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News Around the Network
08/07 - A New Land/Forest Fragmentation Tool
In collaboration with the NEMO team, the geospatial wizards at UConn’s Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) and Placeways, Inc. (the CommunityViz people) have developed a new computer analysis tool that measure the impact of new roads, buildings and other development on the fragmentation of the natural landscape. As NEMO programs know very well, fragmentation—the breaking up of the natural, often forested, landscape into ever-smaller pieces—is widely recognized by researchers as having negative impacts on ecosystem health, wildlife and water quality. While there are several methods to measure fragmentation, the new UConn-Placeways tool is unique in that it can be easily used within a geographic information system, or GIS, and applied to widely-available land cover data, derived from satellite-based information. The tool systematically analyzes each and every pixel of satellite-derived land cover data and compares what it sees to the pixels surrounding it. It then characterizes the state of the forest on a scale from “core forest” (forest completely surrounded by more forest) to “patch forest” (forest completely surrounded by development). The analysis is based on a technique developed by the U.S. Forest Service for analyzing forests on a global scale. The landscape fragmentation tool will be valuable in demonstrating to local planning officials and staff the degree to which the natural landscape has been fragmented and helping them make land use decisions that avoid or minimize future fragmentation. The tool is being made available in two forms. It has been incorporated into the Version 3.3 of CommunityViz in the form of a largely-automated “wizard” that makes it easy for users to apply. The core functionality is also available as an “ArcToolbox” geoprocessing tool suitable for use by more advanced users of ESRI’s ArcGIS software. The ArcGIS version is available for free download from the CLEAR website at clear.uconn.edu or the Placeways website at www.placeways.com. A training in the use of the tool is also planned for the next NEMO U. 08/07 - UConn & NEMO Release Jordan Cove CDIt’s finally here! UConn’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and CT NEMO have just completed a compendium CD of resources on the Jordan Cove Project. The project, which began in 1995, was designed to determine water quantity and quality benefits of using LID/BMP techniques in a residential subdivision. To learn more or for a copy of the CD contact Jack Clausen at john.clausen@uconn.edu or call 860-486-0139. 08/07 - New NEMOids in Minnesota Don’t Ya KnowThe Northland NEMO Program (Minnesota and Wisconsin) has added two new educators to their already impressive team. John Bilotta manages NEMO programming in the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul and assisting in updating NEMO based modules, building models to achieve effective stormwater education to decision makers, and building stormwater education programs for other urban areas in the State. Shahram “Shane” Missaghi will be developing new models of stormwater education and providing up-to-date recommendations for stormwater best management practices (BMPs) to urban audiences in the Twin Cities and other urban areas of the state. Welcome to the Network John & Shane! 08/07 - New England LID/BMP DatabaseIn hopes of making innovative stormwater practices more widespread, New England NEMO programs and the UNH Stormwater Center have unveiled an online database of LID/BMP installations in the New England Region. The site provides details and contact information on pervious pavers, green roofs, rain gardens, vegetated swales, and other stormwater treatment practices that have been installed throughout the region. Users of the site can search by practice or by state and can submit sites for inclusion in the database. It is modeled after CT NEMO’s LID Inventory (clear.uconn.edu/tools/lid/index.htm) and New England NEMOids worked with the Stormwater Center to help populate it. Check it out here: www.erg.unh.edu/lid/index.asp. 08/07 - New York – A State so Nice, They Signed the Charter TwiceThe ink is almost dry on the latest Charter member of the National NEMO Network, Hudson River NEMO. The Hudson River Estuary Program, which is coordinated by the State’s Departmnet of Environmental Conservation, has decided to launch a NEMO program focused on the communities of the Hudson River Watershed. Barbara Kendall, a Cornell Extension Employee with the Estuary program, will lead the effort. Of course, this is now the second NEMO program in New York with NY Sea Grant already coordinating a very successful program focused on Long Island. While this is great news for New Yorkers and the Network, we must admit that we are slightly bummed that we don’t get to color in another state on the National Map. 04/07 - FREMO! (Forest Resources Education for Municipal Officials)As many of you know, the Network Hub is partnering with the USDA CSREES Forestry Program and the U.S. Forest Service to integrate forest cover and forest resource issues into NEMO educational programs. Similar to the Open Space Planning project that only grizzled NEMO veterans are likely to remember, FREMO will lead to the development of new educational materials and wiz-bang tools for adaptation and adoption by interested Network programs.
