Agricultural Resources  |  Cultural and Historic Resources  |  Economic Development  |  General Planning Information  |  Housing Intergovernmental Cooperation  |  Issues and Opportunities  |  Land Use  |  Natural Resources  |  Transportation
 

Wisconsin Guides to the Planning Elements
 

• Agricultural Resources
  •  Online Sources of Environmental Assessment Tools and Resources for Wisconsin Farms.  A new website that is building an extensive list of on-line resources that farmers and others can use to assess and improve the environmental performance of farming operations.  Some of the links are assessment tools, some are fact sheets and bulletins, and some are books and publications.  The idea is for anyone to sit at a computer and go directly to really useful information related to each topic.  Some of the links I have found are great, some are just OK, some are for now just place holders.  http://www.soils.wisc.edu/soils/resources.html
  • Use Value Assessment for Wisconsin Farmland By Laura K. Paine and Mark J. Kopecky November 2002 (PDF)
  • Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service
  • Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
  • Wisconsin's Right to Farm Law -  www.wisbar.org/wislawmag/2002/12/hanson.html 
     
• Cultural and Historic Resources
  • Archaeological Site Inventory
  • Building America, National Building Museum - An educational site containing a fascinating historical perspective about land, accessible through an impressively designed interactive timeline:  www.nbm.org/home.html click the Building America icon.
  • Citizens for a Scenic Wisconsin:  www.scenicwisconsin.org
  • Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress:  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html 
  • Learn About Historic Architecture in Your Community
  • National Trust for Historic Preservation - A resource center for documenting, preserving, and protecting diverse historic and cultural places:  www.nthp.org/
  • Smart Growth in Wisconsin
  • The Wisconsin Historical Society's Smart Growth Initiative
  • Why Historic Preservation is Smart Growth: By Donovan Rykema
     
• Economic Development
  • Community and Economic Development Publications
  • Economagic - Free collection of easily available economic time series data useful for economic and planning research: www.economagic.com/
  • Pew Partnership for Civic Change - a civic research organization that identifies and documents promising solutions crucial to strong communities.  The information is sorted into five key subject areas:  Thriving Neighborhoods, Living-Wage Jobs, Viable Economies, Healthy Families and Children, and Collaborative Leadership.  -  www.pew-partnership.org 
  • Project Public Places - PPS offers technical assistance, research and education to create and sustain public places such as parks, plazas and central squares; transportation; public buildings, architecture and public markets:  http://pps.org/gps/ 
     
• General Planning Information
  • Consistency:  http://www.urpl.wisc.edu/people/ohm/resources/index.html
  • Planning Commissioner Service: www.planning.org/commissioners/index.html
  • List of Wisconsin State Agencies: http://wisconsin.gov/state/core/agency_index.html
  • Other Useful Wisconsin Links: http://www.doa.state.wi.us/
  • Wisconsin Safety and Buildings Division Inspectors Listed by County
     
• Housing
  • Congress for the New Urbanism:  www.cnu.org/
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development:  www.hud.gov/
  • Housing Zone - A broad spectrum of news and topics such as affordable housing, building materials, and remodeling for professional builders:  www.housingzone.com/
  • Knowledge Plex - The leading portal for the affordable housing and community development field:  www.knowledgeplex.org/fmfportal/mypage/mypage.asp?UserID=2&
  • Skyscrapers.com - The leading source for information about skyscrapers around the world, featuring an impressive database of images and statistics for over 42,000 buildings:  http://skyscrapers.com/
  • Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA): www.wheda.com
     
• Intergovernmental Cooperation
  • Governor’s Blue-Ribbon Commission on State-Local Partnerships for the 21st Century:  www.lafollette.wisc.edu/reform/
  • Division of Intergovernmental Regulations: www.doa.state.wi.us/index.asp?locid=9
  • Municipal Boundary Review: www.doa.state.wi.us/section.asp?linkid=132&locid=9
     
• Issues and Opportunities
  • Brookings Institution, Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy - A compilation of articles, research, and urban policies regarding neighborhoods, cities and metropolitan regions published by the respected Brookings Institution: Brookings Institution   
  • Demographics:   
    • Applied Population Laboratory website is:  www.ssc.wisc.edu/poplab/
    • Census 2000 - Office of Land Information Services
    • Census Bureau:  www.census.gov/
    • DOA Demographic Services:  www.doa.state.wi.us/section_detail.asp?linkcatid=11&linkid=64&locid=9&sname=Wis.%20Land%20Information%20Program
       
