It’s no secret that, for many stormwater managers, one of the most frustrating parts of implementing the Phase II permit is dealing with the “public elements”: the requirements for public education and outreach and public participation and involvement. Gauging how to approach these two minimum control measures—and how to tell whether what you’re doing is having an effect—can be baffling.
An upcoming webinar offers some help: “NPDES Phase II: The Public Elements – Promoting Sustainable Behavior” will take place on March 8, 2011, at 1:00 p.m. EST. (Click here to register.) One of two free webinars coming up in March, it is part of the launch of Forester University, the educational arm of Forester Media. Seating is limited, and if you join us for one of these first webinars, we’ll ask for your feedback at the end.
The webinar explains why the public components of Phase II are necessary and just what is being asked of MS4 operators to satisfy these elements. Using the principles outlined by environmental psychologist Doug McKenzie-Mohr, the founder of community-based social marketing, the webinar will identify some social marketing tools to foster behavioral change and then show how to design and evaluate effective public education programs that promote sustainable behavior.
The webinar is presented by someone who’s successfully navigated the process: Stephanie Moret, Ph.D., LEG, PG, who, as manager of the water resources program for the City of Bainbridge Island, Washington, supervised the development and implementation of these two Phase II public elements. She is a natural resources scientist, educator, and coalition-builder with over 17 years of experience leading governments, planners, institutions, land owners, non-profits, and project teams towards increased sustainability. She is also the Director of Education and Training for Forester University.
You can read more about the webinar and Stephanie’s background, as well as reserve your space, by clicking here.
A second free webinar, “Fluvial Geomorphology 101 – What’s Wrong About Riprap.” will take place on March 10, 2011, at 2:00 p.m. EST. Click here to register.
Have you ever watched or read the news and seen a house or a car bobbing down the middle of a river or seen a highway or bridge washed out? These tragedies are likely the result of a well-meaning engineer or developer forgetting to look at the bigger picture—how watersheds, rivers, and stream channels naturally work. Everybody seems surprised when a streambank erodes, bringing a piece of road or a home along with it—except for the fluvial geomorphologists!
Participants in this webinar will learn to recognize the functional components of a watershed and river and to understand their basic processes—in other words, how a river works. The webinar will define “channel stability” at both the watershed scale and the channel scale, and will present case studies of environmentally sensitive streambank stabilization projects.
The webinar will be presented by John McCullah, CPESC, owner of Salix Applied Earthcare, and Stephanie Moret. Ph.D. Stephanie will begin by presenting some fluvial geomorphology basics at the watershed scale. Most of the discussion will then focus on John’s work at the reach scale, where the work is usually done, including habitat, enhancements, substrate complexity, a little about “proper functioning condition” for the implementer/designer, and why riprap is bad. Click here to read more about the webinar and the instructors and to reserve your space.
Forester University provides professional development opportunities for specialists involved in all the areas covered by Forester Media magazines: earth moving, energy reliability and efficiency, erosion and sediment control, solid waste management, water resource management, and stormwater. Subject matter experts in each field provide instruction through webinars, webcasts, and videos. You can find more information on Forester University here http://www.forester.net/university/index.html.