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Important to preserve countryside

To the editor:
MaryHelen, thank you for your letter (column) in the Feb. 11 Post Review.ÝI just spent the past week with a team representing Chisago County at a workshop on Preserving Community Character at the University of Wisconsin River Falls sponsored by the Conservation Fund.Ý

You couldnít be more correct about your assessment that it isnít just the rivers that give our county its beauty.ÝIn fact, the bucolic countryside, weaving between lakes and fields,Ýforms the gateway that gives the river valleys their sense of place.ÝIt provides the backdrop and context within which they exist and frames our picture.ÝThe importance of their preservationÝcan not be understated. Open space and conservation are hot-button land use issues right now in Chisago County.ÝA fact made clear at the workshop, with information collected from national building and real estate organizations, is that good land use is good economics.ÝMore wealth creation for land owners and realtors can be made, along with more jobs, by incorporating sound conservation practices.ÝIt is the change that is hard for people to accept; not the outcomes.

As a businessman and member of the Taylors Falls Economic Development Commission, I look forward to sharing what our team learned atÝthe workshop in the coming months.ÝOur area was selected because of our countywide resources and because we have an opportunity to do the right thing.

Wade Vitalis
Shafer

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