• Land Use
  • Land Use Planning Tool Set  (click Land Use Planning, then Tools):  http://www.smartcommunities.ncat.org/landuse/tools.shtml
  • Lincoln Institute of Land Policy - dedicated to improving the quality of debate about land use and tax policy:  www.lincolninst.edu/index-high.asp
  • New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal's "Zoning School":  Land Use Training Program for Local Government Officials:  www.nymir.org/zoning/index.htm
  • WISConsin Land INformation Clearinghouse:  http://www.sco.wisc.edu/wisclinc/
  • Wisconsin Land Information Program  www.doa.state.wi.us/section.asp?linkid=133&locid=9
    • County Land Information Offices:  www.co.dane.wi.us/lio/lion/lios.asp
       
• Natural Resources
  • Air
    • Air Matters Newsletter - DNR:  www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/aw/air/ed/EDUCATIO.htm
    • Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations:  http://www.ampo.org/index.php
    • US EPA Region V Air Pollution Resources:  www.epa.gov/ARD-R5/naaqs/naaqs.htm
    • WI DNR – Air Management:  www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/aw/air/
  • Forests
    • ForestryUSA, one of the most comprehensive sources of information on America's forestry and the forest products sectors.  http://www.forestryusa.com
  • Energy
    • Public Service Commission of Wisconsin:  http://psc.wi.gov/
    • Wisconsin Focus On Energy:  http://www.focusonenergy.com/
  • Habitat
    • North Central Research Station (NCRS) - The Changing Midwest Assessment:  http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/4153/deltawest/ 
    • Preserving Natural Habitat in Iowa  (Iowa State University Extension to Communities, February 2001)  www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1868A.pdf
  • Minerals/mining
    • US Geological Survey - A large collection of data, information and maps realting to geology, biology, water, topography and mapping:  www.usgs.gov/
  • Neighborhood/community design
    • "Looking for Oregon's Future: What is Sustainability?" is now online. The Website, from the Oregon State University Extension Service, features 33 articles about sustainability, an interactive quiz to test your sustainability knowledge and links to other sustainability sites.  http://oregonfuture.oregonstate.edu
    • Urban Open Space Foundation - linking neighborhoods with nature:  http://uosf.org
  • Prairies & grasslands
  • Public recreation
    • Planning for Parks and Open Space Presentation Handouts (PDF, 10 pages, 485 KB)
  • Utilities and community infrastructure
  • Water
    • Groundwater
      • Central Wisconsin Groundwater Center: www.uwsp.edu/cnr/gndwater/
      • Groundwater and its Role in Comprehensive Planning:  http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/dwg/gw/pubs/SmartGrowth1.pdf  
      • Residential Development and Groundwater Resources:  http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/dwg/gw/pubs/SmartGrowth3.pdf 
    • Surface waters
      • Lower Wisconsin State Riverway: http://lwr.state.wi.us/
      • Milwaukee River Basin Resources.  For citizens, developers, and local governments, and provides a guide to sensible land use in the Milwaukee River basin.  It's designed so the information can be extended to other basins.
        http://clean-water.uwex.edu/plan/
      • Speakers List for Shoreland Issues
    • US EPA Region V Water Information:  www.epa.gov/r5water
    • USGS Water Resources  (click on NWISWeb; choose Wisconsin in search window):  http://water.usgs.gov/
    • Volunteer Wetland Monitoring: An Introduction and Resource Guide" (EPA 843-B-00-001):  www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/monitor/volmonitor.html
    • WI DNR – Water Program:  www.dnr.state.wi.us/environmentprotect/water.html
  • Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: www.dnr.state.wi.us
     
• Transportation

  • Carfree Cities - A collection of examples and solutions to achieve car-free cities:  www.carfree.com/ 

  • Innovative Transportation Technologies - The fascinating and comprehensive guide to unconventional and transportation technologies:  http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/ 

  • National Transportation Library - an impressive repository of transportation publications, statistics and other resources:  http://ntl.bts.gov/ 

  • Rustic Roads: www.dot.state.wi.us/dtim/bop/rustic-index.htm

  • Transportation Planning: www.dot.state.wi.us/dtim/bop/planning-index.htm

   

Agricultural Resources  |  Cultural and Historic Resources  |  Economic Development  |  General Planning Information  |  Housing Intergovernmental Cooperation  |  Issues and Opportunities  |  Land Use  |  Natural Resources  |  Transportation