:: GIC Projects :: Virginia :: City of Charlottesville

Read the Environment Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 8

The first urban field test was completed in Spring 2007 in Charlottesville, VA. This project was conducted as a partnership between the GIC and its partner firm E² Inc. and graduate students at the University of Virginia. This project was funded by the Virginia Department of Forestry and it includes a teaching curriculum. The final report was used by the city to update its comprehensive plan. It includes goals for urban forest conservation, trails and linkages, parks and cultural resources and water quality and riparian habitat and green building. For example, city tree canopy was found to be about 32 percent and the city adopted a goal of increasing it to 40 percent. The trail network identified by the strategy became part of the city’s transportation plan. As a result of this project, the city was adopted by the Virginia Department of Forestry as a demonstration city for the Chesapeake Bay and received a grant to expand forest conservation planning. The city also formed a sustainability team to carry out the recommendations. The city presented the GIC with its prestigious Eldon Fields Wood Design Professional of the Year Award.

Pictures from Charlottesville from left to right:Meadow Creek bank failure, urban runoff, stream buffer survery, urban runoff from heavy machinery, damsel fly

Meadow Creek Trail