Letter from the Editor - September 2006

Getting Smart! September 2006

22 September 2006

Learn what's inside this issue of Getting Smart!

Dear Smart Growth Network Members:

Increasingly, we receive requests via the Smart Growth Hotline* for information about how to manage growth in rural areas. Resources and tools related to smart growth are typically geared toward urban or suburban environments. So, what does smart growth mean in rural communities, where land can seem in endless supply?

This issue of Getting Smart! seeks to answer that question. Matt Dalbey, policy analyst at EPA, offers a strategy for growing rural communities that wish to maintain the traditional rural development pattern. Claire Harper of the National Forest Service expands on the importance of open space and shares how NFS can be a partner in conservation. Finally Brian Williams, American Farmland Trust's director for Ohio, looks at how farmers and other leaders in Clark County, Ohio have worked together with a local land trust to preserve the agricultural economy and land, while spurring on redevelopment in the center city. For further reading, the Smart Growth Resources section will direct you to resources covering a range of rural growth issues.

In this issue, we also present two new smart growth resources from ICMA and the Smart Growth Network: our newest publication, titled, This is Smart Growth, and our inaugural Leading Practices in Smart Growth Symposium, which will be held November 13-14, 2006 in Boston. Please see the articles highlighting these resources for more information.

Regards,

Meghan Sharp
Editor, Getting Smart!