United States	Office of Water	EPA 840-N-99-001

Environmental Protection	(4501F)	Fall 1999

Agency

&ERA Watershed Events

A Bulletin on Sustaining Water Resources and Ecosystems

In This Issue...

This issue of Watershed Events focuses
on smart growth—an emerging concept
that promotes better stewardship of land
and water resources to make our commu-
nities more livable and sustainable. In
addition, as you will discover from the
following articles, economic growth and
environmental quality has provent to be
mutually compatible goals. In regards to
smart growth, Governor Kitzhaber of
Oregon perhaps said it best—"Growth
is a double edged sword. Handled
right, it can offer a path to a bright and
prosperous future. Handled wrong, it
will slice to shreds everything that
makes living here worthwhile."

On The Inside...

Smart Growth and the Watershed

Approach	 1

What is Smart Growth	 2

Tools for Smarth Growth

Site Planning	4

Protecting Farmland	 5

Sprawl, Transportation, and

Air Quality	6

Floodplain Management	 7

Hurricane Floyd and Smart Growth ... 7

Better America Bonds	 8

Why We Need Smarth Growth	 8

Earth Force Takes Over for GREEN .. 9

Views from the Field

Maryland Leads the Way	 10

Vacant Lots 	 11

Friends of the Rappahannock	 12

Managing Stormwater to Protect

Fisheries	 12

Smart Growth in Coastal
Communities 	 13

New Resources	 14

Events	 15

Smart Growth and the Watershed
Approach: What's the Connection?

Common Principles

Both Smart Growth and the Watershed

Approach have three basic principles in

common:

•	Place - focus is on geographic areas;

•	Partnerships - people of various
interests take action together;

•	Problem Solving - comprehensive
plans are developed to implement
appropriate solutions.

Common Agenda
Preventing or mitigating negative
effects of unmanaged growth is clearly
a mandate of smart growth and emerg-
ing as a driving force for the watershed
approach. Development activities,
especially uncontrolled sprawl, create
impervious surfaces within watersheds
which:

•	Increase runoff of nonpoint source
pollution and sedimentation of
streams;

•	Increase stormwater runoff and
faster and higher flood peaks;

•	Increase scour and erosion of
streambanks;

•	Reduce recharge to ground water
and lower stream base flow; and

•	Destroy wildlife habitats.

All of these degrade the physical,
chemical, and biological integrity of
our streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands,
and estuaries.

Common Sense

The concept of smart growth is starting
to build momentum all over the country
and has good bipartisan support. The
Watershed Approach has seen similar
success. EPA's Office of Water
estimates that there are more than 4,000
locally based organizations across the
nation that are actively involved in
protecting and restoring the water
resources and ecologically integrity of
their watershed. In their endeavors to
protect water resources, many of these
groups can bring a common sense
approach to promoting and imple-
menting smart growth and their
expertise and commitment to action
should be utilized to improve the
quality of life for all the citizens in the
community.

"Wateristhe most critical resource
issue of our lifetime, and ourchildren's
lifetime. The health of ourwaters is the
principal measure of how we live on the
land."

Luna Leopold

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Watershed Events

Fall 1999

Watershed Events

John McShane, Editor

U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency

This Issue's Contributors
Patrice Carroll, Philadelphia Urban

Resources Partnership
Jessica Cogan, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency
Warren Flint, University of Virginia
John Frece, State of Maryland
Abby Friedman, National Association

of Counties
Heather Holland, Center for Water-
shed Protection
Richard Klein, Community and

Environmental Defense Services
Janet Pawlukiewicz, U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency
Michael Pawlukiewicz, Urban Land
Institute

Edward Thompson, Jr., American

Farmland Trust
John Tippett, Friends of the

Rappahannock
Paul Wentworth, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency

Watershed Events provides informa-
tion to professionals and others
interested in the development and
implementation of the watershed
approach and in achieving water-
shed goals. The watershed ap-
proach focuses on mitigating the
primary threats to ecosystem and
human health and involving stake-
holders to take action in an inte-
grated, holistic manner. Please
direct any questions or comments to:

John McShane
Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and
Watersheds
U.S. EPA
401 M Street, SW(4501F)
Washington, DC 20460

(202) 260-0409
mcshane.john@epa.gov

To be added to the Watershed
Events mailing list, send your name
and address to:

Melissa Bowen
Tetra Tech, Inc.
10306 Eaton Place, Suite 340

Fairfax, VA 22030
bowenme@tetratech-ffx.com

What is Smart Growth?

What are the key principles and
characteristics of smart growth? How
can smart growth be recognized?
What are the details of the smart
growth approach that can be tested in
the day-to-day experience of planning
and implementing policies as well as
of designing and developing projects?
Answers to these questions have
begun to emerge over the past few
years.

Kev Principles

First, it must be understood smart
growth is local, built up from the
grassroots level. Second, smart
growth must begin with the assump-
tion that there will be growth. There
have been times when no-growth
advocates have successfully opposed
development, only to see it leapfrog
into places that are even less appropri-
ate. The lesson learned is not to stop
growth, but to accommodate it in
ways that make sense and preserve
the community, protect the environ-
ment, and enhance
economic vitality.

Third, collaboration is a
cornerstone of smart
growth. Smart growth
seeks to identify a
common ground where
developers, environ-
mentalists, public
officials, citizens, and
financiers all can find ways to accom-
modate growth that is acceptable to
all parties.

Characteristics of Smart Growth
It has been said that smart growth is
happening in a community when:

•	Development is economically viable
and preserves open space, natural
resources, and habitats for indig-
enous species.

•	There is certainty and predictability
in the development process, and

development projects that enhance
the economy, the community, and
the environment receive expedited
approval.

Existing infrastructure is maintained
and enhanced but expanded when
appropriate to serve existing and
new residents.

There is a mutually beneficial
collaboration among the commu-
nity, the nonprofit sector, and the
public and private sectors. Rede-
velopment is actively pursued,
including infill residential develop-
ment, the reuse of brownfields, and
the recycling of obsolete buildings.

Compact development is focused on
existing commercial centers, new
town centers, and existing or
planned transportation facilities.
Land planning and urban design
create a sense of community and
ensure the ease of movement and
safety of residents.

Development is limited in the most
hazardous, ecologically significant
areas.

"...all property in this country is held underan implied
obligation that the owner's useofitshallnotbe

injurious to the community."

The United States Supreme Court, 1887

Barriers to Smart Growth
Many public officials, citizens, and
environmental groups have discovered
that the way to get well-designed
projects built in the places that make
sense is to do everything possible to
make them economically successful.
Projects that are the most sensitive to
the environment and to community
values should be given priority and
should not be subject to costly delays
and conditions.

Unfortunately, in today's world, smart
growth is often the path of greatest

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Fall 1999

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Page 3

resistance and cost to the developer.
Infrastructure and housing policies are
designed to enable and reinforce
prevailing development patterns.

