{"id":47532,"date":"2021-09-28T18:02:41","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T22:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/?p=47532"},"modified":"2021-09-28T19:18:24","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T23:18:24","slug":"green-infrastructure-is-infrastructure-future-opportunities-for-nature-in-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/2021\/09\/28\/green-infrastructure-is-infrastructure-future-opportunities-for-nature-in-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Infrastructure is Infrastructure: Future Opportunities for Nature in Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cBoth [US political] parties agree: Trees are infrastructure. The bipartisan infrastructure deal moving through the Senate includes at least $5.75 billion for restoring, monitoring and researching forests, according to the legislative text and summary. Beyond money, the package also includes policies that could make it easier to prepare for wildfires. That\u2019s a significant slice of the deal\u2019s $46 billion resilience spending.\u201dClimatewire<\/em><\/a>, 8\/3\/2021<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The concept of green infrastructure has evolved from a novel buzzword into an umbrella term for the value that nature provides benefits to society. Can it be built into policy and law?<\/blockquote><\/figure>\n

As someone who has followed US environmental policy since the early 1990s in my internship with the National Commission on the Environment<\/a>, I was very pleased to see proposed US Federal investments in green infrastructure in the latest bipartisan infrastructure bill moving its way through the US Congress. Even with the topic of forest management policy being quite controversial<\/a>, it is significant that these debates are happening in the context of a discussion on infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The concept of green infrastructure has evolved from a novel buzzword<\/a> into an umbrella term for the value that nature provides to society. Its first high-profile reference came in U.S. President Bill Clinton\u2019s Council on Sustainable Development<\/a> and identified it as one of five strategic areas of sustainable community development. It became a recognized planning practice in the early 2000s, crystalized by the publication by my former colleagues, Mark Benedict and Ed McMahon, in 2006 entitled Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

While green infrastructure has many definitions and goals<\/a>, it successfully encompasses an array of strategies intended to improve environmental and human health. The infrastructure bill complements green infrastructure investments such as the US Land and Water Conservation Fund<\/a> (LWCF).<\/p>\n

The infrastructure bill that is being finalized by the US Congress acknowledges that maintenance and management of green infrastructure are also important investments. While LWCF has funded over 45,000 conservation projects in every state and nearly every county in the United States, the infrastructure bill helps ensure that many of these investments are protected and enhanced. Here are some examples of the types of green infrastructure maintenance, management, and enhancement that are included:<\/p>\n