From slowing runoff, to filtering pollutants and preventing erosion, the nation’s forests protect water quality. In addition, forests provide habitat for fish and wildlife, recreational opportunities, and economic resources. However, the ability of the nation’s forests to provide these services is threatened by the conversion of forest lands to housing and other development, the fragmentation of forest systems, and subdivision into small tracts managed by numerous individual owners. By and large, most forestry education efforts throughout the country have focused on individual landowners. However, it has become increasingly apparent that there is a need to also educate local land use decision makers about the importance of the forest resource in land use planning. Since educating local officials is what NEMO is all about, the FREMO effort seems a logical fit. Whether as a result of pure luck, savvy survey design or fleeting omnipotence, the survey results fit perfectly with our plan for year one of the project. In collaboration with forestry experts from around the Network and elsewhere, we are developing new educational materials that integrate forests into NEMO’s mantra of natural resource- based planning. In September, we will hold a FREMO workshop for Network members on basic forestry concepts as they relate to land use planning, and the use of the new educational materials. Should we be able to induce our wonderful federal partners to continue funding this effort in future years, we plan to help catalyze new forested NEMO efforts through mini-grants and collaborations with Extension foresters. In addition, to help enhance our message we will seek to train NEMO programs in the use of several emerging geospatial tools that can help to both analyze and visualize tree cover and forest fragmentation. 04/07 - CT NEMO’s New CRI Website
The CT NEMO Team released the Online Community Resource Inventory (CRI) this winter, a new web-based tool that allows users to take the first step in integrating natural resources into land use planning. The CRI provides access to a series of key natural resource maps, including water resources, land cover, protected open space and wetland soils and farmland soils, in additional to cultural resources such as roads and utilities. CT NEMO and the Hub are now collaborating with the NEMO and Geospatial Technology Programs in Rhode Island to further improve the tool, as well as franchise it in the Ocean State. In doing so, we hope to create a cookbook of sorts to help other interested members of the Network develop similar sites of their own, with Minnesota and South Carolina already agreeing to be the first guinea pigs. 04/07 - New NEMO Websites Launched in New Hampshire and PennsylvaniaThe NEMO programs in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania have both launched new websites for their programs. The NH NEMO effort, the Natural Resource Outreach Coalition (NROC), provides overall program information, as well as detailed examples of what different communities have done. The NROC site can be found at: http://extension.unh.edu/CommDev/NROC/CANROC.cfm. The PA Lake Erie NEMO program website also features program information and project highlights, as well as geospatial data for the major watersheds in their target area. The PA Lake Erie site can be found at: http://seagrant.psu.edu/nemo/. 04/07 - New and Transplanted NEMO EducatorsThe NY and CT NEMO programs have both added new staff to their teams, while CA plucked a high-profile free agent from the OH NEMO program. In NY, Eileen Keenan added Jeanne Brown to the NY NEMO team. Jeanne is a veteran of the Peace Corps with a background in Marine Policy and Biology. Likewise the CT program bolstered its biological prowess in hiring Dr. Juliana Barrett, an ecologist and evolutionary biologist. Juliana will help CT NEMO expand its educational assistance in coastal areas. And finally the California Center for Water & Land Use managed to lure Dr. Timothy Lawrence away from Ohio NEMO to help lead the CA NEMO program. Details of the deal were not released, but it has been widely speculated that Dr. Lawrence’s interest in frolicking with the playful sea otter played a prominent role in the negotiations. Ohio’s former bench coach, Jon Witter has taken over the NEMO reins back in Ohio. 04/07 - Cinco de NEMO: The Reviews are In!