Equally important, however, smart
growth is, in many instances, simply
illegal. For example, current zoning
practices often require unnecessarily
wide streets, large setbacks, and large
lot sizes; forbid mixing retail and
commercial with residential uses; and
require excessive supplies of parking. In
short, the barriers to smart grow th can
be numerous and can originate in many
different places.

Falling Barriers

Because smart growth fosters collabora-
tion and agreement among policy
makers and practitioners in the develop-
ment sector, barriers are beginning to
fall and smart growth is getting easier.
Here are a few examples of the practical
application of smart growth principles:

•	Communities have reworked their
design standards to allow streets that
are narrower, more pedestrian
friendly, and that generate less rainfall
runoff.

•	Local governm ents working with
town planners and architects have

adopted alternative zoning overlays
that permit a greater mix of uses, lower
parking m illiniums, smaller setbacks,
as well as facilitating the permitting
process.

•	Federal policies encourage
deconcentrating low-income public
housing or rehabbing old projects into
community-centered housing. New
programs offer incentives to mix
higher proportions of 111 arket-rate
housing into new projects, some using
traditional neighborhood design
(TND) principles.

•	hi Maryland, a redevelopment project
is planned for Silver Spring, a suburb
of Washington, D.C. Rather than
prohibiting building in the suburban
fringe, the state of Maryland provides
incentives in the form of grants to build
infrastructure in downtown Silver
Spring. These grants not only enable
redevelopment to work economically
but also make Silver Spring as
attractive to developers as fringe areas
where land is less expensive. (See
article on Maryland's smart grow th
initiative.)

•	In San Diego Count}', California,
environmentalists, developers, and
government agencies have put aside

battling over each development project
as it is proposed. A Natural Communi-
ties Conservation Plan (NCCP) has been
adopted that identifies specific habitat
areas for permanent protection in
addition to areas for "as-of-right"
development. Sustainable preservation
areas will protect endangered species,
as well as entire ecosystems and will
still be able to accommodate the growth
needs of the community.

When a development is profitable, when it
leverages or enhances existing public
investment, and when it maintains or
improves environmental quality, a
consensus can be sustained among the
many stakeholders who affect develop-
ment decisions. This can lead to a
regulatory, permitting, and financing path
of least resistance for smart growth
practices. Local government, em iron-
mental ists. and real estate developers
together can make smart growth develop-
ment work, not only on the ground but
also on the balance sheet.

This article is adapted from a longer version
by Michael Pawlukiewicz that first appeared
in Urban Land Magazine, June 1998. For
more information on smart growth, visit the
Urban Land Institute's website at
www.uli.org or www.smartgrowtli.org.

1) For years, channelizing streams and draining the land for development or agricultural activites mas common practice in many
areas of the country. Indeed, federal programs often promoted and funded these projects to get water off the land as quickly as
possible, even though this frequently destroyed the biological integrity of streams and wetlands. 2) Today, many streams are being
degraded by the increased runoff from upstream developments [see stream hvdrograph on page 8]; here, extensive bank erosion, an
increasing problem in rapidly growing suburban areas, has exposed a sewer line. 3) Some communities ha\'e embraced smart growth
and have taken the initiative to protect and restore streams and their floodplians to preserve their ecological integrity as well as their
ability to store and convey floodwaters. Presen'ing these areas also has the added benefit of increasing adjacent property values.

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Watershed Events

Fall 1999

Tools for Smart Growth

Smart Growth Site
Planning Protects Streams

In her 1970 hit single, Joni Mitchell
complained that they "paved paradise and
put up a parking lot." As it turns out,
she had a right to be concerned: land
development and accompanying
impervious cover has been proven to have
a significant adverse impact on the
quality of our watersheds, especially

streams and their floodplains. Short of
severely curtailing new development,
one of the best tools to mitigate these
impacts is a change in the way that
development sites are designed.
Towards this end, the Center for
Watershed Protection convened a
national site-planning roundtable of
diverse planning, environmental, home
builder, fire, safety, public works, and
local government personnel. Over an

18-month period, these professionals
hammered out 22 model principles for
land development that realistically
focused on redesigned streets, smaller
parking lots, improved site design, and
extensive conservation of natural areas
in all new developments. Collectively
referred to as "better site design,"
these techniques provide local govern-
ments with a comprehensive process
through which they can minimize

Conventional Design

This site represents a typical
single-family residential subdivi-
sion. Lots are a uniform size and
shape, cul-de-sacs dominate the
landscape, existing natural
resources (forest, streams,
floodplains, and wetlands) are
only moderately protected, street
widths are excessively wide,
driveway widths and lengths create
unnecessary imper\>ious cover, and
lawn turf is the dominant feature
in the developed site. Total
imper\'ious cover: 12.0 acres (27%
of total site).

Innovative Design

In this innovative design, lots
are narrower and varied in
shape, existing natural re-
sources ha\'e been preser\>ed
wherever possible, a significant
area is retained as natural open
space, street widths are narrow,
and houses are closer to the
road thus creating shorter
driveway lengths. In addition,
a minimum 100 ft. buffer is
provided along all intermittent
and perennial streams,
stormwater is managed in a
"treatment train " with
bioretention facilities coupled
with a wet extended detention
pond, and lawn turf is mini-
mized. Total impen'ious cover:
9.1 acres (20% of total site).

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Page 5

impervious cover and promote land
conservation. The principles are not
intended to be strict mandates, but
guidelines that provide a framework
for smarter, better, more ecologically
sound site development based on
local conditions.

The better site design approach seeks
to accomplish three basic goals at
every development site: to reduce the
amount of impervious cover, to
increase the amount of natural land
set aside for conservation, and to use
pervious areas for more effective
storm water treatment. The applica-
tion of these principles requires that
designers scrutinize every aspect of a
site plan—street widths, parking
spaces, setbacks, lot sizes, driveways
and sidewalks—to determine if any of
these elements can be reduced in
scale. At the same time, creative
grading and draining techniques must
be modified to best prevent concen-
trations of storm water and improve
infiltration. Finally, as much undis-
turbed land area as possible should be
conserved as forests, meadows,
stream buffers, and other natural
habitat. Avoiding development in
flood hazard areas is particularly
effective as it not only protects
streams and their floodplains, it also
prevents the loss of life and property
caused by floods. Applied collec-
tively, better site design principles
can increase open space, reduce
pollutant loads, and raise property
values.

In theory, the Center's principles are
deceptively simple: make streets only
as wide as they really need to be;
don't create more parking than
necessary; and protect trees whenever
possible. However, when applied
simultaneously, the results of better
site design techniques can be impres-
sive. Recent studies in Delaware,
Maryland and Virginia have demon-
strated that better site design can
reduce impervious cover by 25% to

nearly 60% for subdivisions and by
20% for shopping centers and office
parks. This reduced imperviousness
translates directly into:

•	Less polluted runoff;

•	Better water quality;

•	Less variable stream base flow; and

•	Lower construction costs.

