New "greenprinting" planning tool for Central Texas just released

The Greenprint is a powerful tool that helps local governments and communities make informed decisions about land conservation priorities, as well as development and infrastructure strategies

The Central Texas Greenprint for Growth final report is available online now at www.envisioncentraltexas.org. It includes a special Greenprint brochure for Hays County.

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After the final round of County Stakeholder input meetings this past summer, staff members from the Trust for Public Land, the Capital Area Council of Governments and Envision Central Texas worked on pulling all the pieces together into a richly illustrated, nearly 50-page report.

The report explains the Greenprint process and provides detailed maps and information on the six conservation goals, as well as overall regional opportunities. The report then highlights local implementation strategies developed by the County Stakeholder Groups, as well as conservation funding options. Also included in the report is detailed information about each county and a Level of Service analysis comparing parkland in Central Texas counties to similar counties in other areas.

A tremendous amount of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data has been used in the development of the Central Texas Greenprint for Growth. After County Stakeholder Groups identified their conservation goals (e.g. preserving water quality, creating recreational opportunities, etc.), corresponding GIS data was used to convert those goals to mappable layers (e.g. aquifers, floodplains, soil types, etc.).

Once these data layers were "weighted" (click here to view the Criteria Matrix) and prioritized by Stakeholders, the Greenprint modeling system produced color-coded composite maps that identify where communities can most efficiently and effectively direct resources to meet their conservation goals.

About the report

The Central Texas Greenprint for Growth (the "Greenprint") is a tool for balancing sustainable conservation goals with the infrastructure needs of our rapidly urbanizing region. Expanding on the Travis County Greenprint completed during the fall of 2006, Envision Central Texas, the Capital Area Council of Governments and the Trust for Public Land worked with stakeholders in Bastrop, Caldwell and Hays Counties to develop the Central Texas Greenprint.

The process was conducted between the spring of 2008 and the summer of 2009, with hundreds of stakeholders providing input about their conservation goals and priorities. Utilizing the Trust for Public Land's unique Geographic Information Systems mapping and modeling technology, the process produced graphic illustrations highlighting opportunity areas for conservation that meet multiple goals.The Greenprint is a powerful tool that helps local governments and communities make informed decisions about land conservation priorities, as well as development and infrastructure strategies.