From the standpoint of those of us here at the Network Hub, Cinco de NEMO was extremely successful. Folks seemed to enjoy themselves, the formal sessions were lively, the informal sessions were livelier, there was a lot of networking going on, and no one got hurt. More important, based on the responses to our online evaluation form, you all thought the conference was helpful, which of course is the whole point. And most important, the Opening Video and Conference Organization scored the highest, which we take as sign that you haven’t gotten (too) tired of the Hub yet. Please go to the secure (For Members) section of the National Network website for more results. 09/06 - Network GIS & Remote Sensing Training
In April, a gaggle of NEMOids traveled to the NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC) in Charleston, South Carolina for an encounter of the geospatial kind. The training grew out of the training needs survey Network members filled out last fall and was the first step in the Hub’s effort to work with partners like the Center to expand training opportunities for the Network. The four day training provided an introduction to the ArcGIS software program and to the use of remote sensing data. The idea was to provide an opportunity for geospatial novices/beginners in the Network to get a basic knowledge of geospatial tools and how they can be used to enhance NEMO education. Many, many thanks to the CSC for putting on the training. Several of the participants have already taken what they learned at the training and applied it to their programs. The NEMO Hub will seek to build upon this first step down the path toward a “Network Training Academy” at Cinco de NEMO (NEMO University 5). In addition to more advanced geospatial training and topical training, the conference will provide an opportunity to solicit ideas for future training opportunities. 09/06 - Oregon Joins the Network, AgainIt took three workshops in three different communities and 30 hours in a University van, but the Hub is delighted to report that Oregon has rejoined the Network as a Charter member. The new, statewide effort will be lead by Derek Godwin, Frank Burris and Sam Chan of Oregon State University Extension and Sea Grant, and has been named “Growing Oregon.” It seems only fitting that the state that has long been the leader in coordinated community planning be part of the Network. We welcome them and their experience to NEMOdom. 09/06 - USDA CSREES Highlights the NetworkOne of the main funders of the NEMO Network, the USDA’s CSREES National Integrated Water Quality Program, has chosen to honor our little Network as one of their “Outstanding Projects.” The local actions being catalyzed by NEMO education will be highlighted in a prominent display at the USDA headquarters Building, as well as the CSREES Administrators Office, on the National Mall in Washington DC. We congratulate NEMO coordinators everywhere for this honor and thank our funders for thinking of us. 09/06 - COors NEMO?
AWARE Colorado has received a grant from the Coors Brewing Company to distribute their fantastic Watershed Protection Toolkit for Local Officials to every county and municipality in the state. Certainly a big step forward for the program’s effort to reach every corner of Colorado. You can download your very own copy of the toolkit on their website at www.awarecolorado.org. 09/06 - NROC On!The New Hampshire NEMO program (NROC - Natural Resource Outreach Coalition), has just released a new publication, Setting Goals, Redefining Boundries, highlighting what many of the towns they have worked with have accomplished. The publication is an impressive array of changes coastal communities have made, from building the capacity of local land use decision makers to changes to plans, policies and regulations. The document is available on the Member Publications section of the Network website. 09/06 - New DirectionsAs NEMO continues to evolve both in each state and as a Network, it’s only natural that we find ourselves going in new directions. And, although Your Friendly Neighborhood Hub has its share of “Y” chromosomes—which everyone knows makes it impossible to ask for directions of any kind—this has not deterred us from exploring several new ways of enhancing and supporting the Network. Our progress on these fronts will be on display at Cinco de NEMO (NEMO University 5), where there will be an unimaginatively but aptly named “New Directions” panel. We’re excited about the panel, for the simple reason that never before have we been able to put together three such promising pieces of good news. A few words on each: The first item will be the most familiar, as it involves our old friend the NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC). Since U4ia, the Hub and CSC have been discussing strengthening our long-term partnership. In the near future, this will take the form of increased opportunities for geospatial technology training for NEMO Network members. The results of our web survey on your geospatial technology use and needs have helped to guide us to this point. We hope that the inclusion of CSC’s new regional staff in our regional discussions at Cinco will help us further refine our plans. The second item is also related to technical tools. CICEET, the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology, is a partnership between NOAA and the University of New Hampshire that supports the development of innovative technologies for understanding, protecting and restoring coastal resources. CICEET has been consulting with the NEMO Hub as part of their recent effort to revise the focus of their annual call for proposals. Suffice it to say that land use and land use decision makers feature prominently in this new focus—potentially great news for NEMO programs. The last piece of good news is perhaps the
newest of new directions. As most know, the Network has benefited from
critical support from the USDA/CSREES Water Quality Program, which supports
the Hub as a “National
Facilitation” project. Recently their brethren in the CSREES Forestry
Program have also become interested in the NEMO Network. Concerned about
issues like retaining forest cover and minimizing forest fragmentation,
the Forestry Program has come to the conclusion that traditional forestry
outreach to landowners needs to be supplemented by education of (drum
roll please …) local land use officials. Can TreeMO be far behind?
