Integrating Land Use Planning and Biodiversity - Defenders of Wildlife

LAND USE PLANNING AND BIODIVERSITY
in the planning area's many communities. The plan
should identify available open space, gather existing
species data, and include specific regulations and
incentives for preserving biodiversity. It should also provide
for the mitigation of past or future habitat losses.
Local officials should take a broad and creative view of
how zoning ordinances and other land use laws and regulations
may be used to conserve biodiversity. Zoning
laws and regulations can undermine biodiversity by
increasing habitat fragmentation, or they can help conserve
natural habitats, although not necessarily by establishing
preserves. A variety of measures, including conservation
easements, transfer of development rights, special
augmentation of existing zoning, and tax incentives
can, if employed in ecologically sound ways, help create
or maintain existing open spaces in working landscapes,
such as ranches, farms and private forests. Working landscapes
can promote conservation while maintaining the
economic value of land and forestalling the kind of intense
development that destroys or fragments natural habitats.
If used strategically, rezoning can be extremely useful in
conservation, especially where purchasing land for
preservation is either not possible or desirable. There is,
however, an ongoing debate over the merits of "up-zoning"
and "down-zoning." Up-zoning increases density (by
allowing more lots per acre) and is generally favored by
"smart growth" advocates as a way to contain sprawl.
Down-zoning decreases density (by allowing more
acreage per lot), and has been used by many communities
to protect open space from sprawl. Because it is
thought to discourage ranches and farms from being
divided and subdivided, downzoning is usually employed
when communities seek to preserve agricultural land
from development.
BOX 4.
REGIONAL/STATE PLANS INFORM LOCAL LAND USE PLANNING
AT THE FOLLOWING POINTS:
• Community vision and goal setting.
• Local open space planning.
• Regulations or incentives to conserve biodiversity.
• Review of development proposals and projects.
• Siting of infrastructure facilities in the community (e.g. roads,
schools, hospitals, sewage treatment plants, etc.).
• Comprehensive or master planning process.
• Applications of local planning measures (e.g. zoning,
conservation easement programs, transfer of development right
programs).
• Creation of intermunicipal planning councils and agreements.
• Habitat mitigation for development, transportation projects, etc.
• Discussions with public agencies and elected officials should focus
on environmental benefits of biodiversity rather than environmental
constraints.
adverse impact on wildlife and biodiversity. Dense development
can eliminate wildlife habitat completely. If
managed properly, farms and ranches can provide some
wildlife habitat; if not, they can contribute to its degradation.
Historically, wildlife has rarely been considered in
rezoning, but regional or statewide conservation planning
can help change this situation. A notable example is the
Metropolitan Conservation Alliance, a Wildlife
Conservation Society program that works in the New
York City metropolitan area.
In many developed communities, zoning may be the best
and only option for protecting the area's remaining
wildlife habitat. Either scenario, however, may have an
THE ROLE OF CONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS
Workshop participants were asked to suggest how
Defenders of Wildlife and other conservation and
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