Training Sessions

Putting Biodiversity on the Map
Laura T. Heady Biodiversity Outreach Coordinator, Hudson River Estuary Program Hudson River (NY)

NEMO If asked to draw a map of municipal resources, a typical local leader would likely include roads, sewers, and other systems; historical resources and farms; and possibly the town’s development centers. A savvy leader may even include wetlands and streams. But often, elements of “green infrastructure” such as forest, vernal pool, and grassland habitats are not considered in a town’s more traditional view of its infrastructure. And despite the essential ecosystem services they provide, these important biodiversity resources are often excluded during decisions about land use and future development.

For the last decade, outreach staff at the Hudson River Estuary Program at the NY Department of Environmental Conservation have been working throughout the watershed to put biodiversity on the map. Through technical assistance, data sharing, and training, the Estuary Program is partnering with communities to encourage biodiversity conservation at the local level local to sustain the health and resiliency of the entire estuary watershed.

Habitat Priority Planner Tool Demonstration
Danielle Bamford, NOAA Coastal Services Center

The Habitat Priority Planner (HPP) was designed with the local planner, coastal conservation group, and the coastal manager in mind. HPP is a spatial decision support tool designed to assist users in prioritizing important areas in the landscape or seascape for conservation or restoration action. What makes this tool unique is the ease with which the scenarios can be displayed and changed, making this a helpful companion when working with a group. In addition to the scenarios, the tool also generates pertinent reports, maps, and data tables.

Habitat-Based Management Planning for Town Open Space
Juliana Barrett, CT Sea Grant/NEMO and John Rozum, CT NEMO

Many municipalities have acquired large portfolios of properties that are now permanently protected. Even though the land is protected from future development, surrounding land use pressures, invasive species or natural succession may cause drastic changes to these properties. Management of these areas is often necessary to maintain or improve particular habitats or to manage for specific species. In this workshop, we offer a habitat-based management planning approach as the critical next step, after acquisition, in protecting the ecological value of these lands. This workshop focuses on the identification and management of common habitats found throughout the United States. With this information, towns can develop realistic land management plans based on the ecological characteristics and values of the landscape. In Connecticut , freely available GIS tools (the Community Resource Inventory (CRI) will be described that can significantly aid in the identification of habitats and the development of the management plan.

WaterWise Municipalities - (Forests + NEMO) = FREMO
Emma Melvin, VT NEMO

Vermont NEMO is taking the NEMO Network fundamental principle of do not reinvent the wheel just modify it literally with its new WaterWise Municipalities project. Vermont NEMO and the University of Vermont Extension Urban and Community Forests Program have joined forces to transform the Urban Watershed Forestry Manual into a digestible set of workshop modules. These modules will be designed to target appropriate decision makers for each topic (ex. development review commission—reviewing site plans); be either stand alone or a workshops series; and be modifiable for other states. Vermont’s forest, like other states, has experienced increased parcelization and forest conversion due to population growth, especially in rural areas, and rising property values combined with inadequate land use planning and regulation, which has lead to poor watershed health in many areas. By educating local officials on the link between forest conversion and impaired watersheds, and how to apply land use planning and conservation tools at the municipal level, we can limit future impact to our forests and waterways. As part of the project, we have created a working group consisting of two regional planners, the UVM Extension Forester, the Urban and Community State Coordinator, the State Watershed Forester, State stormwater department staff and Vermont League of Cities and Towns water quality regulations technical assistant staff. To enhance our education efforts, we will be conducting a train the trainer workshop with regional planners to provide them with the tools necessary to educate their towns on these issues.

Holy Charrette, they actually liked it? and NEMO on a boat? Yes you can said Sam I am!
Jesse Schomberg and John Bilotta, University of Minnesota Sea Grant Program, Northland NEMO

In 2007, the Northern Minnesota Chapter of the American Institute of Architects sponsored a Charrette: a dynamic, multi-day planning exercise involving professional review and public feedback. The site was selected with help from the City Planner, and focused on 100 acres along a designated trout stream that’s also listed on the state’s impaired waters list. Previous attempts to develop part of this land had met with strong resistance from neighborhood residents concerned about water quality, recreation, and congestion. The Charrette brought together planners, architects, developers, neighborhood residents, fisheries and ecology experts, stormwater managers, and others in reviewing and improving development designs for this area to meet the needs of developers and community members. The final design incorporated aspects to fit the needs and concerns of all parties.