Stay tuned! Now, if we could only bring ourselves to ask for directions …. 08/06 - CT NEMO Receives Outstanding Achievement AwardThe CT NEMO Team has been awarded the 2006 Outstanding Achievement Award by the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation (RNRF) for their Putting Communities in Charge publication. As you probably know, this is the CT NEMO program’s first official compilation of some of the local actions that have been catalyzed by CT NEMO. The Report can be ordered online on the NEMO website's Publications section. The official press release is also attached for those who want to learn more. 03/06 - Technically SpeakingPssst…hey you…yeah, you over there, in the NEMO hat—you need training? Well, you came to the right place. You name it, we got it. We got your RS, your LID, your GIS, your ISAT, your CommunityViz… whatever you need.
Last Fall, the Hub asked NEMO program coordinators to complete a Geospatial Expertise & Training Needs Survey to gauge use, proficiency and interest in a variety of geospatial tools, as well as interest in topical training. While practically all programs see a need for using geospatial tools, lack of proper software and technical knowledge were cited as the biggest barriers to their use (See graphs. Members can view complete summary results here, scroll Bulletin Board items.) To help all Network programs take full advantage of the educational potential of geospatial technology, the NEMO Hub, in partnership with the NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC), is seeking to develop technical training opportunities for the Network. Our first step is to offer basic GIS and Remote Sensing Training to NEMOids this Spring (April 2-6) at the CSC in Charleston, SC. Educators from seven NEMO programs and two non-techie Hub staff (namely, Kara and Dave) will participate in the training. The hope is that the training will allow us to take advantage of more advanced training in the near future. The next step is to beef-up training offerings at the next NEMO U, Cinco de NEMO, October 16-19 in Middletown, Connecticut. Cinco de NEMO will include 2 full days of training in two tracks, a geospatial track and a topical track. The geospatial track will include training in the use of CommunityViz planning software, the NSPECT nonpoint source modeling tool, and, of course, our own ISAT, which estimates impervious coverage. The topical track will include a full day of Low Impact Development (LID) training and a day on the use of land cover indicators (impervious cover, forest cover, riparian buffers) to assess watershed health. We have enlisted the help of our friends from the NOAA Coastal Services Center, the Center for Watershed Protection, Placeways (the maker of CommunityVis) and a small fleet of LID experts to lead these training sessions. We hope that Cinco de NEMO will also provide an opportunity to further discuss training needs within the Network and develop a plan for a full-fledged NEMO Training Academy with trainings in “off years” as a counterpoint for NEMO Universities. 03/06 - The Taco the Town, Cinco de NEMODoesn’t it seem like just yesterday we were subjecting you to all kinds of U4ic punnery? Well hold on to your sombreros, because NEMO U5, a.k.a Cinco de NEMO, is only a few months away. For this 5th installment of the National NEMO Network conference, we are returning to foliage filled Connecticut in the fall—October 16-19, 2006 in Middletown. The Network Hub has been busy working with the Conference Advisory Committee (the Cinco NEMigos) to craft an agenda that meets the standards for networking, ideas and camaraderie you have come to expect from a NEMO U, with an extra dose or two of training thrown in. In addition to the usual network updates, regional meetings, poster reception, presentations and a boat trip, we are including two full days of training along two separate tracks, one geospatial and one topical, to provide more bang for your scarce travel buck. Why Middletown? Well, with a theme like Cinco de NEMO, we figured what could be more apropos than a small New England town? Plus, Middletown is a delightful, walkable town on the banks of the Connecticut River, one of the so-called “Last Great Places in America”. Chock full of restaurants with cuisine from all over the world, including two restaurants where you can order a chimichanga, Middletown is sure to surprise. Honestly, you never sausage a place. Members, be sure to visit the Cinco de NEMO website for all the details. 