Doing the Right Thing: Improving Transportation and Enhancing our Environment
It's about connections. It's about the future.
We all recognize that we need safe, efficient and effective transportation systems that connect us to our economy and built environment...our places of employment, churches, schools, recreation and shopping, as well as access to markets, suppliers and customers.
But it is increasingly clear that we must also recognize the importance and value of our connections to our natural environment as we jointly plan and develop our future transportation systems.
The Bigger Picture...
To minimize impacts on our environment, CCTID and its partners are developing context-sensitive solution approaches and common-sense watershed-based mitigation strategies. By focusing on protecting and enhancing our environment, we can link important habitats, maintain and enhance our environment, and combine wetland mitigation and stream restoration and preservation with transportation investments.
CCTID is moving forward with the development of proactive environmental stewardship strategies that provide for broader mitigation strategies that support corridor or watershed based approaches and develops transportation investments that contribute to environmental stewardship through enhancing our green infrastructure.
Green Infrastructure
Green infrastructure is a strategically planned and managed network of natural areas, conservation lands, and working lands with conservation value that supports native species, maintains natural ecological processes, sustains air and water resources, and contributes to the health and quality of life for our communities and people.
The green infrastructure network encompasses a wide range of landscape elements:
- natural areas - such as wetlands, woodlands, streams and waterways, floodplains, hillsides and wildlife habitat;
- conservation lands - such as public and private nature preserves, open space, greenways, and parks; and
- working lands of conservation value - such as rivers and streams, woodlands, farms, and nurseries, as well as utility areas such as storm water management facilities.
Green infrastructure is an essential component of the CCTID advanced mitigation planning concept protecting important ecological, cultural and historic resources while supporting the corridor-wide transportation and economic development strategy.
By incorporating strategies to enhance and protect our green infrastructure into the joint planning initiative and development of our transportation systems, CCTID is developing advanced mitigation opportunities to protect our important natural environment.
Advanced Mitigation Concept
Advanced mitigation of environmental impacts (mitigation actions undertaken now in anticipation of future transportation project impacts) should be implemented during the early stages of transportation planning.
By taking a proactive approach to mitigating impacts to the environment, high-quality sites that are under threat now can be protected:
- Identify and select the best available sites for habitat and wetlands mitigation during the early planning process before transportation projects are implemented.
- Integrate habitat conservation and water quality protection with advanced mitigation strategies as elements of the corridor-wide green infrastructure.
- Integrate parks, cultural and historic sites with advanced mitigation strategies as a foundation of greenway system.
By going beyond the minimum regulatory impact mitigation requirements, this advanced mitigation planning is an important part of the comprehensive approach to community development that puts resource protection into the overall transportation funding strategy.
Mitigation Opportunities
The advanced mitigation strategy being developed by CCTID is a continuation of the Eastern Corridor project, land use visioning work, Green Infrastructure Planning, Tier 1 studies and resource agency and public input, to provide opportunity for a watershed-based mitigation approach and coordination with local watershed and conservation programs.
CCTID is moving forward with linking local watershed planning efforts identified in the Hall Run, Salt Run and Lower East Little Miami River Preservation and Restoration Opportunities Inventory Report with the green infrastructure development and mitigation strategies being developed for the Eastern Corridor.
This coordination effort supports the watershed management objectives outlined in the 2003 Lower East Fork Watershed Management Plan, incorporates objectives of Clermont County’s Project XLC Phase I agreement and Phase II Stormwater Management Planning, and is also being structured as part of the CCTID local match contribution to transportation improvements through an integrated funding approach.
A number of advanced mitigation opportunities have been developed to date and have been posted to Ohio EPA Mitigation Clearinghouse website to facilitate the exchange of information about potential sites for wetland and stream mitigation. Interested parties submit information on the Ohio EPA Data Sheet and Ohio EPA enters that information into a database. Submitted projects may be viewed by anyone interested in finding potential mitigation areas by clicking on the Map (see below).
http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/MCH/map_index.html