This mini-session will feature the Watershed Game and the Clearwater Game developed by the Northland NEMO Partners and used as a tool to provide an exceptional learning platform for local decision makers and elected leaders during NEMO Workshops. During this mini-session, participants will pass the time during our long road trip by playing the games and learning how they games are used during NEMO Workshops, how they were developed, and adaptations for local NEMO Program use.

In the land of 10,000 plus lakes, miss the potholes on your road trip by navigating instead by boat! This mini-session will feature "A View from the Lake" and "A View from the River" - interactive NEMO workshop tours developed by Northland NEMO. This is not just a sightseeing tour and it’s not just for anyone. This is a hands-on approach for conducting NEMO workshops. Local decision makers and elected leaders board boats for Northland NEMO Workshops that provide knowledge building excursions on land use issues, water quality problems, and the practices and tools local decisions makers and elected leaders must be attentive to. During this mini-session, participants will learn how these workshops on the water are conducted, coordinated, and carried out without losing one of our valued decision makers overboard.

The sun rises on a Black Creek
Patrick Beggs & Christy Perrin, NC NEMO

A developer encroaches on a greenway. A greenway skirts perilously close to a creek. Words such as 'PCBs' and 'environmentalist' are tossed around without regard. An angry mob storms the castle demanding their open space. Anger, strife, chemicals, confusion: all fodder for the local media. Could this really be happening in Christy's watershed? Yes, it was, but it was also the impetus for a collaborative partnership, seeking truth and a higher level of aquatic biota. Christy and Patrick coaxed the local GIS gurus, the watershed wizards, the townsfolk and their leaders, to join the quest with the neighborhood children and levels of government beyond the town borders, even...the EPA. Together, this fellowship seeks the truth, using high tech GIS gadgetry and old fashioned sharing of concerns to find common ground. The result: the Black Creek Watershed Association. http://www.ncsu.edu/WECO/blackcreek

Audience Nodding Off?
Jonathan Doherty & Todd Janeski, CB NEMO/VA NEMO

Every presenter in the world is using powerpoint; 95% are putting people to sleep. NEMOids do far better than most (irreverent souls that we all are!), but in a fast changing digital world there are ways we can improve too. Chesapeake and Virginia NEMOs are testing story-based, visual approaches to getting the message across. What are the principles involved? And what’s the process for planning great NEMO presentations? Where can you find more visual resources? What are some examples of conveying the message? This session will explore all of this, in a humorous and substantive way.

The Stormulator: An Interactive User-Friendly Calculator For Matching Pre-Project Storm Water Runoff Volume And Rate
Timothy Lawrence, CA WALUP

Low Impact Development (LID) appears in virtually every storm water permit in California. Controlling hydromodification is one of California’s top priorities; and by January 2009 most new development and redevelopment will be required to match pre-project storm water runoff volumes and rates. This will require a rapid shift in how storm water is managed. Planners, landscape architects, architects, developers, and other professionals need user-friendly, effective tools to plan, design, and implement alternative approaches for managing storm water. This presentation demonstrates an interactive spreadsheet model that allows planners and designers to determine how much runoff they need to store, retain and treat, and what scale and size of LID features to place on a site. The calculator provides automatic calculations on runoff rates and volumes based on place-specific soil types, rainfall events, rates of infiltration and the use of alternative storm water management techniques. It allows for customization for any type and size of site.

Arizona GIS & Web Tools: NEMO Wet/Dry
Kristine Uhlman, University of Arizona, AZ NEMO

Arizona NEMO has developed a mapping protocol and GIS data management and processing methodology to record the changing perennial reaches of Arizona Rivers. Built on a local community volunteer monitoring program that has gathered on the third Saturday of June since 1999 to record where water flows in the San Pedro River, NEMO Wet/Dry has formalized the volunteer monitoring program and expanded the activity across Arizona. The goal of yearly monitoring is to create a long-term record of changes in river flow - while the record of any single year is interesting it is a record for multiple years that may tell what is really happening to the flow in the river. In addition, the goal of Wet/Dry is to build community participation, provide outreach education on the importance of long-term monitoring of our natural environment, and foster understanding of and responsibility for the health of Arizona watersheds. This presentation will include the 8-minute NEMO training video, GIS mapping protocol and GPS training documents, example field data sheets, and an overview of the monitoring results on several rivers in Arizona.

