Angelina County, Diboll and Lufkin Plan for a Green Future

At the invitation of local officials from Angelina County and the cities of Diboll and Lufkin, The Conservation Fund is undertaking a strategic conservation planning process to explore opportunities to create a network of conservation and heritage corridors that link our parks, national forests, education centers, historic sites and recreational facilities. The Green Infrastructure Plan will look at conservation in the context of land development and man-made infrastructure planning and will help communities identify and prioritize conservation opportunities in a way that optimizes land use for both people and nature. This work builds upon the goals outlined in the City of Lufkin Comprehensive Plan, Vision 20/20 and the Texas Pineywoods Experience.

On March 5, 2008, the Cities of Lufkin and Diboll and Angelina County hosted a Leadership Forum to solicit citizen input into the planning process. At that meeting, the Fund sought feedback from participants on two main components: 1) desired overall goals for the Green Infrastructure Plan; and 2) identification of favorite local cultural, historic and natural features within the county. Since the meeting, our project leaders have been hard at work synthesizing the results. They have developed overarching goals for the plan, finalized the local asset maps that were developed at the meeting, and finalized an identification of the county’s core forest, wetland and aquatic areas and connections between those areas. The plans for recreational and cultural components, such as abandoned railroads and potential canoe put-ins, are still to come.

The Fund is currently working with a local technical review team to evaluate preliminary maps. In addition project leaders are starting a detailed analysis of the Green Infrastructure network and considering implementation options. The final Leadership Forum meeting will be held on June 25 in Lufkin to review the draft plan and gather feedback on implementation recommendations. Shortly after, the plan will be complete and implementation will begin to make Angelina County’s goal a reality: to become a green city to attract tourists, residents and businesses. For more information, contact Julie Shackelford at The Conservation Fund at (936) 468-5490.