Wyoming Receives Award for Excellence in Environmental Planning

By Kimberly Mazza

Cheyenne - Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Brownfield Program recently received The Sheldon D. Gerber Merit Award for Excellence in Environmental Planning award for their SPURR initiative.

SPURR stands for State Partnership for Urban & Rural Redevelopment which is aWyoming Brownfield Initiative and provides a technical assistance toolkit calibrated to kickstart investment in the state's downtown buildings, underutilized rural areas, and other neglected properties.

The goal of SPURR is to assess environmental conditions, cleanup blighted properties, collaborate with stakeholders, identify priority sites, and develop remediation strategies that can "spurr" activity and encourage long-term redevelopment and investment in our communities.

The Sheldon D. Gerber Merit Award for Excellence in Environmental Planning award is presented each year at the annual Western Planner conference and recognizes outstanding achievements in environmental planning, for striving to improve the environment and protect the natural world, which can be in the form of a project, report, or the professional efforts of a planner or citizen planner. Nominations may be from three categories: a project or report, recognition for a planner's contribution in environmental planning or recognition for a citizen planner's contribution in environmental planning.

To find out more information about SPURR and all that it provides to Wyoming, please visit the DEQ's Brownfields Assistance page at https://deq.wyoming.gov/shwd/voluntary-remediation-program/brownfields-assistance/ and select Brownfield Brochures.