Pre-workshop evaluation:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/X79WV9P

Stormwater Challenge Workshop: Clean Water Practices for Challenging Sites

Presented by Maria Cahill and Jamie Stamberger

For WMSWCD and SWNI/SWWRC

Agenda

• 9:00 – 9:20 – Overview, workshop vision

• 9:20 – 9:50 – Watersheds, pollution sources, reducing your impact

• 9:50 – 10:20 – Managing runoff on challenging sites: overview of practices

• 10:20 – 1:20 – Field site visits and activities

• 1:20 – 2:40 – In-classroom design work in teams

• 2:40 – 3:00 – Clean Water Volunteers, evaluations, next steps

Be a Clean Water Hero!

Take the Clean Water Pledge before you leave today!

Pledge your choice of the following within 6 months:

• Implement a clean water practice from the workshop at home

• Help a fellow classmate install a practice at their home

• Take the follow-up survey sent by email 6 months after the workshop

Workshop mission: increase the use of clean water practices by building confidence through hands-on projects and creating a corps of volunteers to help each other build.

This class is a series! Collect all 4!

Hands-on installation workshops with yourfriends at their homes:

Attending more classes will give you more confidence and more friends!

•Sat. April 5: 9am to 3pm

•Sat. April 19: 9am to 3pm

•Sat. May 3: 9am to 3pm

*Register with Jen!

What is a watershed?

all the streams, lakes and wetlands that rain drains to in an area

• Rain runs off quickly, not able to soak into the ground

• Rain washes over yards and streets, picking up non-point source pollution.

• Rain is piped directly to streams, or the wastewater treatment plant

In an urban watershed:

• Fertilizers and pesticides

• Animal waste (bacteria)

• Soap, oil, other car fluids

• Household hazardous wastes (oil, antifreeze, paint, etc)

• Soil (sediment)

• Volume (from rooftops, streets, etc. = impervious surfaces)

• Metals (copper, zinc) – harmful to salmon

Common stormwater pollutants

forested creek urban creek

Too much volume, too fast

EVERYONE can do something to help!

• Reduce sources of pollution at home

• Capture and soak in runoff from impervious surfaces

• Plant a tree

• Share what you know

• Reduce lawn size

• Use slow-release, organic or natural products, or no products!

• Avoid combined fertilizer and pesticide like “weed and feed”

• Landscape with native plants and low maintenance plants

1. Avoid or use fewer fertilizers and pesticides

Reduce your need for pesticides

• Accept some imperfection • Plants can tolerate up to 50% defoliation

• Garden using IPM (Metro booklet)• Identify – metromastergardeners.org, 503–445–

4608• Manual control, biological, chemical as last resort

• Native and disease-resistant plants

• Right plant, right place • Take an EMSWCD naturescaping class, emswcd.org

Meadowscaping

• Replacing lawn or flower beds with native meadow mix, mostly forbs and grasses

• WMSWCD Urban Meadowscaping Program (Mary@wmswcd.org), Backyard Habitat Certification Program is a partner – audubonportland.org

• Planted often using plugs and seeds• One WMSWCD/BYHCP approved mix• Hobbs and Hopkins, Sunmark Seeds others

Photo by USDAgov

Finding native plants

• Metro Native Plants for Willamette Valley Yards

• List of local suppliers/sales at emswcd.org

• Join the Backyard Habitat Certification Program (email Nikkie West: nwest@audubonportland.org)

• Join the WMSWCD Urban Meadowscaping Program (email: Mary Logalbo at mary@wmswcd.org)

• Take an EMSWCD Naturescaping class (emswcd.org)

• Scoop the poop! Pick up after your pets.

• Use bag boxes installed in parks

• Do not feed wildlife

2. Reduce bacteria entering streams

• Wash cars at a car wash

• Sweep driveway instead of washing

• Fix oil and gas leaks

• Clean up spills with kitty litter and put in garbage

3. Reduce car pollutants in streams

4. Reduce illegal dumping

• Volunteer to mark storm drains with Surfrider Foundation

volunteercoordinator@portland.surfrider.org

• Bring left over household hazardous waste to a Metro collection event or Swan

Island station.

• Paint• Cleaning chemicals• Pesticides

5. Plant a tree!

• Long-lived, large trees soak up a LOT of stormwater runoff

• Trees need sufficient space to grow (Maria will will touch on this more

in her presentation)

• Preserve trees on your property whenever possible

Rain Gardens Downspout Disconnection

5. Soak up runoff at home, if safe

• Reduce volume of runoff heading to local streams

• Reduce lawn chemicals and bacteria in runoff

Challenging sites!Wet soils, steep slopes and high ground water on your property?

Good news!

There are also practices that can be applied to these conditions to reduce runoff safely…