Basic NEMO
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About NEMO
This presentation is a general overview about the NEMO Program and why it exists.
Basic NEMO
The Basic NEMO (a.k.a Linking Land Use to Water Quality) presentation addresses the relationship of land use to natural resource protection with an emphasis on water quality. It explaines the concepts of nonpoint source pollutionand watersheds as well as reviewing the impacts of land use on water resources. Natural resource-based planning in introduced as a framework for dealing with land use issues.
Reducing Runoff
Impervious surfaces like asphalt, concreat and rooftops create polluted runoff and are a major indicator of the impacts of development on water resources. This workshop goes over planning and site design options to reduce both the amount and the impact of impervious surfaces. It also includes informatin on road and parking lot designs and alternative materials that promote infiltration.
Focus on the Coast
This presentation is part of a larger, multimedia project that was undertaken by the CT NEMO Program with funding from the NOAA Coastal Services Center (via a competitive grant). It is meant to focus the awareness of CT’s coastal communities on their important coastal habitat areas. The PPT show is accompanied by a Focus on the Coast website (part of the NEMO website), which has a mapping tutorial and interactive mapping site that pairs CLEAR/NEMO land cover and impervious cover data layers with data layers on the three priority habitats chosen by the project team: submerged aquatic vegetation, tidal marshes, and migratory fish runs.
Managing Stormwater in Urban Areas (a.k.a. Urban NEMO)
Managing Stormwater in Urban Areas (Urban NEMO), is a new educational presentation that focuses on opportunities and techniques for reducing runoff in urban environments. The project, which was partially funded by EPA New England, was developed in partnership with EPA smart growth officials who were concerned that NEMO's message was focused primarily on new growth and suburban
Accordingly, Urban NEMO espouses many of the same runoff management techniques as the Reducing Runoff presentation, but uses examples from cities around the country, and has a section on the relationship of water resource protection to smart growth principles like redevelopment and infill. The subtitle, "Using Restorative Redevelopment to Enhance the Community and the Environment," pretty much tells the story. The organization of the presentation owes much to Reducing Runoff, but also to the work of Dr. Bruce Ferguson of the University of Georgia, a landscape architect who is a leading proponent of infiltration of stormwater. CT NEMO was greatly assisted by the Northland (Minnesota) NEMO program
Read the National fact sheet series for tips on how to adapt NEMO to your area, how to approach local officials, resources available to members and what it means to be a part of the National Network. Included, you will find advice on tracking impacts, example program evaluations and surveys and our well-reasoned, totally unbiased editorials...
Fact Sheet 1 - Adapting NEMO to Your Area: A Few Key Considerations. Information about the National Network and how to adapt NEMO to your locality... Who is your target audience? Which issues will you address? What level of effort and funding are you talking about? The Hub has compiled these key issues based on discussions at numerous scoping workshops.
Fact Sheet 2 - Signing On: Nuts & Bolts Questions About Adapting NEMO. So, you've scoped out NEMO and decided to have a "go" at basic questions about target audience, topical focus, geographic focus, partners, expertise and funding (National Fact Sheet 1). But before you get down to business, you have some other questions about how this may play out farther down the NEMO road. The Hub answers your top 10 questions...
Fact Sheet 3 - The Dotted Line: what it Means to Join the NEMO Network. Many of your colleagues have asked what exactly it means to "join the NEMO Network". What are the requirements, conditions and caveats involved with participating in the National NEMO Network? The Hub answers these questions and includes the Policy Statement and sample Network Charter.
Fact Sheet 4 - How to Reach Local Land Use Officials. How do you approach a local planning board? What are their concerns? How can you keep them awake during your presentation? The Hub gives a few points on local officials how to reach them.
Fact Sheet 5 - The Network Hub is Here to Help. Who is coordinating this Network anyway? Everything you ever wanted to know about the Hub.
The NEMO fact sheets are targeted at local land use commission members, and the public at large. All are 2-6 pages in length.
