The Conservation Fund’s Conservation Leadership Network works with communities across the country to provide assessments of an area’s natural, cultural and historic assets and evaluate opportunities to sustainably develop these assets predicated on livability principles.

Sustainable Tourism Assessments

As part of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) program, The Appalachian Gateway Initiative: Natural and Cultural Heritage Tourism Development, The Conservation Fund and The National Trust for Historic Preservation were retained to assist communities in enhancing natural, recreational, arts and historic assets in order to create sustainable tourism programs.  Since 2007, this program has conducted six assessments and developed recommendations reports for each.  See a few of these reports below:

• Assessment & Recommendations Report for Natural and Cultural Heritage Tourism Development in Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area (Alabama) (PDF)
• Assessment & Recommendations Report for Natural and Cultural Heritage Tourism Development in Haysi (Virginia) (PDF)
• Assessment & Recommendations Report for Natural and Cultural Heritage Tourism Development in Calhoun County (Alabama) (PDF)

Other Sustainable Tourism Intiatives:

The Conservation Fund worked specifically with the community of Unicoi, Tennessee to help them achieve a vibrant community by enhancing their natural, recreational, cultural and historic assets.  As a result, The Conservation Fund developed a Sustainable Tourism Initiative for the county that provides a recommendation report for implementation of a sustainable tourism plan.

Read the Sustainable Tourism Initiative here >> (PDF)

Livability Assessments

The Conservation Leadership Network will be strengthening livability capacity in five communities starting in 2013.  Through a partnership with the Federal Lands Livability Workgroup comprised of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Park Service (NPS) and other land management agencies, we will assess trends in livability associated with federal lands and their surrounding gateway communities, including identifying transferable lessons learned, and providing specific recommendations/action plans for moving forward. The initiative expects to include a broad mix of public lands, refuges, forests, and parks, from a geographic and demographic cross-section of the country.

Read more about Livability and this initiative here >>

Read the full Grand Lake Gateway Community Livability Assessment Report (PDF) here >>