ROSS Executive Committee Updates

For information on our Executive Committee Meeting from Decemeber 1st, please go here. And to see the given presentation, please go here.

In other news, the ROSS team has recently come across a few interesting things. For starters, did you know that fifty years ago our region realized the importance of open spaces? And we vowed then to preserve them for the betterment of the region and nation’s continued high quality of life. Learn more, here.

Below, the table displays an initial comparison of open space lands from the 1966 report with information from today within the 4-county region.  

*Most recent data available. Forest acres and urbanized open spaces are from 2011 land cover data (Ecology, 2014) and the agriculture acres are from the Census of Agriculture (USDA, 2012).

Additionally, ecosystem services is becoming the norm in federal government operations based on this Presidential memorandum which directs federal agencies to factor the value of ecosystem services into federal planning and decision making. In another memorandum, the President reiterates - in pretty standard language for those familiar with the NEPA:

We all have a moral obligation to the next generation to leave American's natural resources in better condition than when we inherited them.  It is this same obligation that contributes to the strength of our economy and quality of life today.  

So to avoid and minimize the impacts to our ecological resources, he directs certain departments that may conduct activities harmful to our land, air and waters to ensure impacts are addressed through adequate mitigation.