Audubon International

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Sustainable Communities Program
The Sustainable Communities Program (SCP) helps communities take steps to ensure that they are healthy and vibrant places in which to live, work, and play–both today and tomorrow. That vision is founded in the three pillars of sustainability–a healthy local environment, quality of life for citizens, and economic vitality.

The program is tailored to each community to ensure that its specific needs, priorities, resources, and challenges are addressed. Through the program, the community establishes priorities, develops a plan, and takes action that leads to meaningful results for the people who live, work, and recreate there.

Fostering more sustainable communities...

“The program has made us realize that we, the citizens of Williamston, are responsible for our future. We've realized that two of our significant strengths are our caring community and our undisturbed natural resources. As a result, we want to take care of our land, water, wildlife and air as never before, because they will define our future.” Dr. Tom Ward Town of Williamston, NC

Sustainability Indicator Categories:
Agriculture Economic Development & Tourism Education Environmental Issues Governance Public Health Housing Open Space and Land Use	Planning, Zoning, Building & Development Population Public Safety & Emergency Management Recreation Resource Use Volunteerism & Civic Engagement Transportation

For more information or to join the program, please contact:
Sustainable Communities Program	46 Rarick Road Selkirk, NY 12158	518.767.9051 Extension 124

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Sustainable Communities Program
Communities work to address locally specific and appropriate issues within each of the broadly defined sustainability areas. Along the way, Audubon International provides guidance, oversight, and technical assistance to help you:

Assign a Sustainability Coordinator and form a Steering Committee to lead your efforts.
Engage stakeholders and form new partnerships to identify funding opportunities.
Evaluate your Sustainability Baseline, plan strategically, and establish measures of success.
Enhance existing efforts, and take action to get new results.
Earn recognition and market your success.

There are three stages of the program that must be completed to receive and maintain certification. The first stage is “Greening Your Community.” In this stage you take an inventory of what has been done and what needs to be done to become a sustainable community. You choose a steering committee and primary contact person to coordinate your efforts with Audubon International. In Stage 2, your community develops goals and indicators to help measure your success. Stage 3 is implementation and reporting progress. At the completion of each stage, your community receives an award. Communities that successfully complete the three-stages earn designation as a Certified Audubon Sustainable Community. Annual recertification is contingent upon submitting periodic progress reports.

Participation in the Sustainable Communities Program includes a one-time registration fee, and an annual membership fee thereafter. Program pricing includes staff time for two site visits, travel expenses are not included. Additional site visits, services, and other expenses are determined on a case-by-case basis.

Public Sector Track: The Public Sector Track is designed to position a local government (municipality, town, city, or county) as a demonstrated leader of sustainability, while simultaneously working with a community’s businesses, schools, residents, and other stakeholders to foster a citizen-driven process.

Population Category	Registration Fee	Annual Membership Fee
Under 1,000	$1,500	$250
1,000-9,999	$2,500	$500
10,000-99,999	$3,500	$750
100,000 and above	$4,500	$1,000

Private Sector Track: The Private Sector Track is designed to meet the needs of communities and destinations (private developments, resorts, planned residential communities, or other organizations) that operate without a local government at their core.

	Registration Fee	Membership Fee
Standard	$10,500	$1,000

The Sustainable Communities Program offers two different tracks for prospective communities. If you are unsure about which track best fits your community, contact Audubon International staff with any questions.

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Sustainablity Indicators
“Sustainability” can have many different meanings. Audubon International has developed a specific set of sustainability indicators from successful community-based long-term plans and best practices. The Sustainability Indicators are specific measures that can be evaluated or calculated for a community. When you choose a representative sampling of indicators that are both appropriate for your community and representative of sustainability’s component categories, you then have a system of measures that allow you to assess your community’s progress towards sustainability. With Audubon International’s emphasis on place-based strategies and flexibility, each category of sustainable indicators below has greater or lesser importance for a particular community on a case by case basis.

Agriculture
Economic Development and Tourism
Education
Environmental Issues
Governance
Housing
Open Space and Land Use
Planning, Zoning, Building and Development

Population
Public Safety and Emergency Management
Recreation
Resource Use
Volunteerism and Civic Engagement
Transportation

How are sustainability indicators used?
During Stage 3 of the certification process, the community's Sustainability Coordinator works directly with Audubon International to choose the set of indicators that serve to measure the success of the sustainability goals chosen in Stage 2. When the time comes to shift from planning to taking action, it’s crucial to ensure that your actions bring about the desired outcome for your community, and that you are realizing the goals you set out to achieve.

How are sustainability indicators chosen?
There are a number of factors to keep in mind when choosing indicators for your community. The chosen indicators should:

be a representative sampling across sustainability’s categories,
relate directly to the individual elements of your plan,
be reviewed by Audubon International to ensure that there are no omissions or oversights,
be specifically tailored to the unique aspects of your community, local economy and environment,
be kept to a manageable number. Twenty-five to one hundred indicators, depending on the size and complexity of your community, would be sufficient.

