MDC wins community planning public outreach award

THIS CONTENT IS ARCHIVED
News from the region
Southwest
Published Date
10/28/2019
Body

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – “Conservation” is a word that applies to more than the remote forests, streams and prairies of Missouri. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) recognizes that utilizing community conservation planning policies in urban locations can have benefits for people and wildlife in those areas, too.

MDC has been honored for its community conservation efforts by receiving the 2019 Outstanding Public Outreach, Project, Tool, or Community Initiative Award from the Missouri Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA). MDC received this award Oct. 10 at the 2019 APA Quad-State Conference in Tulsa, OK. Besides Missouri, other states represented at the conference were Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

MDC received the APA award for the publication of “Conservation Planning Tools for Missouri Communities; A Reference Manual.” This MDC publication, which is available at https://mdc.mo.gov/property/community-conservation was authored by MDC Community Conservation Planner Ronda Burnett. It is a guidebook for community planners and private developers. In addition to containing technical information on planning processes and sources of useful data, the manual contains case studies from communities in Missouri and other states that demonstrate the flexibility of planning tools to strengthen connections to nature and, also, to meet other civic objectives.