Sun Ranch Institute transforms real estate development to benefit native ecosystems and rural communities through innovative land-use and community planning processes.
New residents and visitors are flocking to the Intermountain West and other ecologically sensitive regions. These newcomers have the potential to become invested stakeholders within their region, living in ways that protect habitat, ecosystem function, and neighboring communities. Achieving those results in new real estate developments requires careful planning and monitoring of land use and community interaction. To meet those goals, SRI has developed a systematic and repeatable planning process that remains highly tailored to specific locations.
SRI's planning methodology begins with large-scale analyses that place a property within an ecological context and suggest the location's key ecological attributes. We then add and refine data through several steps that make the analysis more specific and accurate. This process allows us to focus on the most important variables for each property, and it ensures that we incorporate many types of data - from satellite imagery to the observations of life-long locals - into our process.
Using geographic information systems (GIS) and mathematical weighting of various information layers, SRI systematically identifies areas that should be preserved and ecologically enhanced, while locating homes and amenities where they have the least impact on natural places. As a result, homeowners can enjoy natural preserves and protect them at the same time.
The Institute's community planning is similarly rigorous, using a social-capital framework to build community value. Our staff and local experts study the communities around our projects to understand local economies, values, and concerns. We identify institutions, formal and informal, wherein communities solve common problems and build social capital. With significant influence from long-time residents, our staff identifies strategies to build that social capital among all residents. Those strategies then determine a distinct community-enhancement plan and become incorporated into the project's land plan.
Without careful implementation and long-term management, even the best plans will fall short. If residents of an impeccably placed home site carelessly attract bears or disregard other conservation-oriented restrictions, the effects can be disastrous. Accordingly, the Institute remains engaged in such projects to influence implementation and ensure appropriate long-term management.
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