By ChinChun Tang, Project Planner

This article continues the discussion begun in Part I of the series Integrating the Local Economy and Natural Resources in the Planning Process from the perspective of planning for natural resources. It discusses natural resources inventories, the changing approaches in natural resource management, strategies that can benefit both natural resources and the local economy, and concludes with suggestions on tackling internal plan consistency during the planning process.

The Wisconsin Comprehensive Planning Law suggests a list of natural resources to be included in the agricultural, natural, and cultural resources element of a comprehensive plan (Box 1). The extent of a natural resource inventory varies from community to community, depending on the complexity of the physical environment, the availability of scientific research and data, and the significance a community attaches to natural resources.

Natural resources inventory

A natural resources inventory is a survey of geographic features such as lakes and streams, land cover or vegetation, species distribution, and other natural resources conditions and trends. It consists of textual, spatial, and tabular data, which can provide valuable information to help communities analyze resource quantity, quality, ecological functions, ownership, and value.

Resource quantity and quality reveal the capacity of local natural resources to support local economic development. For example, communities dependent on timber need to know if there is enough timber of a suitable type and whether the timber is in good condition for future use. Recognition of the ecological functions of natural resources such as flood storage capacity of wetlands or water quality benefits of shoreline buffer areas allows a community to weigh tradeoffs between alternative uses of natural resources. Resource ownership helps to determine resource availability, recognize potential political issues, and map out a framework for future collaboration between the private and public sectors. Resource value reflects a community�s attitude or perspective regarding the conservation and utilization of its natural resources for the benefit of its local economy.

Nevertheless, a natural resources inventory alone does not clearly reflect how a community values its natural resources. It also may not reflect potential issues related to socio-economic activities. To properly address natural resources in the planning process, additional statistical information and qualitative data should be reviewed and incorporated into the inventory process. This allows a community to define its values and planning objectives and more accurately judge relationships between local resources and the economy.

Get additional information

An example is agricultural statistics, which is available from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Census of Agriculture. It includes data on farm size, market value of farmland and buildings, farm production expense, cash receipts, etc. Rough analysis of this data can provide a glimpse of trends and potential impacts on the quality and quantity of soil and water resources.

Similarly, information about industries that are dependent on local natural resources is also useful. It implies some knowledge about the local economy, in particular the firms that operate within a community. Economic data (available on U.S. Census website under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)) provides a detailed summary of each industrial category. It provides metropolitan, county, and state level data on (1) number of establishments, (2) total sales, receipts, or shipments, (3) annual payroll, and (4) number of paid employees (Box 2). The number of jobs, revenue, and wages natural resources-based industries generate is useful for interpreting the impact natural resources may have on a local economy (especially if industries use mostly local raw materials). This data can also provide an understanding of the potential impact future industrial activities may have on the quality and quantity of local natural resources.

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Talk to stakeholders

Personal interviews with key stakeholders are a cost-effective technique to provide in-depth local information that may not be gathered through a general community survey. The local Chamber of Commerce is a good source of information about major businesses that depend on natural resources. Communicate with the targeted businesses and obtain a copy of their strategic plans, which may illustrate their future consumption of local natural resources for their production. Arrange for a meeting to talk with the managers. Understand their corporate insights and values regarding natural resources. In communities with major businesses that extract or process natural resources, the quantity and quality of local natural resources are dependent on how businesses value these resources.

This additional information will help communities develop more appropriate strategies to achieve a balance between natural resources and the local economy where these sectors may be competitive; and to identify, as is often the case, where they depend on one another.

As mentioned in Part I of the series, many rural communities are dependent on natural resources in one way or another. Research conducted by the Institute for Southern Studies showed that sacrificing natural resources for quick-fix development would not improve economic prospects in the long-run. States with the best environmental records also have a healthier economy. Wisconsin, for example, is one of seven states where both environmental and economic indicators ranked in the top fifteen (Sandin, 2000).

To sustain such a record, Wisconsin�s rural communities need to identify practical strategies that can protect and conserve natural resources, and at the same time sustain a healthy local economy. To achieve this goal, one needs to understand economic development, discussed briefly in Part I, and natural resource management.

Managing natural resources is a challenge. For the past decades, different approaches to protecting and conserving natural resources have evolved as scientists learn more about the complexity of the ecosystem and the inter-relationship between humans and nature. From a utilitarian approach to a preservationist approach to an ecosystem approach, natural resources management has come a long way (Weddell, 2002; Ffolliott, 2001).

The new approach, ecosystem management, aims to produce goods and services and maintain species and communities at the same time. It emphasizes people as participants rather than as outsiders in the natural environment (Weddall, 2002).

Alongside this ecosystem approach is biodiversity conservation, adaptive management, and watershed management, for examples, which are increasingly practiced in Wisconsin. These practices provide concrete guidelines to manage natural resources and address local concerns. However, to better address economic concerns in the context of natural resources, communities should creatively integrate these natural resource practices with economic development practices discussed in Part I.

Table 1 shows examples of strategies that aim to support both natural resources and the local economy. The left column lists some examples of natural resource planning goals with corresponding strategies in the middle column. The right column explains how the strategy aims to address both economic and natural resources issues.

To ensure that the strategies selected in both the agricultural, natural, and cultural resources element and the economic development element work hand-in-hand (as well as other elements), a series of exercises could be employed during the planning process to draft consistent goals and objectives so that contradictory strategies are not developed as a result. Proposed below are three major �consistency-checks� communities could consider to address the above concerns.

Each element is consistent with other existing plans

The goals and objectives developed in the agricultural, natural, and cultural resources element should not conflict with other existing natural resources plans that are being implemented, for example, a county forest plan. During the inventory stage, identify and review as many existing plans as possible. Summarize the major goals and objectives of the county forest plan, incorporate them into the element, or use them as a guide to ensure that new goals and objectives do not contradict the county forest plan.

The goals and objectives within the agricultural, natural, and cultural resources element should not conflict with one another (e.g., promoting agricultural expansion in areas adjacent to waterways or wetlands). If conflicting goals are identified, revise the goals, and subsequently the objectives until satisfied, based on mutual agreements among the stakeholders involved in this stage. Crosschecking the goals and objectives will ensure that no contradicting strategies for this element occur later on.

Each element is consistent with other elements

Crosscheck if the goals and objectives in the agricultural, natural, and cultural resources element contradict with those in the economic development element. Again, if problem statements are identified, revise them until satisfied. This consistency check will minimize the likelihood of developing strategies that would benefit natural resources but impair local economic development, and vice versa. Below is a proposed matrix (Table 2) you can develop to complete this task.

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