Click here for a full set of sample Sustainablity Indicators

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Member Benefits
Sustainability is an investment in your community–in the well-being of the people, the economy, the environment, and the future. In many ways, your participation in Audubon International’s Sustainable Communities Program is the first deposit in that investment. Over time, you’ll invest in other ways as well—with money, human capital, time, and effort—that help to make your community a healthier, more desirable and more vibrant place in which to live, work, and play.

But what kind of return might you expect on that investment? In strict financial terms, some of your efforts will pay off immediately and start saving or earning you money. Other efforts will have an up-front cost, but will have a definite payback period. Others still will not be as easily measured in economic terms, but will pay off in other ways that are just as meaningful, tangible, and important:

A defined future for your community, not left to chance
Enhanced community pride
Improved environmental quality
Enhanced recreational opportunities
Improved sense of community
Increased quality of life
A sense of community pride
Financial savings
Increased desirability of your community, resort, or campus
Marketing advantages—promote yourself as a Sustainable Community
Increased tourism
Improved reputation
Improved beauty, decreased vandalism
Heightened cooperation among community constituents
Economic development
Increased property values
A safer place in which to live, work and recreate
Recognition as a leader
Improved connections and relationships between your community’s individual elements

For more specific examples, please visit the profiles tab at the top of the page or contact us.

For more information or to join the program, please contact:
Sustainable Communities Program	46 Rarick Road Selkirk, NY 12158	518.767.9051 Extension 124

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Frequently Asked Questions
What will our community have to do once we join the program?
First, you will host an Audubon International staff member on an initial site visit—helping to reach out to the community and learn, first-hand, about your community. You will work with Audubon International to identify a “sustainability coordinator” to act as the main liaison to Audubon International staff and develop a steering committee made up of various stakeholders throughout the community.

You’ll need to answer a set of questions and gather some basic information (Community Baseline)about your community that Audubon International will use to provide recommendations for actions to help to “Green Your Community.” These actions might include the management of your buildings, facilities and lands; building an outdoor education center; quantifying the number of public transportation sources for use in the community; or offering incentives for becoming more sustainable.

Upon completion of the first stage, you will become eligible to be an Audubon Certified Green Community, which means you have made progress towards identifying past success and areas for improvement. The next step is to formulate a plan. For each indicator, Audubon International will work with you to identify specific ways you can take action to become more sustainable. To become certified, you must decide which indicators will be achieved, over what period of time. As progress towards meeting set goals is achieved, you will submit reports to Audubon Internationa in order to be re-certified each year.

Why should the community invest in this program and these services?
The Sustainable Communities Program is designed to begin a healthy dialogue among citizens and local government. Through dialogue, the program engages technical and educational partners to act on long-term ecologically-focused economic and social welfare development. The program charts a course towards a future that capitalizes on a community’s existing valuable assets while addressing its problems and needs now and into the future. This is an accredited recognition of achievements which also assists communities with long-term sustainability planning.

Is this a "cookie-cutter" or "checklist-based" based program?
No. Sustainability is not a test or something that can be addressed with a checklist. It is a process, based on a set of Audubon International Principles for Sustainable Resource Management. Programs and efforts that identify environmental performance and sustainability programs by a set of graded questions have value and can be legitimate tools for progress. Audubon International believes placed-based environmental education and performance-measuring are the best way to change policies, practices, and people. So, the Sustainable Communities Program uses a set of principles, indicators, and a formal process to guide communities down a more sustainable path, but that path must be one that is developed and built by and for the community itself.

Click here for more detailed Frequently Asked Questions

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Certified Sustainable Community Profiles

Eufaula, AL

The City of Eufaula, AL

The City of Eufaula, Alabama (population 15,000), is located two and half hours southwest of Atlanta, Georgia. In many respects, Eufaula looks a lot like other southern towns—its historic district is the centerpiece of downtown, while sprawl-type commercial zones, residential suburbs, agricultural fields, and industries spread outward.

Eufaula has the same environmental issues that face every other community in the United States. Its citizens generate waste, use energy, and build houses. They need good jobs and want young people to have opportunities to stay in Eufaula when they grow up. They want to live in a safe, clean, attractive, economically vibrant city.

Since 1997, Audubon International has been assisting city government officials, citizens, businesses, and civic organizations chart Eufaula’s future. Now known as Eufaula 2020, the initiative is the community’s way of envisioning and planning for its future, using Audubon International’s Principles for Sustainable Resource Management as a guide. Eufala is the first certified Audubon Sustainable Community, and it continues to work towards measurable goals set into motion in 1997.

Williamston, NC

The Town of Williamston, NC

Williamston is a rural community in Eastern North Carolina. Primarily an agricultural community, it is a place where economic forces could have theoretically prevented sustainability from ever getting off the ground. The residents were worried about land use as it related to the diminishing water supply in the town’s aquifers. Yet, it has made great strides toward becoming a more sustainable community.

Williamston joined the Sustainable Communities Program in 2002, seeking assistance from Audubon International in revitalizing the local economy and protecting the natural environment and rural heritage of the region. Those two goals were a perfect fit with Audubon International’s emphasis on sustainability— the idea that environmental protection, economic vitality, and quality of life are intimately connected to one another and are the foundation of truly great communities.

