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Final Report: Comprehensive Plan for a Sustainable Urban Watershed
EPA Grant Number: SU831858Title: Comprehensive Plan for a Sustainable Urban Watershed
Investigators: Baba, Ronald K. , Bishop, Elizabeth A. , Damkoehler, David L. , Heise, Erin A. , Hodek, Kristen A. , Kohlmann, Suzanne M. , Schanz, Christopher R. , TenHaken, Kathryn M. , Volk, Melissa M.
Institution: University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
EPA Project Officer: Nolt-Helms, Cynthia
Project Period: September 30, 2004 through May 30, 2005
Project Amount: $9,891
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity, and the Planet (2004)
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development
Description:
Objective:This project concerns the research, community dialogue, and design activities required for the development of a multi-jurisdiction comprehensive plan for an urban watershed. The focus of this planning effort is Baird Creek, a thirteen-mile long stream in the Green Bay, Wisconsin metropolitan area. Emanating from headwaters located in rural lands devoted to dairy farming, Baird Creek flows through a portion of the City of Green Bay. Recent ecological assessments of the watershed describe it as a natural area of some importance containing examples of numerous ecosystems including wetlands, hardwood forests, and savannahs. The urban reaches of the stream flow through the Baird Creek Parkway, a popular park and recreation area administered by the City.
The Baird Creek watershed is the focus of several restoration and preservation initiatives. A foundation has been established to preserve land along the stream. The Lower Fox River Basin Team of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has organized a subcommittee to address the watershed. The Brown County Land Conservation Department administers a buffer program in the rural portion of the watershed. The Lake Michigan Forum is mounting a Watershed Stewardship Assessment of the stream. The regional planning commission is modeling runoff and nonpoint source pollution.
This proposal addresses the need for the consolidation and coordination of these efforts. While each of the initiatives is significant and appropriate, sustainability in the watershed will only be achieved through the development of broad based constituencies that hold its preservation and protection as important public values. This will require a comprehensive vision for the watershed. This vision of a collaborative, comprehensive plan is the primary goal of this proposal. The plan will be built upon the compilation of existing information about the watershed, the conduct of multi-jurisdictional dialogues, the use of system dynamics modeling to establish the problem scope, and the design and publication of comprehensive plan document to serve as the basis for the establishment of a multi-jurisdictional special planning district designation for the watershed.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):The student design/planning team established collaborative relations with a broad range of elected officials and agency personnel from the municipalities that share jurisdiction of the watershed. Using these resources the team compiled an extensive data base and map array of the watershed. The team also collected information about a broad array of best management practices and development strategies concerning stormwater management, ecosystem protection, and conservation land development models. This information was integrated into a long range plan for the watershed. In a parallel effort, a subset of the team began an investigation System Dynamics to develop skills in modeling the complexities of policy and decision making in a multi-jurisdictional context.
Conclusions:The planning analyses completed by the team allow the following conclusions:
- Numerous methods and strategies for problem mitigation and watershed restoration and protection exist.
- Significant scientific field research and modeling has been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods and their combined impact on the watershed system.
- The multi-jurisdictional context of the Baird Creek watershed is a significant obstacle to the establishment of a comprehensive effort to achieve a sustainable future for the watershed.
- An information and outreach program is required to build a broad based constituency that embraces sustainability as a public value and create a mandate for a coalition of local governments, agencies, and programs to pursue this goal.
Proposed Phase II Objectives and Strategies:
Objectives:
Our proposal for Phase II focuses on five objectives:
- Organize and conduct a series of local workshops on watershed protection, conservation subdivision design, and local decision making for nonpoint pollution management for local officials, agency personnel, members of nongovernmental organizations, and concerned citizens.
- Conduct a series of facilitated dialogues involving elected officials and major stakeholders from the two Townships, Brown County, and the City of Green Bay aimed at the development of consensus about environmental quality goals and the development of systems models depicting the interest positions and their impact on environmental quality in the watershed.
- Seek the establishment of a multi-jurisdictional special planning district designation for the watershed.
- Begin the development of a set of land use and development standards for the watershed.
- Develop programs for the purchase of sensitive environmental areas and defragmentation corridors in the watershed.
Strategies:
The achievement of the objectives will involve three strategies:
- Public information and education. There are a number of institutions that have developed informative, well organized workshops focused in the mitigation, restoration, and protection methods required for watershed sustainability. We propose to contract for local workshops from the Center for Watershed Protection, Green Prospects, and NEMO (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials).
- Facilitated dialogue. The facilitation of public discussions has proven to be an effective tool in the establishment of consensus about goals. We propose to contract with a planning firm with expertise in facilitation to conduct a series of dialogues in the watershed.
- Systems Dynamics. Systems Dynamics has proven to be a valuable tool in modeling of public discussions. These models are useful in demonstrating to participants the system effects of interest positions. We propose to contract with a firm with system dynamics expertise to conduct modeling exercises focused on the Baird Creek Watershed.
Watersheds, land use, sediments, nutrients, ecological effects, ecosystem integrity, pollution prevention, community based planning, system dynamics, facilitated discussions, partnerships, Great Lakes, EPA Region 5, agriculture, business, , Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Water, Geographic Area, Scientific Discipline, RFA, Water & Watershed, Restoration, Social Science, Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration, Ecological Risk Assessment, Environmental Engineering, Watersheds, Ecology and Ecosystems, State, stakeholder feedback, environmental rehabilitation, public policy, watershed restoration, sociological, community-based research, ecology assessment models, decision making, management alternatives, aquatic habitat protection , non-point source pollution, ecological recovery, stakeholder groups, community values, conservation, game theory, aquatic ecosystems, integrated assessment, community involvement, non-point sources, social science research, restoration planning, urban watershed rehabilitation method
Relevant Websites:
www.uwgb.edu 
www.cwp.org
http://www.lkmichiganforum.org/
www.migcom.com
Progress and Final Reports:
Original Abstract