The National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation

October 22 - 24, 2014

With its year-round favorable weather and easy access to both beaches and mountains, the Los Angeles region has long existed in the minds of many as America’s urban and suburban idyll.  Yet having experienced prodigious population growth over the last century, the Los Angeles metropolitan region faces challenges in maintaining its prosperity and appeal.  Many of its communities lack ample communal outdoor space and urban youth suffer from nature deficit disorder, the region’s freeways are roads are clogged to the detriment of air quality, and imported water supplies that allowed the region to thrive are becoming increasingly volatile and expensive, while the quality of scarce local water sources declines.  Green infrastructure has emerged as a solution to these related threats to the region’s quality of life.  Whether it be transforming the region’s concretized river flood control channels into inviting, multi-benefit natural amenities benefits, or repurposing major utility right-of-ways to serve as valuable multi-use trails, communities are looking at new ways to reimagine, and put a human face to, infrastructure to address regional challenges.  The proposed panel brings together a group of visionary green infrastructure implementers to share lessons from years of experience implementing green infrastructures solutions and to identify ways that innovative green infrastructure strategies can improve the quality of life in urban metropolitan regions.   With a diversity of disciplines represented, panelists will connect the dots between green infrastructure approaches to put forth a holistic vision for how the region can capitalize on its green and grey infrastructure to continue to thrive in the 21^st century.  This is the fourth panel of four in the Metropolitan/Urban and Regional Conservation Initiatives track sponsored by The Conservation Fund.