CHEROKEE, NC, April 8, 2008 — Cherokee Preservation Foundation (CPFdn) announced today it has made a $75,000 grant to Mountain Landscapes, a region-wide planning initiative that is engaging the community in the seven westernmost counties in a discussion about realistic, effective growth management planning in the face of rapid growth taking place in the region. The grant will enable a week-long charrette in which a team of planning, design, engineering, traffic management and other experts will gather at Western Carolina University to build a growth management toolbox consisting of voluntary planning and development guidelines for landowners, builders and communities.
That design workshop will take into account hopes and concerns regional residents express about the future of westernmost North Carolina at a series of community forums taking place in April. Qualla Boundary’s Community Forum will take place at the EMS Building on Thursday, April 24, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Complementary food will be provided.
The Community Forum
The Qualla Boundary Community Forum will start with a short documentary featuring neighbors talking about the mix of growth and preservation they desire. Then students who participated in community expeditions organized by Cherokee Preservation Foundation and the Cherokee Extension Service will show pictures they took when they went into their communities on April 5. Then attendees will break into small groups and so everyone can speak.
The Toolbox
The voluntary toolbox created with the help of community input will be designed to be of immediate use to property owners, contractors and developers committed to site preparation and building according to best practices for the unique conditions in mountains and watersheds. It will also provide guidelines for effective long-range planning at the town, county and regional levels. The toolbox will include successful solutions undertaken by other communities, dealing with everything from steep slopes to river bottoms to revitalization of historic towns.
CPFdn Efforts to Balance Development and the Environment
Mountain Landscapes complements several other initiatives Cherokee Preservation Foundation has launched to support a healthy, sustainable environment on the Qualla Boundary.
Generations Qualla is a collaboration of businesspeople, tribal department leaders, educators, artists and others on the Qualla Boundary aimed at pursuing specific actions in keeping with Cherokee cultural values that will result in environmental sustainability. Cherokee youth are engaged in this effort through the Go Green Team, an effort led by the Cherokee Youth Council. Generations Qualla and the Cherokee Youth Council have received funding and leadership-building assistance from CPFdn.
CPFdn also funded a series of workshops that enabled students at Cherokee Elementary School, Cherokee Middle School and Cherokee High School to participate in a land development plan being created for U.S. 441 from the U.S. 74 junction to Cherokee’s downtown district. The sessions were conducted so that students understand the principles of planning and how communities get built through a mix of collaboration, physical limitations and regulation. Students learned there are no simple answers to community development issues.
“We are pleased to support Mountain Landscapes because it is a very important policy initiative for our entire region,” said Susan Jenkins, CPFdn’s executive director. “A reasoned, respectful dialogue leading to the adoption of best practices pertinent to our challenges holds real promise for the fragile regional environment, Western North Carolina’s place-based economy, and the mountain communities that are in need of support.”
About Cherokee Preservation Foundation
Cherokee Preservation Foundation (www.cpfdn.org) was established on November 14, 2000, as part of the Second Amendment to the Tribal-State Compact between the EBCI and the State of North Carolina. It is an independent nonprofit foundation funded by the EBCI from gaming revenues generated by the Tribe. CPFdn is not part of or associated with any for-profit gaming entity. Since CPFdn’s inception in 2000, it has made 447 grants totaling more than $37 million to EBCI and regional projects and programs that address cultural preservation, economic development and job creation, and environmental renewal and protection. Every dollar of CPFdn support has been matched by $1.38 in secured grants or other funding or in-kind resources, making CPFdn’s total contribution to the region more than $89 million.