The good news for Joni, and the rest
of us, is that while paradise will
continue to be paved, developers,
water quality managers, and planners
across the country are taking steps to
rethink land development and
overcome existing impediments to
better site design. As a means of
facilitating this better site design
consciousness, the Center's national
site-planning roundtable developed a
Codes and Ordinances Worksheet
that communities can use to see how
the standards, ordinances and codes
that shape development in their own
areas measure up against the model
principles. Flowever, real progress
toward smart growth will require
more local governments to continue
to examine their current practices in
the context of a broad range of

economic, legal, safety, environmen-
tal, and planning concerns.

For more information on the 22 model
development principles, contact the
Center for Watershed Protection, 8391
Main Street, Ellicott City, Maryland
21043; phone (410)461-8323; fax(410)
461-8324; email:

mrrunoff@pipeline.com. You can
visit us online atwww.cwp.org.

Protecting Farmland:
An Integral Part of
Smart Growth

People are often surprised to learn
that more than half of the nations
agricultural production, including
three-fourths of its fruits, vegetables
and diary products, occurs right
outside America's expanding cities.
Our agrarian ancestors were smart
enough to settle on the most fertile
land. Will we be smart enough to
protect that land from sprawl?

See Farmland, page 6

Our ancestors were smart enough to settle on the most fertile land—will we be
smart enough to protect this land from sprawl?

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Watershed Events

Fall 1999

Farmland from page 5

Protecting farmland is an important
part of almost any smart growth
strategy. Farmland is, of course, a
source of locally grown food that
contributes to the economy. But it
also provides environmental benefits:
open space to relieve congestion,
habitat for wildlife, and watersheds
free of pavement. And it is a source
of tax revenue that does not demand
many public services (cows don't go
to school) and, hence, makes a
positive contribution to local budgets.
It is, therefore, not surprising that the
protection of green, open farmland
consistently ranks high in polls asking
people why sprawl should be curbed.

American Farmland Trust is an active
participant in the Smart Growth
Network and recently formed a
partnership with the U.S. Conference
of Mayors to promote the recycling of
brownfields to protect green fields.
The focus of American Farmland
Trust is on areas of the country where
the most productive farmland lies in
the path of sprawl, from California's
Central Valley to New England's
Connecticut River Valley and many
places in between (to view AFT's
"Fanning on the Edge Map," go to
http://fann.fic.niu.edu/foe2/map/
foemap2.html). For more information
about AFT, its programs, services and
publications, visit their website at
www.fannland.org, call (202)
331-7300 or write American Farmland
Trust, 1200 18th Street, N.W., Suite
800, Washington, D.C. 20036.

Sprawl, Transportation,
Watersheds, & Air Quality:
Meeting the Challenge

How many hours do you spend behind
the wheel of a car or truck? If you
can't take a train, bus, or subway

most likely you're an "average"
commuter, faced with the daily,
relentless crush of autos corralled into
commuter traffic corridors. In
Philadelphia alone, the amount of
miles each vehicle travels daily is
projected to increase from 106 million
in 1995 to 112 million in 2000, an
increase of over 1 million daily miles
traveled every year. Transportation
officials refer to this as vehicle miles
traveled, or VMT, and is a
critical determinant of
ozone pollution
levels.

What's sprawl got
to do with it?

People continue to
move out of cities to
buy bigger homes on
larger lots while
urban areas lose
population and jobs. For
example, between 1973 and
1990 residential development
increased by almost 50% in Maryland
and the Washington Metropolitan
Area is projected to lose a total of
309,000 acres of open space between
1990 and 2020. This sprawl develop-
ment that demands additional water,
electricity, schools, sewer lines, police
and fire protection, and highways
often creates an economic burden on
communities and degrades the water
quality and wildlife habitats of our
rivers streams, wetlands, and
estuaries.

Sprawl. Traffic Congestion, and Air
Pollution

People and businesses move out of the
cities into the suburbs where tradi-
tional zoning laws partition land into
separate areas zoned for specific
purposes so that workers are sepa-
rated from their work by long com-
mutes on an inefficient, overcrowded
highway system. There are more
people driving longer periods of time
and carrying fewer passengers today
than at any other time.

Pollution control technology has made
the automobile engine much cleaner
than in the past. However, vehicle
miles traveled has increased over
220% since 1970, negating the
emission benefits of clean engine
technology. In addition, transporta-
tion accounts for the release of some
30% of volatile organic compounds as
well as nitrogen oxide pollution,
which is contributing to the over-
enrichment and eutrophication of
many surface water bodies, especially
in the eastern part of the country.

Sprawl and Watersheds
Sprawl has been identified as one of
the causes of increased stonn water
run off and stream erosion in many
watersheds. In a healthy
functioning watershed,
most precipitation soaks
into the ground and is
utilized by vegetation,
recharges aquifers, and
maintains surface
water flows. When
" just 10% of the
watershed is developed, stream-
beds start to degrade due to increased
runoff. After about 20% if the
watershed is developed, most streams
have been severely degraded or
destroyed.

Is there a solution?

What combination of policy and
technology can address sprawl, high
VMT, and the deterioration of
watersheds? To address these issues,
many experts agree that a combination
of transportation facilities combined
with different designs of living are
needed. Transit oriented development
is a high intensity mix of shopping,
businesses and high density housing
located around light rail stations. In
addition, the traditional town model
of development has been shown to
produce compact mixed use, pedes-
trian-oriented living areas, which have
coherent and well-defined boundaries
and are sunounded by rural areas

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Fall 1999

Watershed Events

Page 7

helping to protect watersheds and
their economic and environmental
benefits. Rather than eliminating
development, making developments fit
the functioning watershed and provid-
ing a wider array of ways to get to
places is the solution. For more
information, contact Paul T.
Wentworth at (215) 814-2183 or visit
our website at www.epa.gov/reg3artd/.

Smart Growth and
Floodplain Management

On August 17, 1999, the President
signed into law the Water Resources
Development Act (WRDA) of 1999.
Included in the law is the Flood
Mitigation and Ecosystem Restoration
Program or "Challenge 21," a pilot
program authorizing the US Army
Corps of Engineers (COE) to under-
take nonstructural "flood control" and
riverine ecosystem restoration
projects. The Act encourages projects
that will "conserve, restore, and
manage hydrologic and hydraulic
regimes and restore the natural
functions and values of floodplains."
Challenge 21 reflects a dramatic shift
in the COE, encouraging a more
environmentally sensitive approach to

"The [Water Resources Develop-
mentAct of 1999] will promote the
use of effective, nonstructural means
to address flooding concerns and
complement efforts across the
Nation to restorethe environmental
value offloodplains and aquatic
ecosystems."

President Clinton

reducing flood losses. WRDA autho-
rizes $20 million in fiscal year (FY)
2001; $30 million in FY 2002; and
$50 million in FY 2003-2005 for
Challenge 21.

