Strategic Land Use Management Techniques to Miminize the Impact of Change

Although urbanization and land use change may be inevitable in many watersheds, changing the way in which the urbanization or growth takes place can have a dramatic effect on the impact that the development has on the watershed. Land use planning has traditionally followed a demand-based approach, designed to determine the amount of ongoing growth to be accommodated. An increasingly attractive alternative is to employ a supply-based approach that is intended to recognize the capacity of natural systems to indefinitely sustain the demands placed on them (Zovanyi, 1998). With careful planning to consciously protect streams, rivers, and ground water, urban land use changes can be implemented which balance the natural environment of a watershed with the changes caused by urbanization. Development that takes place without consideration for conservation of the watershed leads to significant loss of groundwater recharge, degradation of streams, and loss of aquatic life.

Local residents, land-use planners, Parks and Public Works Departments, developers, realtors, builders, non-profit and environmental groups, and elected officials, can all be influential in limiting or minimizing the impact that development and urbanization have on their watershed.

Strategies to minimize long-term impacts on a watershed undergoing urbanization can be applied at two broad levels. The first being at a regional level by administrative decision-making that is mainly policy oriented. The second stage is development at the local or site level.