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CEDAR FALLS COMPREHENSIVE PLAN turn on investment of $1.70 to $4.40 for every dollar spent buying land.3 Conserva-


tion strategies that promote carbon sequestration can offset carbon emissions from transportation and industry. Less tangible but equally important, many people value nature regardless of its benefits to people, and are willing to pay to protect nature.


Implementing this comprehensive plan will preserve, restore, enhance, and con- nect the natural environment, even while it promotes smart growth, sustainable development, productive use of lands, and a high quality of life. This plan will guide future zoning and ordinances. It will help citizens and community leaders under- stand how their decisions will affect the natural environment and stormwater. Spe- cific strategies for sustaining the natural environment are found in later chapters of this comprehensive plan, and are based on these goals:


• Ensure healthy air, water, soil, vegetation, wildlife, and human communities;


• Achieve energy conservation and waste reduction in land use, infrastructure, and op- erations and maintenance;


• Pursue renewable energy sources and water conservation; • Establish reliable funding mechanisms for conservation and stewardship; and • Optimize economic returns from the environment.


Appropriate use and management of the natural environment is not all that Cedar Falls needs to be a great place to live in the 21st


century; the City also needs good


schools, a healthy economy, and efficient public services. But a healthy natural en- vironment will help ensure that Cedar Falls has a high quality of life that can be sus- tained far into the future.


CONSERVATION PLANNING APPROACH


The City’s comprehensive plan summarizes a huge amount of information and charts a path for future development and growth, consistent with the values and preferences of its residents. One element of that plan is to decide what residents and the City will do to protect and improve the natural environment of Cedar Falls.


A tool that communities can use to make decisions about the natural environment is the conservation framework (Figure 9.1). A conservation framework describes the im- portant areas in a City which, if treated appropriately, will help maintain a high level of ecosystem services, such as runoff regulation. The conservation framework consists of:


• Habitat Cores • Connections between Habitats • Small Natural Areas and Rare Species Habitats • Ecological Stormwater Management Areas and Native Plantings


• Parks and Trails 3 Return on Investment in Conservation: An Economic Analysis of Ecosystem Services from Land Acquisitions by the Min- nesota DNR. http://www.embraceopenspace.org/vertical/Sites/%7B82DBC2D2-DFA6-4A33-879D-A8D2AF1A5804%7D/ uploads/%7B804BD196-A650-432B-8509-919DD227254B%7D.PDF


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