At a Glance
A growing community inventories and updates its forestry and natural resource best practices to protect and enhance its public open spaces and parks.
Project Description
Arlington County combined and updated their 2004 Urban Forest Master Plan and the 2010 Natural Resources Management Plan as the Integrated Forestry & Natural Resources Management Plan (IFNRMP Update). It assesses natural resources and urban forest system and plans for future needs. As a result, the County’s Department of Parks and Recreation has a framework for policy and management.
Geographically the smallest self-governing county in the country—slightly less than 26 square miles, Arlington County maintains 924 acres of open space with rare ecosystems, over 750,000 trees, of which 119,000 publicly-owned. The IFNRMP Update examines all publicly accessible open spaces (public and privately owned, including traditional parks and open spaces, recreation facilities, natural resource sites, and streetscapes.
The Biohabitats team is developing best practices for flora and fauna inventories; urban, street, and park forest management; pest, deer and wildlife, and invasive species management; meadow, riparian and wetland habitat management; and ecosystem restoration and assessing operations, maintenance, programming and staffing practices for the IFNRMP Update.