Another significant provision of
WRDA is Section 219,

"Nonstructural Flood Control
Projects" which provides a major
shift in the way the COE calculates
costs and benefits of proposed
projects. This provision mandates
that the COE "calculate the benefits
of the nonstructural project using
methods similar to those used for
calculating the benefits of structural
projects..." This means that all of the
costs of a structural project (includ-
ing intangible environmental costs)
and all the benefits of a nonstructural

project (such as wetlands preserved)
should be included in the cost/benefit
analysis for proposed projects. It is
hoped then that this would ultimately
result in fewer structures (such as
levees and stream channelization
projects) being built and the natural
resources and functions of more
floodplains being protected. A full
text version of WRDA '99 can be
downloaded from the Internet at
www.house.gov/transportation/
(House Transportation and Infra-
structure Committee Web Page).
"Challenge 21" is also referred to in
the President's Clean Water Action
Plan (CWAP); to find out more about
CWAP and to get updates on imple-
mentation activities, visit
www.cleanwater.gov.

Will Hurricane Floyd En-
courage Smarter Growth?

Shortly before this issue of Water-
shed Events went to press, Hurricane
Floyd produced torrential rains from
the Carolinas to New England with
rivers and streams taking back their
floodplains to store and convey
floodwaters (which is their function).
However, there was extensive
damage to thousands of homes and
commercial buildings, as well as
drinking water and wastewater
treatment facilities, built in these
flood hazard areas. Other critical
facilities such as telephone, electric,
and financial services (e.g., ATMs)
computer centers were also dam-
aged or destroyed, affecting millions
of people. In addition, millions of
gallons of hog manure and raw
sewage were swept into North
Carolina rivers contaminating drink-
ing water supplies, homes, and
businesses. In New Jersey alone
over a million people were advised to
boil their water.

See Floyd, page 8

Stream Hydrograph

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Watershed Events

Fall 1999

Floyd from page 7

In the United States and most
other countries, floods have
caused a greater loss to life and
property, and have devastated
more families and communities
than all other natural disasters
combined. In addition, although
many billions of dollars have been
spent on "flood control," flood
losses continue to rise and more
people live in flood hazard areas
than ever before.

As floodplains are often the most
biologically productive and geo-
logically dynamic area within a
watershed, relocating or acquiring
flood-damaged structures (as was
done after the Great Flood of '93
along the Mississippi and Missouri
Rivers), and limiting the siting of
critical facilities in flood hazard
areas, would help reduce the loss
of life and property caused by
floods, save taxpayer dollars, and
help protect and restore the natural
resources and functions of flood-
plains. Implementing smart
growth policies and programs that
discourage development in flood
hazard areas will therefore help
protect the ecological integrity and
biodiversity of our riverine and
coastal floodplains, as well as
contribute to making our commu-
nities more livable and sustainable
for the 21st century, and beyond.
For more information on floods
and protecting the natural re-
sources and functions of flood-
plains visit the website
www.floods.org. To receive the
publication Protecting Floodplain
Resources: A Guidebook for
Communities call (202) 646-3484
and ask for publication 268.

Approximately 80% of the nation's
wetlands are located in floodplains.

"We abuse land because we regard it
as a commodity belonging to us. When
we see land as a community to which
we belong, we may begin to use it with
love and respect."

Aldo Leopold

Winning the War on Sprawl
with Better American
Bonds

Last November, 240 communities
across the nation voted on ballot
initiatives to protect open space,
enhance local livability, and promote
smart growth. More than 70% of
these measures were adopted, autho-
rizing $7.5 billion in state and local
spending. The voters in these com-
munities were responding in large part
to the astonishing loss of open space
and increasing traffic congestion that
has occurred in recent years across
the country.

To address these and other adverse
impacts of sprawl, the Administration
has proposed a "Livability Agenda"
that will create a new financing tool
call "Better America Bonds." These
bonds will generate $9.5 billion in
bond authority whereby communities
will pay zero interest and the principle
after the term of the 15 year bond
expires. This tax credit bond provides
a considerable subsidy for communi-
ties compared to the more traditional
tax-exempt bond. For example, the
issuer of a million dollar bond saves
more than $700,000 over the 15 years
by issuing a Better America Bond
rather than a tax-exempt bond.

These bonds offer a creative way for
state and local governments to limit or
control sprawl through economic
incentives to preserve open space,
create parks, clean up brownfields,
and improve water quality, all which

have economic as well as environ-
mental benefits. Bonding authority
will be distributed directly to the
communities through a competitive
process. The Better American Bonds
program will be administered in a
similar manner to EPA's Brownfields
program, which has helped 250
communities leverage more than $1
billion to clean up and redevelop
abandoned contaminated sites—and
create thousands of jobs as well.
Local communities will determine how
best to use the Better America Bonds;
the federal government will not
purchase any land or be involved in
local zoning or land use decisions.

As this issue of Watershed Events
was going to press, there were two
legislative proposals in Congress to
amend the Tax Code to finance
"Better America Bonds." On August
5, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and
Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) intro-
duced a bipartisan proposal, S. 1558,
the Community Open Space Bonds
Act of 1999, which would create
bonds for local communities to buy
open space, cleanup abandoned
industrial sites, protect water quality,
and preserve special wetlands areas.
On the House side, Congressman
Robert T. Matsui (D-CA) has intro-
duced H.R. 2446, the Better America
Bonds Act of 1999. H.R. 2446,
which was introduced on July 1,
1999, currently has 116 House
cosponsors. For more information
on Better America Bonds and the
Livability Agenda visit the website at
www.epa.gov/bonds/.

Why We Need Smart
Growth: A View From
the Field

Development activities which result in
sprawl across rural landscapes cause

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Fall 1999

Watershed Events

Page 9

Sustainable Development Listserver Available

Five E's Unlimited has an on-line newsletter (e-zine) entitled
"Sustainability Review". This on-line newsletter will circulate the
most current information on ideas, methodologies, tools, and suc-
cess stories involving people, places, and organizations attempting
sustainable development. Sustainability Review will be published bi-
weekly. To subscribe, visit Five E's Unlimited web site at
www.eeeee.net/ee01026.htm.

a number of adverse impacts includ-
ing:

•	Decreasing the economic and
environmental value of resource
lands;

•	Increasing nonpoint source pollution
from impervious surfaces and
causing larger flood peaks, both of
which degrade the physical, chemi-
cal, and biological integrity of
streams and wetlands;

•	Creating an inefficient land-use
pattern expensive to serve;

•	Threatening economic viability by
diffusing public infrastructure
investments; and

•	Destroying the intrinsic visual/
functional character of the landscape.

Communities can—and will, and
should—develop. But to ensure that
they are developed wisely, we need to
encourage visionary and realistic
planning to replace the random
decisions (or non-decisions) that have
transfixed much of our rural land-
scapes.

