Turning a vacant lot into a green oasis – TNC’s urban program featured in Huffington Post

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2017 01 05 1483631464 5431193 tnc 54826026 preview cropped Turning a vacant lot into a green oasis - TNC's urban program featured in Huffington Post
(ALL RIGHTS) February 2016. Students from historic Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Alabama create “conservation labs,” which are vacant land converted into productive land for pollinators, birds, biodiversity, stormwater treatment demo areas, and generational care for the environment. These labs are low maintenance and a low-impact design. Photo credit: © The Nature Conservancy (Devan King)

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Alabama’s urban conservation program in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Birmingham was featured in the Huffington Post this weekend.

The Transformative Power of a Vacant Lot

2017 01 05 1483632295 7601663 tnc 60397031 preview cropped Turning a vacant lot into a green oasis - TNC's urban program featured in Huffington Post
Francesca Gross

The national profile includes an extensive interview with TNC staffer and longtime local conservationist Francesca Gross about the program’s “Conservation Labs” – turning vacant lots into “living classrooms.”

“Environmentally speaking, we are transforming vacant urban lands into natural spaces that will filter storm water and planting trees that naturally clean the air,” stated Gross in the interview.

A Green Oasis

Through teamwork and a love of place, the Woodlawn community, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy is turning vacant lots into a green oasis.  The title of the Huffington Post article best sums up the program.

It is transformative.

 

Pat Byington
Pat Byington

Longtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards.

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