Participating communities can participate in hands-on workshops and network with other members through personal contact and the Internet. Their web site includes a wide range of informative articles on sustainability. The Franklin Land Trust has protected 11 rural and farmland sites through innovative partnerships with farmers, state agencies and other farmland preservation groups. The Loomis Farm case study represents a conservation approach which provided a combination of affordable rural housing and land conservation. A watershed of many uses, the Big Sandy Lake watershed covers 413 square miles in Aitkin, Carlton, and St. Louis counties in northern Minnesota.
Water flows from forty-nine lakes and five rivers within the watershed to the Mississippi River.
Watershed residents depend upon clean water to support drinking water supplies and healthy fish populations. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection discusses several of its successful watershed protection efforts . Idaho Rock Creek Rock Creek Rural Clean Water Program Soil Conservation Service 634 Addison Ave. This project is one of five Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Rural Clean Water Program projects in the state of Idaho. The East St. Louis Action Research Project offers its site suitability analysis for their urban greenway project.