John Wesley Powell, the first man to
go down the Grand Canyon and the
first Director of the U. S. Geological
Survey, promoted watershed, rather
than political, boundaries as a guiding
principle for development of the
West. Although never implemented
(look at a map with all those square
states) complex natural landscapes

and their hydrologic and ecologic
functions are often best understood
in terms of watersheds, rather than in
the traditional context of political
boundaries. This is so because
watersheds tend to be composed of
multiple ecosystems that are linked
by the movement of energy, nutri-
ents, and water through various
pathways (aquifer recharge zones,
rivers, wetlands, etc.). How these
pathways function is critical to the
health of all aquatic systems as New
Zealand recognized in their realign-
ment of political jurisdictions to
coincide with the country's 11 major
watersheds.

In developing plans to protect our
watershed landscapes, officials at all
levels of government, as well as the
private sector, need to simultaneously
(1) address citizens" key concerns and
values, (2) be visionary and think
long-term, (3) strengthen a
community's ability to deal with
change, and (4) develop processes for
finding common ground. Communi-
ties can create choices to achieve
sustainability by adopting integrative
frameworks that balance social,
economic, and ecological concerns—
the essence of "smart growth."

Smart growth also challenges local
governments to develop rational
strategies for using already-developed
land more efficiently, to make
thoughtful choices about where new

development should and should not
go, and to set up regulatory mecha-
nisms that are fair, clear, consistent,
and far-sighted. By developing these
rational strategies that are founded
upon sound principles of smart
growth, one can lay a rational
foundation for sustainable develop-
ment. For example, numerous
regions of the country are now
promoting the idea of "urban growth
boundaries" around their towns that
significantly restrict development in
unincorporated areas. These bound-
aries are defined as areas in which
town centers can economically
provide public services, encouraging
in-fill construction and increased
density in all land-use sectors.

Economic growth and environmental
quality are mutually compatible, and
supportive goals. Implementing
smart growth concepts into local and
regional planning will help protect
watersheds while providing for a
sustainable economy for generations
to come. For more information,
please contact Dr. Warren Flint at
(757) 442-5588 ore-mail:
VACOASTIST@aol.com. Visit our
web site at www.eeeee.net.

Earth Force Takes Over for
GREEN

Earth Force has announced that it has
assumed the mission of the Global
Rivers Environmental Education
Network (GREEN). As a part of
Earth Force, GREEN will continue to
offer a network of water monitoring
support along with innovative action
guides and affordable water monitor-
ing equipment. You can now reach
GREEN at (703) 519-6876 or at
green@earthforce.org. Check out
www.earthforce.org for more
information.

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Page 10

Watershed Events

Fall 1999

Views From the Field

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Maryland Leads the Way
in Smart Growth and
Neighborhood Conserva-
tion

Maryland Governor Parris N.
Glcndcning's Smart Growth and
Neighborhood Conservation initiative
represents the nation's first incentive-
based statewide effort to reverse the
costly, inefficient, and often unsightly
patterns of development known as
"sprawl." The initiative's goals are
to:

•	Strengthen and revitalize older
towns and cities;

•	Permanently preserve the
State's most beautiful
natural landscapes and
most valuable environmen-
tal resources; and

public water and sewer. No one is
prohibited from developing
outside of designated growth
areas, but if they do they will no
longer receive state assistance.

As a balance to the emphasis on
urban revitalization, the initiative
features Maryland's most ambitious
land conservation effort ever: The
new "Rural Legacy Program" is
strategically targeting for permanent
preservation greenbelts around
existing communities and other large,
contiguous tracts of land that are
under intense development pressure
or that represent especially valuable
natural resources. In the first year of

• Save taxpayers the high
cost of building new
infrastructure required to
support sprawl develop-
ment.

The fundamental goal is to assure that
Maryland's unique quality of life is
preser\'ed for generations to come.

The initiative employs the state's $17
billion annual budget as an incentive
to encourage developers and local
governments to direct growth to areas
where the infrastructure already exists
or is planned to support it—and as a
disincentive to build elsewhere. The
goal is to change the bottom line so
citizens will willingly engage in more
sensible, less expensive, and more
environmentally sensitive growth
patterns.

To be eligible for future state financial
support, locally designated growth
areas must for the first time meet
minimum state criteria for average
residential density and the provision of

"Itis crucialthatwe protect ourenvi ronmental infrastruc-
ture—ourgreen infrastructure. Taxdollarswill no longer be
used to subsidize sprawl. State funds will only be spent in

accordance with Smart Growth guidelines."

Parris Glendening, Governor of Maryland

targeted growth areas;

Stabilize struggling communities by
offering business loans, closing cost
assistance, and low interest mort-
gage loans for home buyers in
selected neighborhoods; and

Fight crime by targeting "hot spots"
where crime is the worst.

Smart Growth is built on the
premise that we cannot
discourage development of
natural areas without simulta-
neously encouraging growth in
existing communities.

the program, more than 16,000 acres
will be protected, including some of
the state's richest farmland, buffers
along rivers and streams, Civil War
battlefields, and Maryland's shoreline,
including the Atlantic Coastal Bays
and Chesapeake Bay.

A variety of additional statutory,
administrative and budgetary pro-
grams support the concept of direct-
ing new growth to existing or planned
communities, including measures to:

•	Sharply increase state spending on
school renovation and expansion in
older communities;

•	Encourage cleanup and redevelop-
ment of contaminated
"brownfields" industrial sites;

•	Spur job development by offering
tax credits for job creation within

Through the coordinated
efforts of 10 Cabinet-level
departments, Maryland's
Smart Growth initiative addresses the
interrelated problems created by
sprawl:

•	Economic and social problems
caused by the abandonment of older
towns and cities;

•	Accelerating loss of farms, forests
and other pristine areas to new
development; and

•	High cost to taxpayers to build
schools, roads and other infrastruc-
ture to support such far-flung
development.

If current growth patterns are not
changed, Maryland will consume as
much land in the next 25 years as it
has during the entire history of the
state.

All residents of Maryland—urban,
suburban and rural—will benefit from

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Fall 1999

Watershed Events

Page 11

the Smart Growth initiative. More
importantly, future generations of
Marylanders will benefit from a
legacy of more sensible development
patterns, stronger communities, and
hundreds of thousands of acres of
permanently preserved natural areas.

Although there have been many
successes already, Smart Growth
differs from most governmental
programs because of its long term
vision; the program's most significant
achievements may not be known or
seen for years or even decades to
come. For more information on
Maryland's smart growth intiative
contact Mr. John Frece at (410) 260-
8112 or jfrece@dnr.state.md.us.

Vacant Lots to Green
Lands is Smart Growth!

Philadelphia will have fewer neglected
vacant lots thanks to the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture (USDA) and
EPA. The Green Land Initiative, a
project of the Philadelphia Urban
Resources Partnership (PURP), will
invest $300,000 to restore vacant land
in the city. PURP, funded by the
USDA and supported by EPA,
provides grants and technical assis-
tance to help communities restore,
enhance and appreciate their urban
natural resources.