2: Nonpoint Source Water Pollution. 1993. Nonpoint source pollution defined, with information on NPS sources & effects
(PDF - 66K)
3: Impacts of Development on Waterways. 1994. Reviews the hydrologic, physical, chemical and ecological effects of increasing urbanization on waterways; includes an explanation of the concept of impervious surface coverage as an indicator of these impacts. (PDF - 219K)
4: Strategies for Coping With Polluted Runoff. 1994. The NEMO 3-tiered approach of planning, site design and stormwater best management practices, laid out for your inspection and general delight. (PDF - 68K)
5: How To Get Started: Protecting Your Town From Polluted Runoff. 1994. The NEMO Program has chosen to retire fact sheet #5 due to the old and outdated information it provided.
6: Asking the Right Questions About Polluted Runoff. 1994. Key questions that commissions and concerned citizens should ask during the land use decision making process. (PDF - 73K)
7: Reviewing Site Plans for Stormwater Management. 1995. Key considerations for commissioners reviewing site plans; includes 11 basic stormwater management system guidelines. (PDF - 143K)
8: They Can't Do That, Can They?: How is Land Use Decided in Your Connecticut Town? 1998. Hey, they're putting in a shopping mall in that vacant field near the school. Ever wonder who "they" are? This quiz clarifies some of the mysteries of who determines local land use. The answers may surprise you, since myths abound about this topic. This fact sheet focuses on Connecticut, but its description of some of the more universal local land use truths may be of use to folks in other areas. (PDF - 123K)
9: Open Space Developments: A Better Way to Protect Water Quality, Retain Wildlife, and Preserve Rural Character. 1999. Many folks still believe that one- and two-acre zoning is the epitome of rural development, but it just ain't so! This fact sheet, developed in collaboration with nationally-know expert Randall Arendt of The Natural Lands Trust, explains the many benefits of open space developments, including the protection of water resources. (PDF - 458K)
10: Carving Up the Landscape: Habitat Fragmentation and What to Do About It. 1999. Our developing areas are losing wildlife and plant species. Why? Although scientific debate continues, most everyone agrees that it's due to breaking up the natural landscape into ever-smaller pieces. This fact sheet explains habitat fragmentation, suggests why we should care about it, and proposes a three-part strategy to reduce its impacts. A collaboration of the NEMO Project and the UConn Cooperative Extension Forestry Program. (PDF - 646K)
Our totally biased, yet well-reasoned, ravings about the importance of natural resource based land use planning.
CT NEMO Articles
1: The Only "BMP" That Really Works: Better and More Planning. 1997. A plea for planning as the solution to water resource protection. (PDF - 22K)
2: Beyond the Snappy Acronym: The Real Definition of NEMO. 1997. The 3 essential elements of a "NEMO" program, as seen from the belly of the beast. (PDF - 24K)
3: Sustainable: Attainable? 1998. NEMO explores the latest buzzword. (PDF - 22K)
4: WANTED: Natural Resource-Based Land Use Planning for Watersheds. 1998. It ain't some weird new science, it's land use planning applied to watersheds. (PDF - 29K)
5: Putting Your Community in the Driver's Seat. 1999. Tired of being in reactive mode? Take control over your community's future through natural resource-based planning. (PDF - 21K)
6: Planning for Open Space: Confessions of a Planning Veteran. 2002. Who is interested in open space? How do we plan for open space? Find the answers in this editorial. (PDF - 21K)
7: New Tools for Communities are Needed if NPS Regulation is to Succeed. 2001. This editorial was originally published for the EPA's New-Notes bulletin, March 2001. (PDF- 23K)
Network-wide Soapbox Articles
Where Should Growth Occur? 2004. John Jacob (Texas NEMO) The debate over the primacy of the central city versus the suburbs has been around some time, but it is at the heart of the debate about what our cities and regions will look like in the future. Where is most of our future growth going to occur? Does it make a difference where it occurs, and could we do anything about changing where it occurs if we wanted to? (PDF - 28K)
