Green Infrastructure Center Inc.

Happy to be recognized for our work in RI where we opened a new location last year and planning and planting for tree cover! https://lnkd.in/eje7iV48

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After a year of hard work, I am proud to finally share The Piedmont Area Plan draft: https://lnkd.in/evmK6kCY The planning process involved about 200 stakeholders including residents, business owners, community leaders, elected officials, and nonprofit organizations. Several meetings and events were held in Piedmont last summer through winter in support of the plan. For those who don’t know, Piedmont is an unincorporated community on the Saluda River in both Anderson and Greenville County jurisdictions. Therefore, the planning process involved collaboration with Anderson County to develop a cohesive plan for the community. The 36-square-mile study area is mostly unzoned. Since 2020, the Piedmont study area has grown at an average annual growth rate of 3.2%, double the rate of Greenville County and triple the rate of Anderson County, the Upstate region, and the state of South Carolina. More than 3,250 housing units are currently approved or under construction within the study area. All that to say: Piedmont is growing at breakneck speed. This plan aims to provide the community with bottom-up actions and tools they can use, as well as potential partnerships with nonprofit organizations and public agencies, to safeguard Piedmont from overdevelopment, and to encourage development that is accessible, contextual, and sustainable, benefiting current residents and the local economy. Growth should not merely be a series of construction projects, but a holistic enhancement of the community's fabric. This plan aims to realize a future that is built by the community, for the community. Big thanks to the American Planning Association, The Democracy Collaborative, Green Infrastructure Center Inc., Smart Growth America, and Strong Towns for helping me form a solid theoretical framework to guide the plan's development.

"The plan’s been designed by Charlottesville-based non-profit Green Infrastructure Center Inc. in partnership with the city." - Nick McNamara

Thanks for sharing the draft plan -- we are busy incorporating the citizen comments and getting the plan ready for City Council review!

DEM Division of Agriculture and Forest Environment (DAFE) and the Green Infrastructure Center Inc. (GIC) are pleased to announce that the first five municipalities have been selected for the Urban Forests for Rhode Island Technical Assistance Program. Many Rhode Island communities have limited resources and technical expertise to establish or expand their urban and community forestry programs. 

Earth Day 2024 Green Infrastructure Center Expands to Help Reforest Cities Charlottesville, VA: The nonprofit Green Infrastructure Center has secured several million dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act to hire an additional 12 staff to expand urban tree cover in more than 100 cities and towns over the next three years in VA, RI, SC, GA and MS. The funds were provided to state forestry agencies who have partnered with GIC to help cities expand tree cover to reduce impacts from climate change, provide shade, absorb stormwater, clean the air and support pollinators. Tree care and coverage is needed now more than ever. National data show urban and suburban tree canopy cover is trending downwards at a rate of about 175,000 acres lost per year – approximately 36 million trees annually. “Cities are getting hotter too, and less healthful” explained GIC’s executive director and founder Karen Firehock . “Many online climate calculators show how much hotter your city will be in the next few decades and encourage better energy efficiency to reduce our carbon footprint. However, one of the cheapest and easiest ways to reduce climate change impacts and even reverse it, is to start planting trees to capture future carbon emissions. We also should take care of those existing large urban trees storing carbon too,” Firehock added. GIC is helping cities create maps of their tree canopy cover and then showing them how much pollution the trees clean from the air. Firehock explained that, “Trees are especially good at capturing those tiny particles referred to as PM 2.5 (tiny particles of 2.5 microns in size). Those are the particles that lodge deep in a person’s lungs, and over time, can lead to chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma, which is on the rise in urban areas,” Firehock noted. One large tree can also soak up thousands of gallons of rainwater runoff every year. In cities, rainfall can carry pollutants such as oil, bacteria from animal waste, and sediment that pollutes our rivers and makes drinking water more expensive to treat too. Trees can help filter and clean up that runoff. When trees are well cared for, they also can buffer communities from wind and other storm damages. GIC’s expanded work will focus on disadvantaged communities that are the hottest and most polluted and who lack resources to plant trees on their own. Cities participating in GIC’s new expanded urban programs will receive tree canopy maps, planting goals, documented tree benefits, and tree planting projects. GIC has already worked with cities to turn vacant lots into parks and as well as planting safe walkable routes to schools, and creating resiliency plans for adapting to sea level rise. To learn more about GIC’s programs for connecting habitats, greening cities, or building community resilience, visit the website at https://gicinc.org/ #UrbanForestry #EnvironmentalJustice #TreesAreGood #PlantTrees # ClimateChange