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A Program of
Regional Significance
In
2004, when YBP reached the 100-member mark, business members were
surveyed as part of YBP’s first strategic planning
process.
Not surprisingly, growth management and land use issues were the
members’ top priority issues. The YBP board of
directors
did not wish to duplicate the ongoing efforts of those organizations
engaged in land conservation and comprehensive planning, but designed
their Sustainable Development Initiative to encourage more responsible,
private-sector approaches to growth and development. In 2005,
The
Nature Conservancy asked YBP to partner in a research project to assess
the prospects for integrating sustainable construction techniques,
responsible land development, and resource conservation across the
Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. The team determined through attitudinal
research and a series of regional meetings that sufficient interest
existed among a variety of business and community leaders for YBP to
proceed with the concept.
A tri-state workshop of regional business and community leaders was
convened in December 2005 to gain insight on research results and to
determine if a voluntary rating system designed for an ecosystem made
sense for the Greater Yellowstone region. It was determined
that
such a system:
• Could fill a niche that
planning and zoning
was currently not meeting
• Would be a free-market,
non-regulatory
approach and thus would be received favorably in many parts of the
region
• Could be applied on the
complex regional scale
as well as locally
• Would be appropriate where
development is
inevitable
• Could help provide funding for
land
conservation through real estate transfer fees or stewardship fees
• Could create good models of
conservation
development
The planning phase for this initiative was launched in January 2006
with an overture to the U.S.
Green Building Council (USGBC)
for their assistance. On April 13th, the USGBC pledged its support to
help YBP expand upon the Council’s nationally acclaimed LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating
system by adding development standards important to the
Yellowstone-Teton region. Tom Hicks, then USGBC Vice-President for
LEED, assigned Jennifer Henry to help the initial GY-Framework teams
create the first regional rating system affiliated with the LEED Green
Building Rating System. In his letter, Hicks said that the USGBC,
“whole-heartedly supports your goal of preserving the
biodiversity and open space of the region by encouraging more
sustainable construction methods and neighborhood
development.”
With this affirmation, YBP mobilized regional leaders in the fields of
architecture, construction, land use planning, and community design who
advocate more sustainable approaches to building and development. Over
a nine-month period, more than 80 volunteers helped design a regional
rating system that includes and goes beyond the application of LEED
green building standards – a system that makes economic and
environmental sense for the Yellowstone-Teton region and rewards real
leadership. The GY-Framework was introduced to the YBP constituency at
its annual meeting in May 2007, with many of its authors present to
enthusiastically explain the rating system and its region-wide
objectives.
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