The Water Erosion Prediction Project - Climate Assessment Tool (WEPPCAT) is a web-based erosion simulation tool that allows for the assessment of changes in erosion rates as a consequence of user-defined climate change scenarios. The tool is based on the USDA-ARS Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) erosion model. Global warming is expected to lead to a more vigorous hydrological cycle, including more total rainfall and more frequent high intensity rainfall events. These rainfall changes, along with expected changes in temperature, solar radiation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations, will have significant impacts on soil erosion rates. WEPPCAT allows users to assess the impacts of land management on hillslope erosion under different climate change scenarios. The presentation will review the science behind the impacts of climate on erosion rates, and will illustrate the application of the WEPPCAT tool for assessing climate change impacts on erosion.

Buildout Analyses
John Rozum, CT NEMO

A much ballyhooed tool in the planning community is the buildout analysis, which allows the crafty NEMOid to estimate what a town, county or watershed would look like if every available piece of land were to be built upon, given certain constraints. What exactly is entailed in doing a buildout? How accurate is it? What software (if any) and data do you need? And, is it: (a) the magic planner elixir to cure all ills; (b) the tree-hugger’s all-purpose tool, meant to lock out all development, or; (c) none of the above? This presentation will take you on a trip through buildout world, and lead a discussion of educational uses, limitations, and pros and cons of this tool.

New Local Decision Maker Decision System for Communities
Robert McCormick, Indiana-Illinois Sea Grant, Purdue Extension, and POWER

A new web-based GIS decision system called Local Decision Maker is available for use by planners and natural resource groups in Indiana. Its purpose is to improve comprehensive planning, resulting in a final plan that matches a community’s economic, ecologic, social, and cultural resources and future development. To date, we have focused our efforts on inventory and analysis because it forms the foundation of every plan. Users follow a standard format that guides them through the inventory categories and gives them the opportunity to use a GIS map service to display and understand existing conditions and create pdf files for using in plans. During the second half of 2008, our efforts will shift to other parts of the comprehensive planning process. Local Decision Maker is a joint effort among Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and Purdue University’s Centers for the Environment and Regional Development and Extension. The program’s website is http://ldm.agriculture.purdue.edu.

The Runoff Reduction Method
Kelly Collins, Center for Watershed Protection

In April 2008, CWP and the Chesapeake Stormwater Network released a technical memorandum called The Runoff Reduction Method. This memo uses extensive background research on BMP performance to determine the ability for the BMP to reduce the overall volume of runoff in addition to pollutant removal. The method also incorporates built-in incentives for environmental site design, such as preserving forests and reducing soil disturbance and impervious cover. Kelly Collins of CWP, one of the authors of the memo, will review its findings and discuss the underlying philosophy of using runoff reduction as the basic yardstick of stormwater management.

The 1st Impervious Cover Based TMDL
Chet Arnold, UConn

In April 2007, the EPA approved the first Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) regulation in the nation based not on a specific pollutant(s), but on impervious cover. The TMDL is for Eagleville Brook watershed, which just happens to include the entire main campus of the University of Connecticut. This alarming coincidence has set in motion a combined effort of UConn, the Town of Mansfield, and CT Department of Environmental Protection, led by the CT NEMO program. The Center for Watershed Protection and a leading private sector firm, Horsley and Witten Group, are also partners in the project. The objectives of the project are to: (1) create a specific implementation plan for how the University of Connecticut and the Town of Mansfield can address the TMDL, and; (2) in the process, document a general methodology by which other communities and entities can address impervious cover-based TMDLs. Chet Arnold will review the history and progress to date of this high-profile project.

Urban Retrofits CWP-Style
Karen Cappiella, Center for Watershed Protection

CWP has been a pioneer in devising retrofit practices and protocols for urban watersheds. This talk will give an overview of these practices as found in the 2007 CWP publication, Urban Subwatershed Restoration Manual No. 3: Urban Stormwater Retrofit Practices. This publication outlines the basics of retrofits, describes the 13 unique locations where they can be found, and presents rapid methods to find, design and deliver retrofits to meet a wide range of subwatershed objectives. The manual contains updated costs for retrofit practices, updated pollutant removal data for stormwater treatment options, a design point method to estimate individual retrofit removal rates, and practical tips to support the design, permitting and construction of retrofit projects. In short, the manual provides all the resources needed to develop an effective local retrofit program. Get a guided tour from Kelly Collins and Karen Cappiella of CWP.

