Photo caption:  Participants engage in a Cherokee County habitat mapping exercise.  Photo credit:  SEWF.

For the last 10 years, Cherokee County, surrounding communities and watershed advocates in the habitat-rich Upper Etowah River Basin, have been developing plans addressing the protection of greenspace, open space and prime habitat.  While some of these plans have received more public support than others, they are making positive strides in conservation planning.  In 2004, Cherokee County's planning effort secured support for the preservation of greenspace and parks through a $19 million Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), and in 2008 there was a bond issued for $39 million. 

On October 12^th, 2011, working with the Southeast Watershed Forum (SEWF), the County and stakeholders participated in the “Conservation Planning in Cherokee County Workshop.”  The workshop was supported by the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP) and funding through a Multi-state Conservation Grant project to implement the Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan (SAHP).  Approximately 37 people attended, including staff from various county departments, five surrounding communities, the Upper Etowah River Alliance, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), community groups and land trusts, the Army Corps of Engineers, Atlanta Regional Council, and SARP.  The workshop had three purposes; to strategically focus on which areas of the county were the most important to preserve and to make sure that the many diverse local stakeholders were in agreement on those priorities.  Significantly, the workshop offered an opportunity to use strategic land conservation planning to better manage stormwater runoff and water quality issues currently facing the county.   

The workshop also addressed the impact of growth on natural resources and the importance of conservation planning to maintain critical hydrologic functions, while maintaining local quality of life.  It focused on the economic benefits accrued from preserving green infrastructure like wetlands, forests and floodplains and strategic areas within the landscape like riparian buffers and sources of drinking water.  It also explored the multiple resource benefits derived from integrating land use, water quality and habitat protection and identified strategies and tools to implement land conservation.

Prior to the workshop, Cherokee County had already adopted policies to protect and conserve natural areas, which have important recreational, ecological and aesthetic values, including hydrologically sensitive areas, floodplains, steep slopes, protected mountains, wetlands, stream corridors and watersheds.  The plan called for a countywide green infrastructure plan that documented and mapped these sensitive environmental areas, and would lead to the acquisition of greenspace and other significant resources, as funding was available.

As a result of action-planning conducted at the workshop, a Green Infrastructure Planning Committee is being developed to continue project planning and to lead outreach efforts to other communities in the county.  Follow-on measures include a workshop on land conservation that is tentatively planned for spring 2011 and the creation of a listserve for additional supporters that will be developed to keep people informed of conservation/green infrastructure news in the county.  In addition, it was recommended by the group that Cherokee County hire a staffer to serve as a point-person for coordinating conservation easements with interested landowners in strategic areas designated as important to the county greenspace plan.

For more information on the Forum’s work with Cherokee County click here or contact Christine Olsenius, SEWF Executive Director, at co@southeastwaterforum.org.