The town has completed Stage 1, earning the Audubon Green Community Award. In early 2008, the town approved the Williamston 2020 Plan, which promotes sustainable practices in 17 areas from agriculture to parking management systems. The Sustainability Coordinator is now working with Audubon International to select indicators that measure the town’s success.

Sarasota, FL

The Town of Henrietta, NY

Henrietta, New York (population 39,000), is a diverse community located in upstate New York’s Great Lakes region. The town lies just south of Rochester along the banks of the Genesee River and within a short drive of Lake Ontario’s shores. Henrietta is home to open space—primarily farms and forests—as well as the Tinker Nature Park, a strong source of pride among residents.

As a member of the Sustainable Communities Program since 2004, Henrietta has been working to merge its economic development with the protection and enhancement of the community’s environmental and social characteristics. Audubon International has served as a catalyst for citizen-driven planning and community actions and has facilitated partnerships with governmental agencies, businesses, academic institutions, and other organizations that provide local support and assistance to reach the goals envisioned in the community.

In early 2008, Henrietta became the first municipality in New York State to earn the Audubon Green Community Award, thus completing Stage 1. Henrietta will now work to develop a long–term plan with a big picture approach to community growth and environmental protection.

Sarasota County

The County of Sarasota, FL

In 2004, Sarasota County became the first county in the Nation and the fourth municipality to join the program. Audubon International has continued to work with Sarasota to help its communities expand and enhance their activities, implement Audubon’s approach to sustainability, and support Sarasota’s efforts with staff expertise and resources. Reciprocally, Audubon International is learning from Sarasota’s experiences of what has and hasn’t worked as we continually refine our process of fostering more sustainable communities.

Sarasota has a long track record of promoting sustainability principles. In 2002, the Board of County Commissioners for Sarasota County made sustainability the core of all county policy. Their resolution, No. 02-119, mandated that all “policies, guidelines, goals, and strategic plans promote sustainability.” That same resolution gave birth to Sustainable Sarasota, a division of county government staffed with University of Florida Extension employees charged with spearheading and coordinating the county’s growing sustainability efforts.

The county recently completed Stage 1, and has been aggressive in completing Stage 2. The Sustainability Coordinator has submitted the chosen indicators to measure success in the program, which will be reviewed by the government to provide feedback and approval

Coconut Creek

The City of Coconut Creek, FL

Coconut Creek, located in Broward County, Florida, is hailed as the Butterfly Capital of the World. The title is much more than a tourism ploy (the city passed an official resolution in 2002 designating itself with the title), or a nod to Butterfly World. The world’s largest butterfly aviary with more than 80 species and 5,000 individual butterflies is located in nearby Tradewinds Park. Coconut Creek backs up its claim with extensive natural and landscaped habitat that draws butterflies in droves.

However, the butterflies are just the tip of the iceberg for a community looking to make sustainability its cornerstone and defining attribute. Coconut Creek had earned many accolades, including Tree City USA designation and National Wildlife Federation Community Habitat certification. But in 2006, city officials were looking to take their environmental commitment further and integrate sustainability into the city’s planning and policies more comprehensively. The Sustainable Communities Program became the vehicle for doing just that.

The city is officially in Stage 1, completing an audit of the many accomplishments to date. Coconut Creek is planning a greenways project to build naturalized trail corridors throughout the community, linking residential and retail areas, and promoting alternative transportation. Planners have set forth ambitious plans for a project appropriately called Main Street, designed to build a focused downtown for the community, with sustainability principles at its core. In early 2006, the City passed affordable housing legislation, working to ensure that families and the local workforce can live in the community. The next step will be to choose measurable goals for Coconut Creek.

Stowe, VT

Spruce Peak at Stowe, VT

In 2006, Spruce Peak became the first member of the Sustainable Communities Program’s Private Sector Track. Spruce Peak Realty (the company in charge of the project) is working to make the resort a centerpiece of sustainability for New England, Vermont, and the mountain resort industry. One goal of the company is to ensure that Spruce Peak fits with the majestic, yet pastoral, landscape of Stowe, Vermont.

Spruce Peak at Stowe will soon feature Stowe Mountain Lodge (a high-end hotel), fractional and whole ownership condominiums, mountain cabin sites, a pedestrian village with retail shops and restaurants, an Audubon Signature golf course, a multi-purpose community center, and a 2,000-acre wildlife conservation area important as habitat for black bear and moose. The project’s full 235 acres (which does not include the wildlife conservation area) will be rooted in Audubon International’s sustainability principles.

Spruce Peak is already off to a running start, completing Stage 1. Spruce Peak Realty operates an employee incentive and recognition program that rewards environmental stewardship. Mountain cabins and other buildings are built with input from Efficiency Vermont, a state-based organization that helps developers like Spruce Peak Realty meet the standards of the federal government’s Energy Star Home guidelines. Expanded alternative transportation options and incentives for carpooling and the use of hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles will help address transportation concerns. The next step is to construct a long-term plan for the community based upon accomplishments to date.