What do abandoned vacant lots have
to do with Smart Growth? Some
cities are still losing population to
sprawl development. Between 1990
and 1996, Philadelphia lost 9.6% of
its population, the largest decline
among the nation's 3,142 counties.
The continued exodus from urban
centers contributes to increased
development pressure in the suburbs,
leaving the urban core with excess
housing, empty buildings and vacant
lots, and underutilized transit and
other infrastructure.

Vacant land in Philadelphia has
reached epidemic proportions—
30,900 lots according to latest esti-
mates. As people left, many buildings
were abandoned, vandalized and
eventually demolished. The raw land
left behind is unsightly, unhealthy and
unsafe. The Green Land Initiative will
help community development corpora-
tions to undertake land restoration
activities—amending the soil, planting
new trees and shrubs, establishing
diverse habitats. The restored lands
will not only alleviate visual blight,
but will also contribute to a cleaner,
healthier, more natural environment
and contribute to a quality of life and
sense of community.

The decision to partner with commu-
nity development corporations
(CDCs) is a key part of the program.
CDCs play an important role in
revitalizing neighborhoods, particu-
larly in housing construction. The
Green Land Initiative will help CDCs
acquire new skills to manage vacant
lands and develop new green space

assets. The participating commu-
nity development corporations are:
Project H.O.M.E., New Kensington
Community Development Corpora-
tion and Frankford Group Ministries
Community Development Corpora-
tion.

Smart growth is about more than
preserving open space in suburban
and exurban areas, it is about
improving the quality of life for city
residents as well. One reason
people move out of urban neighbor-
hoods in the lack of parks and open
space. With an abundance of
underutilized vacant land, there is an
opportunity to make our cities
desirable places to live and work
once again by retrofiting the urban
environment and improving the
quality of life for city dwellers.
For more information, contact
Patrice Carroll, Director PURP c/o
EPA, 1650 Arch Street 3WP10,
Philadelphia, PA 19103, (215) 814-
5679; e-mail:
carroll.patrice@epa.gov.

Smart Growth Principles Promoted
More Than 100 Years Ago!

The smart growth concept is not new. Re-
nowned Landscape Architect Frederick Law
Olmsted used the term "healthy growth" in
1868 to describe how cities and towns should
be planned and developed. Olmsted is best
known for designing Central Park in New
York City, Mt. Royal Park in Montreal, and
the grounds of the U.S. Capitol with his
partner Calvert Vaux. But Olmsted also
designed dozens of other city parks, university
campuses, subdivisions, and new neighbor-

zzaMMMHtMMatrr:

The U.S. Postal Service
honored Federick Law
Olmsted with a stamp in
September 1999.

hoods for rapidly expanding cities such as New York and Chicago.

Olmsted was an innovative and visionary planner in his design of parks and
cities, but "it would take the automobile, urban renewal, and a less sensitive
generation of planners to undo Olmsted and Vaux's achievements" accord-
ing to a recently published biography.1

'Rybczynski, Witold. 1999. A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and
America in the Nineteenth Century. Scribner, New York.

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Watershed Events

Fall 1999

Friends of the
Rappahannock Engage
Building Community to
Promote NewStormwater
Paradigm

A new stonnwater paradigm, being
championed by some local govern-
ments, has emerged that promotes
designing new developments so that
runoff from the site is comparable to
that from more natural areas. Rather
than just lowering the height of the
runoff peak by retaining stonnwater,
"low impact development" actually
reduces runoff by increasing
infiltration. In addition to recharging
groundwater and reducing down-
stream erosion, these practices allow
runoff to first flow through the soil,
removing many of the pollutants.

In an effort to promote more
widespread adoption of these
practices, The Friends of the
Rappahannock, a grassroots conser-
vation group based in
Fredericksburg, Virginia, initiated an
advocacy, education, and technical
assistance effort in the rapidly
developing central Rappahannock
watershed (which is under consider-
able development pressure due to its
location midway between Washing-
ton, DC and Richmond, VA).

Funded initially by an EPA Sustain-
able Development Challenge Grant,
the group has set out to "market" the
benefits of low impact development
practices to homebuilders and the
commercial development commu-
nity. Concurrently, they are
engaging local code and planning
officials on topics that present
roadblocks to implementation of
innovative practices. "We are helping
bridge the gap that exists between all
the innovative guidance documents
and the actual acceptance and
implementation of these practices,"
notes John Tippett, the group's
executive director.

This collaborative approach is yielding
positive results. In the rapidly devel-
oping Fredericksburg area, for ex-
ample, three major developers are now
implementing state-of-the-art "parking
lot bioretention" practices to filter and
infiltrate the critical first flush runoff.
Additionally, the group has engaged
the local Association of Homebuilders
to take their members on a tour of low
impact subdivisions. "Our goal is to
help the development community
market 'river friendly" practices just
like they now market energy effi-
ciency," notes Tippett. For more
information, contact the Friends of the
Rappahannock at (540) 373-3448,
cleanriver@pobox.com or visit their
web site at www.crrl.org/for.

Managing Storm Water to
Protect Fisheries

With recent attention on water pollu-
tion from factory farms, the degrada-
tion of our waterways due to
stonnwater runoff is sometimes
overlooked. In urban and suburban
areas the increasing extent of
impervious
surfaces is
generating
more runoff,
often causing
significant
sedimentation and
erosion along rivers
and streams, as well as
damage to fish and
macroinvertabrate populations.
However, a broad coalition led by the
Community and Environmental
Defense Services (CEDS) is doing
something about it.

Surface runoff from urban and
suburban areas is harmful to our
streams for a number of reasons.
Often the first inch of rain carries a
toxic cocktail of car and truck fluids,
heavy metals, air pollution fallout,

fertilizers, and pesticides. Sediment
loadings from agriculture and
construction sites choke streams
destroying fish spawning sites and
hot water surges from sun-baked
parking lots kill sensitive organisms,
decreasing biodiversity. On a hot
summer afternoon ponded stonn
water may heat to 95° F or more and
cause significant stress to fish and
other wildlife when discharged into a
nearby stream, wetland, or other
waterway. Smallmouth bass undergo
stress at 78°F and begin dying at
86°F. Trout begin to suffer at
approximately 68°F and begin dying
at 72°F.

Presently, the strategy of some
jurisdictions is to capture the first
0.13 to 0.25 inches of runoff from
most development sites. The coali-
tion recommends that the first 1.5
inches of runoff from all impervious
surfaces be retained. In those rare
instances when it is not possible to
recharge the first 1.5 inches of
runoff, the excess runoff should be
treated with a filtering measure such
as bioretention, a dry-swale, or a
sand filter.

