Green Infrastructure Champions Program
The Great Lake Commission’s Great Lakes Green Infrastructure Champions Pilot Program will bring together green infrastructure leaders and help them share their knowledge. The program will create a peer-to-peer mentoring network of “green infrastructure champions” and “emerging champions” that will help heal the fractured water cycle in mid-sized municipalities across the binational Great Lakes region. The program will also examine green infrastructure policy barriers and opportunities and share the findings with its membership and key regional stakeholders.
G/FLRPC will be mentoring the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks and the City of Ashland, WI.
The Friends of Grand Rapids Parks would like to increase the urban canopy as a result of infestation from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), which has affected over 1,500 ash trees in the City of Grand Rapids. The goals of the organization are to increase the urban canopy and directly align with neighborhoods of color; revitalize park spaces; and activate its citizen volunteers to plant trees. The organization doesn’t have a goal for the number of trees to plant—each year they try and impact the tree canopy goal of 40%. To date, the organization has planted over 4,000 trees. The Friends of Grand Rapids Parks is interested in various business models on what to do with ash trees after EAB and learning about other success stories and lessons learned.
The City of Ashland is a small city with 5-miles of Lake Superior shoreline and an aging infrastructure that is over-sized for its current population (8,216 at the 2010 Census). Infrastructure was constructed in the early 1900s when the population was peaking at 18,000. High lake-levels of the spring and summer 2017 has impacted the City, including shutting down a 4-lane highway for 36-hours. Heavy rain events have flooded the storm system, with cross-connections being identified as a challenge. Residents do not have the interest in creating a stormwater utility. The City of Ashland would like to learn how similarly-sized communities with aging infrastructure are implementing green infrastructure projects.
Communities from the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region may be incorporated into conversations when fitting to learn and share about the values of green infrastructure in order to foster discussion and mutual growth.
Contact Senior Planner Jayme B. Thomann, AICP, CFM with any questions or comments about this program at jbreschard@gflrpc.org or (585) 454-0190 x12.
G/FLRPC will be mentoring the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks and the City of Ashland, WI.
The Friends of Grand Rapids Parks would like to increase the urban canopy as a result of infestation from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), which has affected over 1,500 ash trees in the City of Grand Rapids. The goals of the organization are to increase the urban canopy and directly align with neighborhoods of color; revitalize park spaces; and activate its citizen volunteers to plant trees. The organization doesn’t have a goal for the number of trees to plant—each year they try and impact the tree canopy goal of 40%. To date, the organization has planted over 4,000 trees. The Friends of Grand Rapids Parks is interested in various business models on what to do with ash trees after EAB and learning about other success stories and lessons learned.
The City of Ashland is a small city with 5-miles of Lake Superior shoreline and an aging infrastructure that is over-sized for its current population (8,216 at the 2010 Census). Infrastructure was constructed in the early 1900s when the population was peaking at 18,000. High lake-levels of the spring and summer 2017 has impacted the City, including shutting down a 4-lane highway for 36-hours. Heavy rain events have flooded the storm system, with cross-connections being identified as a challenge. Residents do not have the interest in creating a stormwater utility. The City of Ashland would like to learn how similarly-sized communities with aging infrastructure are implementing green infrastructure projects.
Communities from the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region may be incorporated into conversations when fitting to learn and share about the values of green infrastructure in order to foster discussion and mutual growth.
Contact Senior Planner Jayme B. Thomann, AICP, CFM with any questions or comments about this program at jbreschard@gflrpc.org or (585) 454-0190 x12.