Making the Batter Better: Improving Better Site Design
Barbara Kendall, Hudson River Estuary Program, NYSDEC, Hudson NEMO

The Hudson River Estuary Program has embraced the menu of better site design principles advocated by the Center for Watershed Protection that aim to protect natural areas, reduce impervious surfaces, and better integrate stormwater treatment. But how can we convince local leaders that principles developed in Maryland apply to a state where home rule and local land use decision-making have been the status quo for 200 years? And how can we convince engineers, landscape architects and planners to change their ways and work together to accomplish better planning at the local level?

Through presentations, technical tools, and pilot studies, the Hudson River Estuary Program reaches key audiences with targeted messages. Economics are stressed when speaking to the private sector. Local planning boards are provided with information they can use when reviewing development projects. Staff participate in state sponsored training programs to provide updated messages on better site design and LID. Local site planning roundtables are an eligible category in the Estuary Grants Program, allowing municipalities to apply for funding to analyze local codes for better site design connections.

Go West Cave Man: a new community-based model for LID education that meets the needs of Oregonians.
Frank Burris, Derek Godwin, Sam Chan, Amanda Punton, Robert Emanuel, and M. Kleibacker, Oregon Sea Grant, OR NEMO

Following the mixed success of “Rainstorming”- Oregon NEMO’s first foray into the LID educational jungle, we collaborated with National NEMO to conduct a LID educational needs assessment in 3 diverse communities throughout Oregon. Despite the whining from Connecticut NEMO staff about the distances between communities in the West, the resulting assessment of needs and barriers to adoption of LID practices drove the strategic development of 4 programs. 1) Portland-Metro’s “Building it Green From the Ground Up” peer-to-peer seminar series met the LID educational and networking needs of previously underserved urban audiences by highlighting LID projects suited to the local landscape. 2) With help from CICEET, Oregon NEMO is developing a web-based decision matrix that will allow planners, engineers, developers, and local citizens to choose site-appropriate LID technical designs. 3) A new partnership, funded by a FREMO grant, has generated new forestry education materials that will value green space and enhance Oregon’s reputation as a “green” state. 4) A Rain Garden train-the-trainer program and LID educational seminars encouraging local grass-roots adoption of LID practices are being developed and tested for audiences in small coastal Oregon communities. Oregon State University Extension and Sea Grant has evolved from a primitive caveman-like infancy to a trusted source for watershed-friendly development education by assessing local needs, reaching new audiences, evaluating programs, and developing community-appropriate models for LID education in the West.

Stormwater Treatment Wetland is A Royal Flush for E. coli
John Jacob, Charriss York, and Marissa Sipocz, Texas Sea Grant/Texas AgriLife Extension Service, TX NEMO

The Mason Park Stormwater Wetland project along Brays Bayou in Houston, TX, is a partnership project coordinated by the Texas Coastal Watershed Program (TX NEMO) that involves more than a dozen state, federal, and local organizations. The constructed wetland serves a 30 acre watershed in a predominantly Latino community and demonstrates how wetlands can be incorporated into drainage infrastructure. Constructed wetlands are known to be fairly effective at removing bacteria from stormwater, but this wetland is the first documented proof of this effectiveness in the Houston region. The Mason Park Wetland consistently removes nearly 99% of the bacteria in the stormwater inflow while adding both beauty and habitat to a highly urbanized watershed.

Community-Based Social Marketing - It’s Not a Communist Plot
Cynthia Peterson, AWARE Colorado

AWARE Colorado has added a new component to its program: community-based social marketing (CBSM). AWARE is piloting a project using the method in the South Platte River Basin. Barriers and benefits research, and implementing CBSM approaches, will move our program from telling communities about nonpoint source pollution and ways to prevent it, to achieving action. The modified AWARE program will be used as a model for other programs in the state that conduct water-related education efforts.

AWARE’s recent survey found that many of the water quality protective strategies that respondents deemed most effective, and likely to be implemented, dealt with parking lots. Soon, we’ll conduct focus groups of community decision makers, planners, developers and other experts to identify what they believe are the barriers and benefits of various parking lot strategies. The next step in the CBSM process – develop program approaches to overcome barriers and enhance benefits.