Community Visioning Program Serves Iowa Communities

Since 1996, the state of Iowa has been offering its small communities (populations under 10,000) the opportunity to get involved in environmental stewardship with community improvement projects. Recently, 12 communities were selected to participate in the Living Roadways Community Visioning Program, which helps community volunteers envision aesthetic and ecological improvements along roadsides and related landscapes.

During the process, community members must follow a series of steps while working in coordination with Iowa State University's landscape architecture department. First, a cross-section of residents is selected to draft the proposal, then $1,000 must be raised to help fund the project. Volunteers must then begin the design process. They asses local natural, cultural and aesthetic landscape resources, identify and prioritize community needs, develop a community vision concept plan, determine potential funding sources for implementing the concept plan, and begin the first phase of landscape development. The university coordinates a design team of a professional landscape architect and ISU student interns who use computer-aided visualization services at an on-site community workshop. The design team creates a conceptual plan that reflects the vision of community leaders and volunteers. Trees Forever field coordinators also provide guidance, education and structured facilitation of the planning process.

At the conclusion of the Community Visioning Program, drawings and photographs describing the concept designs, along with an action plan, prepare the community to take the next step in the process-the implementation of the design. This year's participating cities include State Center, Asbury, Bloomfield, Donnellson, Gilbertville, Guthhrie Center, Hawarden, Panora Reinbeck Solon, Washington and Woodward. The program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation in partnership with Iowa State University Extension Landscape Architecture and Trees Forever, an Iowa-based nonprofit environmental advocacy organization.

For more information about the Community Visioning Program contact Trees Forever at 800-369-1269.