2: The committee maps cultural, historical, natural, and visual assessments, which are overlaid to determine relationships among the community’s resources.

The award-winning program integrates technical landscape planning and design techniques with sustainable community action to assist community leaders and volunteers in making sound and meaningful decisions about the local landscape.

In addition to Carson, the 2010 visioning communities are Clarksville, Estherville, Gunder and St. Olaf, Hudson, Independence, Knoxville, Rockford, Rolfe, Story City, Walford and West Liberty.

3: Developing a community concept plan.

The communities of Gunder and St. Olaf, which are both located on the River Bluffs Scenic Byway in northeast Iowa, will collaborate during the visioning process.

The program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation in partnership with Iowa State University Landscape Architecture Extension and Trees Forever, an Iowa-based nonprofit environmental advocacy organization. In addition, professional landscape architects offer expertise in creating conceptual design plans for the communities.

4: Community members view the final community concept plan during the public meeting.

To qualify for the visioning program, a community must have a population of fewer than 10,000, existing transportation-related issues and a committee of volunteers willing to dedicate their time and talent to the visioning process. Since 1996, 159 Iowa communities have benefited from the visioning program.

To view of the community Vision, click: http://www.communityvisioning.org/
and to view map of the communities, click here.

Additional information about the program is available at www.communityvisioning.org.