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Dear ARB Staff, 

The Trust FOr Public Land was pleased to see a range of natural
resource investments reflected in the 'Draft Investment Plan'
uncluding 'urban forests' and 'urban greening'. We would like to
emphasize we think it's important that local parks are included in
the term 'urban greening' and that when we discuss any Sustainable
Community Strategy', that urban forestry, and local parks are
included in that calculous. 

The built environment plays a powerful role in human behavior and
by extension our transportation choices. Local parks provide
walking trails and bike paths that connect people to their
destinations and reduce vehicle miles traveled. Urban green spaces
also reduce our energy consumption by cooling our cities and
re-charging our ground water. Obviously trees, shrubs and grasses,
sequester carbon.

Parks demonstrateGHG benefits by providing transportation choices
like bike paths and walking trails, water resource benefits from
permeable surfaces and bioswales and are helping to reduce the
temperature of the city neighborhood by replacing blacktop and
concrete with lawns, trees and gardens. Parks also demonstrate
impressive cobenefits. The Center for Disease Control says if you
put a park within walking distance of people, people use it for
exercise. Parks can often also feature outdoor fitness machines, a
multi-purpose basketball court and a playground. In addition many
parks now are designed with space for the community to garden,
families to picnic and barbeque. 

Thank you again for recognizing the importance of investing in
natural resources.

Sincerely,
Rico Mastrodonato
Senior Government Relations Manager