environmental aspects of our transportation infrastructure.

TE projects must be one of 12 eligible activities and must relate to surface transportation:

1. Pedestrian and bicycle facilities;
2. Pedestrian and bicycle safety and educational activities;
3. Acquisition of scenic or historic easements and sites;
4. Scenic or historic  highway programs including tourist and welcome centers;
5. Landscaping and scenic beautification;
6. Historic preservation;
7. Rehabilitation and operation of historic transportation buildings, structures or facilities;
8. Conversion of abandoned railway corridors to trails;
9. Inventory, control, and removal of outdoor advertising;
10. Archaeological planning & research;
11. Environmental mitigation of runoff pollution and provision of wildlife connectivity;
12. Establishment of transportation museums. 

For more details on these 12 areas of eligibility visit www.enhancements.org/12_activities.asp. The federal government provides funding for TE projects through our nation’s surface transportation legislation.  The closure date for submittal of applications and support documents is Friday, October 3, 2008, 5:00 p.m.

The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) was created in 1998 to assist in acquiring, developing, or improving trail and trail-related resources. Eligible applicants include federal and state agencies, local governments and private sector organizations (see eligible organizations and agencies).

Applications submitted during this funding cycle will be competing for appropriations from fiscal year 2009 beginning October 1, 2008.

All eligible project sponsors are notified of the timing and application procedures, in writing, at the beginning of the cycle. The applications are reviewed, rated, and ranked by ADECA program staff and up to four members of the Alabama Recreational Trails Advisory Board.

Applications will be accepted from May 1, 2008, through September 2, 2008.

Partnerships do make a difference. The cooperative efforts of key players have led to a ground- breaking Stream Restoration Construction project in Jasper, Alabama. In January, The City of Jasper received a $500,000 grant to improve eleven-hundred linear feet of Town Creek that runs from the 18th Street bridge to beyond the 1939 historical footbridge.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management provided the grant that funded the project. The grant was awarded to the city and Cawaco Resource Conservation & Development Council, Inc.  Improvements included more pools and swift-flowing areas in the urban stream, an enhanced floodplain and the addition of a stormwater wetland to be used as a learning environment for Maddox Middle School students. 

The American Planning Association, in close collaboration with the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and American Forests (AF), will prepare a state-of-the-art best practices manual about how urban and community forestry can best be integrated into long-range and current municipal planning activities in the U.S.

The Problem of Declining Urban Forests

Urban forests provide enormous environmental benefits — among them improving air and water quality and slowing stormwater runoff. Yet, tree canopy in many U.S. metropolitan areas has declined significantly over the last few decades. The national organization American Forests has analyzed tree cover in more than a dozen metropolitan areas and documented changes. Over the last 15 years, naturally forested areas of the country east of the Mississippi River and in the Pacific Northwest have lost 25 percent of their canopy cover while impervious surfaces increased about 20 percent. Theses changes have ecological and economic impacts on air and water systems. Communities can offset the ecological impact of land development by utilizing the urban forest's natural capacity to mitigate environmental impacts. More: http://www.planning.org/forestry/

Deadline for most awards: September 10, 2008

Each year, the American Planning Association honors outstanding efforts in planning and planning leadership, including cutting-edge achievements and planning under difficult or adverse circumstances. We invite you to participate in the celebration of the best in plans and planning by nominating projects and people you think deserving of such recognition.

Nominations for 2009 National Planning Awards will be accepted here starting July 1, 2008.

September 10, 2008, at 12 midnight (local time) is the deadline for submitting online nominations for National Planning Excellence, National Planning Leadership, and National Planning Achievement awards; the International Planning Leadership Award; APA President's Award; AICP President's Award; AICP National Planning Pioneer Award; and APA Distinguished Service and Contribution Awards.

If you have questions about any of the National Planning Excellence, Leadership, and Achievement Awards, contact APA Public Affairs Coordinator Denny Johnson at djohnson@planning.org or 202-349-1006.

For additional information about APA Journalism, AICP Student Project Awards, and AICP Outstanding Student Awards, see descriptions below.

There are three long-term studies that are helpful when looking at economic impact,  birding interest, travel, and, in some cases, refuges.

1.  "BANKING ON NATURE"
• Since 1997, the USFWS has released "Banking on Nature" reports that attempt to estimate the economic benefits to local communities that result from National Wildlife Refuge visitation.
2. THE 2006 NATIONAL SURVEY ON FISHING, HUNTIN, AND WILDLIFE ASSOCIATED   RECREATION
• This survey has been conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1955 (c. every five years). According to the latest survey, about 48 million Americans over the age of 16 observed birds that year.
3. THE NATIONAL SURVEY ON RECREATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT
• This survey was started in the 1950s, and went to the Forest Service in the 1980s. It has a looser definition of birders, resulting in almost double the gross numbers: almost 82 million vs almost 48 million.

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