A coalition of more than 40

conservation, environmental,
and sportsman
groups have
fonned to
encourage
communi-
ties to do a
better job
of protect-
ing our bass
waters by implementing and enforc-
ing laws to control construction site
sediment pollution and post-con-
struction stonn water impacts. For
more information about CEDS,
contact Richard Klein at
(410) 329-8194 or or info@ceds.org.
The Community and Environmental
Defense Services also has a web
page at www.ceds.org.

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Fall 1999

Watershed Events

Page 13

Promoting SmartGrowth
in Coastal Communities

Conventional development practices
in coastal communities have often
had significant adverse impacts on
water quality and other natural
resources. Most of our early
settlements occurred along natural
harbors, bays, or along navigable
rivers as these were areas where
commerce and trade were most
easily facilitated. Centuries of
development, however, have
significantly altered the
habitats and ecosys-
tems of these areas.

The impact of this
development on
sustainability and
livability issues
needs to be criti-
cally examined in
order to both enhance
and further the discourse on "smart
growth."

Population and Density of Coastal
Areas

Defining coastal areas as communi-
ties within fifty miles of the coast,
these data are indicative of pres-
sures on coastal areas:

•	53% of the nation's population
lives within fifty miles of the
coast, yet this area represents
only 17% of the nation's total
land mass (excluding Alaska). It
is projected that 27 million
additional people will live in
coastal area by 2015.

•	The average density per square
mile in the coastal zone has
increased from 187 people in
1960 to an expected 327 people
by 2015. This is three times the
national average for density per
square mile.

•	14 of the 20 largest cities in
the nation are in the coastal
zone.

•	17 of the 20 fastest growing
counties in the nation are in the
coastal zone.

•	19 of the 20 most densely
populated counties are in the
coastal zone.

The Cost of Growth
Increasing population is often
perceived as a sign of economic
growth. More jobs are available
and area businesses profit from
increased sales. But there is a
downside: the increased costs to
local governments and residents.
More infrastructure, including
roads, schools, and water
treatment, are needed for the
growing population and
more emergency
services are
needed to
respond
to fires

and medical emergencies. In
addition, although new develop-
ment is often promoted by town
officials as a means to broaden the
tax base, more development
frequently causes an increase in
taxes for the residents because of
the costs of additional services.

Rampant coastal development has
adversely impacted water quality
and estuarine ecosystems in
virtually every state. More and
more, city managers, residents,
and tourists are concerned that
unchecked growth in coastal areas
will degrade the quality of life they
associate with living in, or visiting,
coastal areas. For coastal manag-
ers, habitat destruction and the
hardening of the coast (seawalls,
groins, etc.) in an attempt to
control erosion, as well as flooding
from destructive hurricanes,
creates a need to assess the
suitability of additional develop-
ment in these flood-prone, geologi-
cally dynamic, and biologically
productive areas. Yet managing

growth in coastal areas is a complex
and politically sensitive task. Dr.
Rutherford Piatt, author of Land-
Use and Society, observed that "The
expectations and demand that the
federal government be extremely
generous and supportive of disaster
victims, and the property rights
movement nationally, have in a
broad sense intimidated state and
local officials from limiting develop-
ment of flood hazard areas."

How Can Smart Growth Help?

There are three ways smart growth
can help coastal communities.

First, smart growth can direct
development to less fragile areas
and focus on alternate modes of
transportation to reduce the extent
of roadways and the associated
impacts of increased traffic.
Secondly, smart growth can
promote redevelopment that is
aesthetically, architecturally, and
environmentally appropriate for
coastal areas. Finally, smart growth
can identify areas and attractions
that could provide for year-round
income from residents. Thus, there
would not be dramatic fluctuations
of income for businesses and city
governments after the "tourist
season." This would enable the
community to generate more capital
to improve services and infrastruc-
ture and prevent degradation of
water bodies due to increased use
during the tourist season. These are
but a few of the general directions
in which smart growth could be
tailored to coastal areas and better
influence the population growth that
is expected in coastal areas well into
the 21st century. For more infor-
mation, visit the Smart Growth
Network at www.smartgrowth.org
or contact Jessica Cogan at
cogan.jessica@epa.gov. Data
presented in this article is from
NOAA; for more information visit
their website at http:\\state-of-
coast.noaa.gov.

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Page 14

Watershed Events

Fall 1999

National Associa-
tion of Counties
Publishes Water-
shed Report

The National Association of Counties
(NACo) Watershed Management
Advisory Committee recently pub-
lished a report entitled "Leadership in
Watershed Management: The County
Role." The report highlights counties
from across the country that have
implemented innovative watershed
management programs to address both
point and nonpoint source pollution in
a comprehensive, coordinated manner.
In the report, Commissioner George
Bird of Candler County, Georgia,
emphasizes that "Watershed manage-
ment is a developing priority for local
governments. Since this issue affects
many aspects of all jurisdictions,
watershed management should be a
basis for all land use planning." This
publication will help county, as well as
state and local, officials to move
forward in protecting and restoring
water resources. To order this publica-
tion call NACo at (202) 942-4256 or e-
mail wickers@naco.org.

Watershed Protection
Techniques

The Center for Watershed Protection
has recently developed several excel-
lent publications on watershed protec-
tion techniques. The Rapid Watershed
Planning Handbook is a comprehen-
sive, practical manual that provides a
guide for creating an effective plan
quickly and inexpensively. The Better
Site Design: A Handbook for Chang-
ing Development Rides in Your
Community covers everything from
basic engineering principles to poten-

New Resources

tial barriers to implementing better
site designs. These and other
publications are available from the
Center by calling (410) 461-8323 or
by using their website ww.cwp.org.

be available on the nternet at
www.epa.gov/surf2/adopt/patcli/. For
more information on NACo' s
watershed management programs
call Abby Friedman at (202) 942-
4225 or e-mail afriedma@naco.org.



Girl Scouts Work for
Clean Water While Earn-
ing New Patch

Girl Scouts from all over the country
will soon be working hard to earn a
new water resources patch. The
Water Drop Patch Project, which
began as a pilot project with the Girl
Scout Council of the Nation's

Capital, will be soon 	

be available to
Girl Scout
troops across
the nation.

The Project
encourages
girls to make a
difference in
their communities
through community-
based watershed projects. Some of
the activities include: learning about
their local watershed; identifying
ways to reduce pollution at home and
in the yard; stenciling storm drains;
and participating in "stream walks"
to monitor and survey local stream
health. To help troops get started,
EPA and the Girl Scouts developed
A Water Drop Patch Program
booklet, which outlines 20 different
activities along with definitions,
resources, and helpful websites.
Individual troops will be able to order
the document this fall by calling the
National Service Center for Environ-
mental Publications at 1-800-490-
9198. (EPA Publication # EPA 840-
B-99-004). The document will also

Days Afield: Exploring
Wetlands in the
Chesapeake Bay Region

Days Afield: Exploring Wetlands in
the Chesapeake Bay Region (Gate-
way Press, 1999) by William S.
Sipple is a book based upon 30
years of field experience, journal
notes, and extensive literature
review covering many aspects of
wetland ecology, biology, pro-
cesses, dynamics, and manage-
ment, including wetland degrada-
tion. It should be useful to
professionals in the field as well
as others interested in natural
history and the outdoors. It is
currently available only through the
author: William S. Sipple, 512 Red
Bluff Court, Millersville, MD
21108. Phone: (410)987-4083; e-
mail: bsip333@aol.com. The price
is $19.95 plus $2.00 shipping/
handling (add $1.00 for 5% sales tax
if live in Maryland).

