The Future: Looking at Growth Scenarios in a Public Forum

To: OPPE-OPPE Everyone
cc:
Subject: Presentation this Wednesday from 1:00 to 2:00 in the EPA
Auditorium

The Future:  Looking at Growth Scenarios in a Public Forum

Last March, The Washington Post ran a series of front page articles
examined historical trends in land use and projecting where growth will to
occur by the year 2020 based on local land use plans.  Because no single
agency keeps tabs on the loss of green space in the Washington region,
The Post worked with the National Center for Resource Innovations (NCRI),
a private, nonprofit educational organization funded by Congress to supply
geographic information to policymakers.

Please join Steve Fehr from The Washington Post and Margaret Maizel from
the Center for Resource Innovations, Wednesday, March 11 from 1:00 to 2:00
in the EPA Auditorium  to discuss  their partnership  using GIS and
Internet technologies to provide citizens with information describing the
collective effects of future plans for growth by local governments in the
Washington DC region; the impact that the series has had since it was
published; and the opportunities for the federal government to help
integrate data and provide the information that is necessary to facilitate
leadership and direction on these controversial issues.

Steve Fehr has been a reporter for 22 years -- 13 years with the Kansas
City Star and the last nine years with the Washington Post.  He was born
in Kansas City but grew up in the sprawl capital, Los Angeles.  Fehr
graduated from the University of Missouri.  At the Post  he has been a
transportation reporter and, more recently, on a special projects team.
He lives in the planned community of Reston.

Margaret Maizel is one of the founders of the National Center for Resource
Innovations (NCRI)  a national non-profit organization established with
congressional funding through the Cooperative State Research Education and
Extension Service, of USDA in 1990. NCRI's mission is to build information
systems for public and private decision-makers at national-to-local
levels.  As the Executive Director of NCRI-Chesapeake, Margaret develops
federal, state, and local partnerships  to integrate data and provide new
and essential tools for assessing and predicting effects of decision
making on natural resources and ecosystems.  As a member of the Clarke
County, VA Planning Commission for 11 years and its chairman for two, she
co-authored the county's Comprehensive Plans and its ordinances addressing
growth management, agricultural lands protection, and the protection of
ground water and other environmentally sensitive areas. She also started
the GIS facility for the county in 1987, and chaired the VA Governor's
Commission on Mapping, Surveying and Land Information.

For background on the Post Series visit  http:\\www.washingtonpost.com and
search the sections and features menu for Regional Growth Map, then click
on  "Growing Pains: Changing Landscapes"  Also, check out NCRI's
homepage:  http:\\idt.net/~ncri

For more information contact Jamal Kadri at  260-3848