The Smart and Narrow

Stand in the shadow of any giant residential megablock in Seattle and you can't help but wonder: Isn't there a better way to do this? The reality of massive buildings now being auctioned off at fire-sale prices seems proof that bigness alone is neither necessary nor a sufficient condition for successful development in Seattle.

Developers have long crowed — and local politicians have cowed to — the notion that "we can't make money in Seattle unless we build six-story buildings." After a round of developer-driven up-zoning we now behold the post-bubble result: fleets of full-block behemoths standing half-empty, unsold, even half-built.

What will we make of this enforced economic pause? Will we carve out urban and mental space in which to think about growing smartly and sustainably instead of just bigger and faster? Or will we simply wait for the banks to resume shoveling debt so the bulldozers can resume shoving dirt?

A few blocks from the lively Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill is a place that could change our thinking about Seattle urban density. [more]

From the Missoulian

The new Chief of the U.S. Forest Service will be Tom Tidwell, the Region 1 Forest Supervisor, according to a Missoulian news story by reporter Rob Chaney.

In February 2007, the U.S. Forest Service promoted Tidwell to regional forester for the Northern Region, which includes more than 25 million acres of public land in Montana, Idaho and North Dakota. Prior to the promotion, Tidwell had been deputy regional forester in the Pacific Southwest Region.


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A new report on the effectiveness of thinning forests under the National Fire Plan shows that most logging occurs far from communities, thus questioning their effectiveness. Plus the majority of lands that should be treated lie not on federal lands, but private lands. The report gives new credence to critics such as myself who maintain that most fuel reduction logging operations are wasting tax dollars and causing more harm than good. [more]

Preview: Planning in the West Conference

That's the question Rich Franko, a principal at the Seattle design firm Mithun, Architects+Designers+Planners, would like to answer.

"As things drive to denser, more urban, more city development," Franko says, "Making them great places to live, bringing nature into the city is going to be important."

"Just density alone is not good," he says. "You have to find out how natural systems work into it as well. That's a cutting edge."

Take for example, one of Franko's projects in Seattle -- Higher Points, a lower density project that has, as part of its integrated design, a restoration of a salmon watershed within the neighborhood. Or, in Portland, Oregon, Franko is working on finding ways to reincorporate elements of a conifer forest into a high-density neighborhood. Both are examples of weighing a balance between nature and the urban landscape.

Part of the challenge, Franko says, is exploring "what are the limits to that? What makes for clean water and ecosystems while still having that urbane sense of community?"

The communities of the future -- urban or rural -- Franko says, will have to address the natural environment in which they are built, especially as energy, transportation and water become bigger and bigger issues.



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PLANNING IN THE WEST CONFERENCE, JUNE 17-18 IN BOISE

Why should towns in the West change the way they grow? And why should planners design healthier, greener communities?

Because if they don’t, they’ll suffer and fail.

Dire as that answer sounds, it's sparked something worth celebrating: a planning revolution and a move to sustainability across the West, according to land-use and green planning expert Christopher Duerksen.
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The Fire This Time

Wildfire prevention efforts should focus far more on homeowners and key ecosystems -- and far less on random fires deep in the wilderness, according to a new study by the University of Montana, University of Colorado and Colorado State University.

The study -- which calls for an overhaul of the National Fire Plan --takes a hard look at federal efforts to prevent wildfires that are increasingly scorching the West and threatening homes near forests and wilderness. Only 11 percent of National Fire Plan wildfire-mitigation efforts in the last five years have occurred near people’s homes or offices, where it's critically needed, the researchers conclude.



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The impact of factory farming upon the American land and native biodiversity is seldom discussed, but animal protein production has a significant impact upon the Nation’s land and water. The direct environmental problems like air or water pollution associated with large factory farming operations may be clear, but less obvious are the environmental impacts associated with the agricultural production of feed crops and other consequences associated with large factory farming operations. [more]

Planning in the West Conference, June 17-18 in Boise

The dramatic downturn in the real estate market is likely to end sooner rather than later in the Northern Rockies, according to new research from Arthur C. Nelson, Presidential Professor and Director of the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Utah - and the Snake River Valley in Idaho is especially well-positioned for renewed growth.

Nelson's research shows that surplus housing supply is likely to be absorbed by 2011 in Idaho. Further, the need to replace aging building inventory - especially in commercial real estate - will drive demand above and beyond what population growth trends alone would suggest.

Nelson presented the first cut of his new regional research at NewWest.Net's Designing the New West conference in Bozeman in April. He has now drilled down further on what the mega-trends mean for Boise, the Treasure Valley, and Idaho as a whole, and will present the result at NewWest.Net's new Planning in the West conference, June 17-18 in Boise. [more]

Movie Q and A

If life is a highway, we’re in trouble--unless we start making highways safer for wildlife, wildlands and the planet. Simply put, America’s ever-expanding web of streets and freeways is a noxious force that threatens to "pave over the landscape.”

So says Division Street, a beautifully filmed and notable new documentary premiering Thursday, June 11, at the Roxy Theater in Missoula. The 7 p.m. showing will be followed by a panel discussion featuring filmmaker-producer Eric Bendick and officials from Transportation for America and American Wildlands.


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Guest Column

Some segments of state and local government, and myriad private special interest groups, are pushing agendas that are having a very negative impact on how we can use our property. And the impacts just aren’t on big farmers and ranchers -- homeowners are finding themselves under attack as well. [more]