New Smart Growth Video

The Chesapeake Bay Program has
developed a new video, Beyond
Sprawl, which provides techniques
for implementing smart growth
including cluster zoning, transfer of
development rights, and transit-
oriented development. To order a
copy contact Bonnie Phillips at
(804)786-5056.

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Fall 1999

Watershed Events

Page 15

EVENTS

NOVEMBER

13 Excellence in Environmental
Leadership Workshop, Austin,
TX. Sponsored by the Institute
for Conservation Leadership.
Contact Peter Lane at (301)
270-2900, e-mail:
peter@icl.org.

15 Watershed 2000. July 9-12,
2000. Vancouver, British
Columbia. Call for papers,
abstract submittal deadline
November 15, 1999. Contact
WEF at 601 Wythe Street,
Alexandria, VA 22314-1994.
Phone: (703) 684-2400; fax:
(703) 684-2413.

15-17 Conser\>ation 2000: Confer-
ence to Highlight Local,

State, and Federal Programs,
New Orleans, LA. Contact
the Conservation Technology
Information Center at (765)
494-9555 or e-mail:
ctic@ctic.purdue.edu.

15-17	Understanding and Address-
ing Risks to Groundwater,
The 15th Annual Groundwa-
ter Foundation Fall Sympo-
sium, Atlanta, GA. Contact
Cindy Kreifels, The Ground-
water Foundation, P.O. Box
22558, Lincoln, NE 68542.
Phone: (800) 858-4844; fax:
(402) 434-2742; e-mail:
info (i g ro u ndwa ter.org.

16-17	Wetlands and Remediation:
An International Conference,
St. Lake City, UT. Sponsored
by Battelle Memorial Institute
and others. Contact Karl
Nehring at (614) 424-6510;
e-mail:

nchri ngkVvbattcllc. org.

16-18	Introduction to G1S (Arc/Info) for
Natural Resources Workshop,
Lafayette, LA. Contact Pat O'Neil
through www.nwrc.usgs.gov.

17-19	The 3rd Partners for Smarth Growth
Conference, San Diego, CA.
Contact the Urban Land Institute
at (800) 321-5011 or (410) 626-
7500; website: www.uli.org.

30-December 1

Tools for Community Design and
Decision Making: Working
Session III, Stuart, FL. Contact
Ken Snyder at (303) 275-4819.

DECEMBER

5-9 Annual Water Resources Confer-
ence of the American Water
Resources Association, Seattle,
WA. Contact AWRA, 950
Herndon Parkway, Ste. 300,
HemdonVA 20170-5531. Phone:
(703) 904-1225; fax: (703) 904-
1228; e-mail: awrahq@aol.com;
website: www.awra.org.

14 Society and Resource Manage-
ment: Transcending Boundaries
Natural Resource Management
from Summit to Sea, June 17-22,
2000,Bellingham, WA. Callfor
papers, abstract submittal
deadline December 14,1999.
Contact Conference Services,
Western Washington University,
Bellingham, WA 98225-5293."
Phone: (360) 650-6821; fax:
(360) 650-6858; e-mail:
diana.bakkom@wwu.edu.

JANUARY 2000

16-20 4"' International Conference on
Diffuse Pollution, Bangkok,
Thailand. Contact Ms. Nitayporn
Tomnanee, Department of Land
Development (DLD)
Phaholyothin Road, Chatachak,
Bangkok 10900, Thailand,
phone: (662) 579-0111, ext.
1386; fax: (662) 562-0732;
e-mail: ldd@mozart.inet.co.th.

FEBRUARY2000

7-10 Tools for Urban Water

Resource Management and
Protection: A National
Conference, Chicago, IL.
Contact Bob Kirschner,
Chicago Botanic Garden 1000
Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL
60022. Phone: (847) 835-
6837; fax: (835-1635; e-mail:
bkirsclin@cliicagobotanic.org.

MARCH 2000

13-16 Conference on Land
Stewardship in the 21s'
Century: The Contributions
of Watershed Management,
Tucson, AZ. Contact Peter
F. Ffolliott, School of
Renewable Natural Re-
sources, Unviersity of
Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.
Phone: (52) 621-7276; fax:
(520) 621-8801; e-mail:
ffolpete@ag.arizona.edu;
website:

www. srnr. arizona. edu/
2000conf/landconf.html.

APRIL

25-27 National Water Quality

Monitoring Council National
Monitoring Conference
2000, Austin, TX. Contact
GWPC at (405) 516-4972; e-
mail: jeff@gwpc.site.net;
website: nwqmc.site.net.

JULY 2000

9-12 Coasts at the Millennium,
Portland, OR. Contact
Laurie Jodice, The Coastal
Society 17 Office, c/o MRM
College of Oceanic &
Atmospheric Sciences,
Oregon State University, 104
Ocean Admin. Bldg.,
Corvallis, OR 97331-5503.
Phone: (541) 737-2064; e-
mail: jodicel@oce.orst.edu.

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Page 16

Watershed Events

Fall 1999

New Opportunities for Watershed Management: Training on the Internet

When the Watershed Academy was created in 1994, most people expected a single, live training course that would
provide the basics of the watershed approach. Since that time, the Academy has diversified into four areas to spread
its message: live courses, publications and other training materials, statewide watershed management facilitation
support, and a website. Recently the Watershed Academy significantly enhanced and expanded its Internet-based
training site known as Academy 2000, which can be found at www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/wacademy/
acad2000.html.

Improvements in the speed and quality of hardware, Internet browsers, and graphics software have made it possible to
develop a variety of free, self-paced training modules that introduce website visitors to several primary topics of
watershed management. The modules cover the principles of watershed management, watershed ecology, watershed
change, watershed analysis and planning, management practices, and community/social issues.

Internet availability means the modules can serve as homework assignments to supplement a lecture course or com-
prise an entirely Internet-based distance learning course for a group of students who may never meet in one place.
Whatever your plans , please contact wacademy@epa.gov and let the Academy know how you are using Academy
2000 materials.

Views expressed in Watershed Events do not necessarily reflect those of EPA. In addition, mention of commerical
products or publications does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by EPA.

United States

Environmental Protection Agency
(4501F)

Washington, DC 20460

Official Business
Penalty for Private Use
$300

First Class Mail
Postage and Fees Paid
EPA
G-35

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