Conservation Tools

Local governments can help segments of the population that are disproportionately affected by the health consequences of physical inactivity and poor nutrition by planning and designing communities that facilitate healthy lifestyles for all residents. This guide describes how local managers, department heads and local government staff can design healthy communities for all residents, regardless of income, race or ethnicity, age, ability or gender. It explains the connections between active living and social equity, provides a toolbox of local government strategies for promoting active living equitably, and highlights notable examples of local initiatives from around the country.

Ideas for creating more livable and prosperous communities. Principle 6. Reduce the Impact of the Car and Promote Walkability, starts on page 117.

Conservation Opportunities for Corridor Preservation & Community Development. Route 41 passes through or near nine communities that contain extensive prime farmland and is under threat from development. This is a buildout analyses for those communities impacted and assists municipalities who want to address increased land development pressures by quantifying the amount of development that current zoning would allow for a 20 year period from 2003-2023.

Buy the Best, Zone the Rest: Building a Green Future presents an overview of conservation choices available to municipalities, nonprofits and the citizens of Montgomery County.

If you've never provided this service for your municipality, "Community Recreation and Parks" gives you a starting point. If you currently offer some aspects of public recreation and parks, this handbook will help you enhance and expand your services.

This guidebook was created to outline the benefits of enhancing the natural resources in local parks and other landscapes, to maintain these areas in a sustainable manner, and to provide a step-by-step guide to help staff and volunteers achieve those results. It is directed primarily towards those charged with the design and maintenance of parklands, retail centers, housing developments, industrial parks, schools and other land uses, although the principles outlined in the book could also be used by individual homeowners.

How Runaway Development Threatens America's Wildlife

The Impact of Land Use and Potential Local Disamenities on Residential Property Values and on the Location of Residential Development in Berks County, Pennsylvania

In both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the primary responsibility for land use planning and development decisions rests at the municipal level. As a regional organization, DVRPC is available to facilitate or undertake the preparation of multi-municipal plans, particularly in areas or corridors of new transportation investments. We have assisted the townships and boroughs of our older suburbs to prepare coordinated economic development and revitalization plans for multi-municipal corridors. DVRPC has also worked with local community development corporations and neighborhood associations to prepare comprehensive neighborhood plans.

Map of environmental advisory councils, with basic contact information.

A summary of regulations that impact agriculture in Pennsylvania and an explanation of tools that municipalities can use to grow and protect agriculture within their boundaries.

The Regional Open Space Priorities Report project identifies, prioritizes, and recommends protection strategies for natural resources, agricultural, and recreational lands in the five-county southeastern Pennsylvania area. It encourages partnerships between state, federal, local, and private conservation groups and others to protect critical open spaces in the region while sustaining economic growth.

This booklet provides insight in establishing an Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) in your municipality, its rights and responsibilities, and guidance in making your EAC an effective tool for your community. An EAC is a group of community residents, appointed by the elected officials, to advise them and other municipal officials about the protection, conservation, management, promotion and use of natural resources.

This guidebook helps local planning commission to understand the reasons for, and roles of, the planning commission in municipal land use decisions. It addresses the statutory authority and composition of planning commissions in Pennsylvania and the specific powers and duties of the commission. It concludes with a detailed discussion of the common roles of commission members – particularly in terms of hiring planning consultants – and a series of appendices providing model ordinances and procedures for establishing planning commissions and the adoption of a community’s comprehensive plan.

Any municipality enacting a zoning ordinance must also create a zoning hearing board. The primary purpose of such a board is to help assure fair and equitable application and administration of the zoning ordinance by hearing appeals on the zoning officer’s determinations and by granting relief from the literal enforcement of the ordinance in certain hardship situations.