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North Carolina NEMO in the News
NOTE: The articles below are for archival purposes. The current contact for the North Carolina's coastal portion of their NEMO program is Gloria Putnum.
The following article is from the North Carolina Sea Grant Marine Extension News Winter 2004 issue.
Timing is everything. And, it’s no coincidence that Kate Ardizone has joined North Carolina Sea Grant as water quality planning specialist when coastal communities are revising their land-use plans under new Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) rules. The new rules, adopted by the Coastal Resources Commission in 2002, address a variety of sustainable growth and development issues that link land use to coastal water quality. In particular, local governments must address nonpoint source pollution and its impact on water quality as part of long-range planning. Nonpoint pollution sources include erosion >from disturbed land, failing septic systems, as well as stormwater runoff from hardened surfaces or nutrient-rich agricultural and residential tracts. Ardizone will play a supporting role to local governments and citizens taking steps to comply with the CRC planning guidelines. Ardizone’s position is being supported for a two-year period by Sea Grant and the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Division of Water Quality (DWQ). "My focus is on serving the coastal communities," Ardizone says. Still in a listening mode, she is attempting to identify the greatest needs. It’s a first step toward helping local governments develop strategies that address land use and water quality. "There is no one-size-fits-all approach," she says. But there are a host of natural resource-based planning techniques, high-tech and low-tech solutions for coastal communities to consider. An opening dialogue, for example, could be in helping communities identify natural features, their ecological function, and how they might figure in land-use planning. Ardizone is well prepared to facilitate such public discourse. In 2000, she served as an outreach program associate at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Services Center in Charleston. There, she was project leader in developing "Engaging Communities: Participatory Strategies for Coastal Managers," a CD-ROM that features examples of ways to improve the public’s involvement and understanding of environmental issues. Most recently, Ardizone was a NOAA Coastal Management Fellow, working for two years with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Coastal Management Program. She co-authored "Filling the Gaps: Environmental Protection Options of Local Governments," a guidebook for local officials challenged to balance resource protection and economic prosperity. The book was the basis for regional workshops Ardizone conducted on topics such as ecological processes, natural resource-based planning techniques, regulatory options and implementation tools. Ardizone believes North Carolina is ahead of the game because of the framework that exists for localities to adopt environmentally sensitive land-use plans. CAMA was adopted more than three decades ago as a mechanism to protect coastal resources. Still, in the face of aggressive coastal growth, there is a lot at stake, says Walter Clark, Sea Grant’s coastal communities and policy specialist. "Kate’s technical assistance should be especially well received in coastal communities that may not have the resources to plan and implement CAMA guidelines," he adds. "The goal of this position is to increase the internal capacity of the local governments to perform these tasks on their own in the future," explains DWQ’s Gloria Putnam. Ardizone will consult with Clark and Putnam, as well as the N.C. Division of Division of Coastal Management (DCM) and N.C. Cooperative Extension Service to identify target audiences for outreach and education efforts. These audiences could include elected officials, developers, professional planners and interested citizens. When requested, she will assist in reviewing, or suggesting improvements to water quality components of land use plans. Recognizing that it’s not enough to turn a community on to best management practices without regard to funding constraints, Ardizone will help identify proposed water quality improvement projects that may be eligible for funding. She adds, "Many solutions to water quality problems can be achieved through appropriate planning, policy enforcement and citizen participation with little or no additional cost to the community." Kate Ardizone will take the helm of a newly funded effort in coastal North Carolina. Some may remember Kate from NEMO U2 in Charleston, where she attended as a representative from Michigan. Kate has worked as a Coastal Services Center fellow for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for the past two years, where she spent a lot of time talking to local township and county officials about alternative stormwater practices. Kate published a manual for Michigan local officials entitled, Filling the Gaps: Environmental Protection Options for Local Governments, that is now being used as the basis for similar efforts in other states. In North Carolina, Kate will be coordinating a collaborative effort between the Sea Grant and Cooperative Extension programs, working in broadening outreach efforts to coastal municipalities. |
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