03/06 - NROC Rocks!The New Hampshire NEMO program, NROC (Natural Resources Outreach Coalition) has received a glowing assessment of its effectiveness in helping the state’s coastal communities address conservation and growth. The assessment was conducted independently by the Institute for New Hampshire Studies at Plymouth State University and consisted of a review of NROC materials and presentations, interviews with the program’s partners and a community survey. The Institute concluded that the program has energized local officials to address conservation and growth, enabled them to more effectively address land use and water quality issues, and is the most cost effective option for using available resources to effect land use. Rock on, NROC! 03/06 - Delaware Natural Resource Based Planning Guide & Training
Delaware NEMO is pleased to announce the availability of their new publication Delaware NEMO: Guide to Natural Resource Based Planning. The resource guide provides an overview of natural resource management principles and practices to help guide local planning commissions and councils as they weigh the decisions of what to preserve and where to develop. It will be distributed throughout the state and is being used as the basis for a half day course on Natural Resource Based Planning as part of the University of Delaware’s Local Government Leadership program. The Guide draws from the expertise of DE NEMO’s advisory committee members, as well as natural resource based planning materials from the CT and Northland NEMO programs. While hard copies are reserved for Delaware officials, Joe Farrell, Delaware NEMO Coordinator, has offered to send CD versions to all NEMO partners who want one. Just send him an email with your mailing address at jfarrell@udel.edu. The manual will also be available in a web version on DE NEMO’s new website, nemo.udel.edu, which will be up and running in April. Delaware NEMO is also sponsoring an ongoing Conservation Design Roundtable to bring together local government officials, developers and design consultants, and state agencies to encourage the use of low impact development (LID) approaches and to bridge institutional barriers. The next Roundtable workshop in March will feature NEMO partner Lynn Richards in EPA’s Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation. 03/06 - National Journal Highlights RI NEMO & VT NEMO Partner
Small Flows Quarterly, an EPA-funded publication by West Virginia University that is focused on small communities and their wastewater issues, ran a front page article highlighting the RI NEMO program in their Winter 2006 issue. The article, entitled Wastewater Planning is an Integral Part of Smart Growth, features RI NEMO Director Lorraine Joubert, and her programs and publications on wastewater management and planning. It also features Juli Beth Hinds, Director of Planning and Zoning for South Burlington, Vermont. Juli is a key advisor to the new VT NEMO program. The article makes a strong case for wastewater system planning as an overall community planning tool. To quote Lorraine: “…a wastewater treatment system is a tool for the community to use to achieve their land-use goals, whether that means controlling sprawl in rural areas or whether it is redeveloping or revitalizing an existing historical downtown area or growth center.” The Article can be found on the web at: www.nesc.wvu.edu/nsfc/nsfc_sfq.htm. Congrats to Lorraine and RI NEMO. 03/06 - Florida Joins the NetworkFlorida Sea Grant, in collaboration with the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), has launched a NEMO program and signed on as a Charter member of the NEMO Network. The program is led by Brian Cameron (Sea Grant) and Rosalyn Kilcollins (the Reserve) and will focus its efforts, at least initially, on the rapidly growing areas of the panhandle and Northern Florida. After officially joining the Network in December, the program has already demonstrated it is no Mickey Mouse operation. They are already seeing impacts! After a few basic NEMO presentations, the town of Carrabelle strengthened its stormwater management plan. For those who keep NEMO Bingo cards in their desk drawer, the Sunshine State NEMO (a.k.a. North Florida NEMO) makes 32 programs in 31 states that have joined the Network. |
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