The League of Women Voters of Los Alamos believes that our natural environment is integral to our community's unique sense of place and to our well-being and prosperity.

• We support protection of this environment, including the canyons and other open space, vistas, wildlife habitat, and dark skies.
• To improve ecosystem health and communicty livability, we support wherever possible 'Green Infrastructure." EPA defines that as "...an arrary of products, technologies, and practices that use natural systems--or engineered systems that mimic natural processes--to enhance overall environmental quality...Gren Infrastructure techniques use soils, and vegetation to infiltrate, evapotranspirate, and/or recycle storm water runoff."

Further Guidelines

The LWVLA supports:

• reserving Rendija Canyon for recreational uses only;
• storm water management employing green infrastructure strategies, such as infiltration planters, vegetated swales, tree boxes, and rain gardens;
• adding green spaces with landscaped road edges, medians, parking lots, and pocket park;
• limiting the use of herbicides in open space areas, as well as along roadsides where mowing and planting native grasses can be as effective;
• a policy of zero increase in run-off beyond the natural rate for commercial and private property.
• encouraging in-fill development and minimizing sprawl;
• continuing to extend the Canyon Rim Trail;
• requiring viewshed analyses as part of site plan approval processes;
• promoting incentives to increase use of renewable energy while reducing overall energy consumption;
• encouraging or mandating the construction of environmentally sustainable buildings;
• enforcing the County noise ordinance;
• strengthening and enforcing ordinances prohibiting littering and dumping in the canyons and other public land;
• promoting community recycling and composting programs..

The LWV LA believes Los Alamos County should continue to expand

• the use of efficient technology for its operations;
• recycling within its oprations, including purchasing recycled and environmentally safe products, and avoiding unnecessary packaging, especialy plastic water bottles.