What Is Green Infrastructure?

Definition: A strategically planned and managed network of natural lands, working landscapes, and other open spaces that conserves ecosystem values and functions and provides associated benefits to human populations. (Source: Benedict & McMahon 2006)

The Conservation Fund is the only conservation organization to design green infrastructure plans in three of the country’s largest metro areas: Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles. We also have worked in metro areas that understand the strategic advantage to having an interconnected network of greenspaces and trails for quality life, such as Nashville, Indianapolis, and Kansas City. We also think big, working with whole regions and even completing the nation’s largest green infrastructure plan, across 13 states.

 

Green Infrastructure Case Studies

1. Maryland’s Green Infrastructure Assessment and GreenPrint Program
2. Florida’s Ecological Network
3. Metro Greenways: Seven-County Twin Cities Region, Minnesota
4. Saginaw Bay Greenways Collaborative, Michigan
5. Conservation Resource Alliance’s Wild Link and River Care Programs, Northwest Lower Michigan
6. Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan Pima County, Arizona
7. Mountains to Sound Greenway: Seattle to the Cascades
8. The BioMap Project, Massachusetts
9. Baltimore County Forest Sustainability Project
10. Kansas City Green Infrastructure Case Study
11. 'Nashville: Naturally' Case Study

 

Green Infrastructure Webinar Series

The Conservation Fund’s Conservation Leadership Network, with support from the U.S. Forest Service, hosted a series of free webinars on cutting-edge topics on green infrastructure planning initiatives and applications.

WEBINAR #3 ARCHIVE: Military Implementation Of Green Infrastructure
Representatives from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and U.S. Marine Corps discussed how green infrastructure is being used on their installations to support broader sustainability goals.
 

• Audio Recording Of Webinar #3 (mp3 file)
• Tinker Air Force Base Green Infrastructure Plan Presentation (PDF), John Krupovage, U.S. Air Force
• Sustainable Fort Carson presentation (PDF) *updated version, Mary Barber, U.S. Army
• The Power of Partnerships presentation (PDF), Paul Friday, U.S. Marine Corps
• Additional Resources: Tinker Air Force Base Green Infrastructure Plan (PDF)

WEBINAR #2 ARCHIVE: International Applications of Green Infrastructure
This webinar highlighted the latest in how green infrastructure is being implemented in the European Union and in South America from leading practitioners!

• Audio Recording Of Webinar #2 (mp3 file)
• Green Infrastructure in Europe, presented by Graham Bennett
• Green Infrastructure in Brazil, presented by Denise Levy

WEBINAR #1 ARCHIVE: Using Green Infrastructure to Prevent Disease Vectors
This webinar explored how Green Infrastructure contributes to human health through the prevention of transmission of disease vectors through ecosystem management and land use strategies.

• Audio Recording Of Webinar #1 (mp3 file) presented by Kendra Briechle, The Conservation Fund
• Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Human Health: Links to Green Infrastructure Planning (PDF), presented by Montira Pongsiri, US EPA
• Strategic Conservation Through Green Infrastructure Planning: Implications for Lyme’s Disease (PDF), presented by Matt Nicholson, US EPA

OTHER GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE RESOURCES

• Green Infrastructure Planning Guide for North Carolina
• Metropolitan Greenspace Alliance
• Greenprint Resource Hub
• Check out our Green Infrastructure Resources, including Case Studies, Services, and Webinar Series.