“Imagine Catalina” Charts Course for the Future of Catalina Island

We have enjoyed the opportunity to work with the Catalina Island Conservancy as they plan for the immediate and long-term future for the island. What an honor to work with an amazing group and bring Cradle to Cradle thinking to their effort to preserve and celebrate this special place. The results of this phase of work are now being announced.

From the Conservancy’s release:

In 2011, the Conservancy embarked on what officials call “one of the most ambitious projects in our 40-year history.” Imagine Catalina: A Vision for the Future, is the organization’s 20-year master plan completed in November. The resulting planning document is described by President and CEO Ann Muscat as “an exciting vision and blue print of options for us to move forward to serve the Island and its residents and visitors for decades to come.”

With Imagine Catalina, the challenge was “to look into the future and create a plan of programs and infrastructure improvements that will enable us to realize our conservation, education and recreation mission over the long term,” Muscat said.

The plan was completed in partnership with the architect and community design team of William McDonough + Partners (McDonough is author of the groundbreaking book on sustainable design “Cradle to Cradle”) and the landscape architecture firm of Nelson Byrd Woltz. To kick off planning, the Conservancy held three community meetings that included Avalon City officials, private businesses, citizens, other non-profits and off-Island partners. The resulting plan looks at the future for sites including the Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden, the Nature Center at Avalon Canyon, and the Conservancy’s Middle Ranch complex. It also addresses camping on Conservancy land. As part of the process, the Conservancy also looked at immediate improvements it could implement to service visitors at Two Harbors and Airport in the Sky.

Muscat said, “We are extremely pleased with the quality of thinking and ideas that have come out of this process,” noting, too, that at this stage, longer-term aspects of the document are “conceptual, could change, and will most certainly be refined over the years to come.”

Read the full release here.