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| I thought I'd be featuring folks and writing all sorts of witty banter, but that was a barrier to actually getting work done, so this is |
- a digest of some witty banter... OK. The banter hasn't turned out to be that witty :-)
- mostly a list of resources that look interesting
- a great way to stay up on the educational events that I'm doing
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| Of course, I would NEVER sell your contact info! |
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| Looking for a particular month? Click below to get there fast. (Each month has different resources and tools.) |
| 2015: |
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| Click here for 2010 newsletters. |
Click here for 2011 newsletters. |
Click here for 2012 newsletters. |
Click here for 2015 newsletter |
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Cool Stuff from Green Girl |
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Look Ma! You really can clean a clogged porous pavement!!!
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LID Guidance Template Preview: Vegetated Stormwater Facilities |
The forthcoming LID guidance template for Western Oregon will help jurisdictions and designers implement more cost-effective and environmentally effective best practices. This document should be available by the end of the year with four trainings for jurisdictions to adapt the document. If you'd like to hear more about this in particular, please let me know and I'll add you to that mailing list as well!
The template has a section under many of the BMPs called Pitfalls and Common Mistakes. Here are a few things that you should consider NOT doing and why:
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| DURING SITING: This stormwater planter retrofit in the public right-of-way was located at the bottom of a long hill, which is good, but needed to be lined because it was located within 10 feet of a commercial building (on left). The land use zoning just behind this commercial building is residential with a required front setback of 18 feet. If this facility had been located just 50 feet up the hill, in front of the residence, it could have been an infiltration facility and would have been less expensive to build, less expensive to maintain and more effective at protecting watershed health. Of course, this strategy would have required the jurisdiction reach out to a resident instead of a commercial business, which in some cases is not as desirable for the jurisdiction. |
DURING DESIGN: Trees in vegetated stormwater facilities are as acceptable as any other vegetation type; however, at 3 feet wide by approximately 30 feet long, this stormwater planter does not provide the minimum planting widths and soil volume (watch for forthcoming LID guidance, Chapter 3 Tree Planting BMP) critical to grow healthy, low maintenance, high functioning trees. Unless structural soil has been placed underneath the sidewalk and is connected via root paths or other means to the soil in this facility, the facility should be 2 feet wider and provide at least another 100 cubic feet (35 square feet) of soil to support a healthy, low maintenance, and safe tree. |
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DURING CONSTRUCTION:
Fabric, probably used as "temporary" erosion control during construction (=good) has been left all along the bottom and sides of this facility (=not good) making it difficult for the grasses, which readily spread under normal circumstances, to achieve adequate plant cover. This fabric will also clog rather quickly and prevent infiltration.
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DURING MAINTENANCE: Integrated pest management practices are not being applied to the areas that drain to the vegetated stormwater facility. The conventional landscape on the left is being fertilized with what is likely a conventinally, commercially available NPK (nitrogen-phosphorus, potassium) product (see inset) instead of ¼” of organic matter compost. This area drains toward the street and into the vegetated stormwater facility adjacent to it, on the right of this photo. Nutrients are soluble and move readily in and out rain gardens when they are quick release products. |
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| Cool Stuff from Others |
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Funding Stormwater Programs in Oregon |
Priscilla Wolverton shared this at a meeting I attended in Southern Oregon, but it applies all over Oregon. It considers grants and low interest loans. One program that I think is pretty awesome is the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. If your jurisdiction is already building a large water-related capital improvement project, then you can basically get free money to implement low impact development projects. In reality, the interest rate will be lowered until the cost of the two projects equals the cost of the project you were goiing to build anyway. Of course, Green Girl can help you identify low impact development retrofit projects in your community anytime! :-) |
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| Events |
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 Presenting to developers, agency staff, designers, and the general public at the Oregon Environmental Council's Stormwater Solutions event in Grants Pass, OR. 2009. |
Who should attend: anyone interested or engaged in implementing sustainable stormwater practices including commercial and residential contractors; public works staff; landscape architects, designers, and contractors; planners; architects; engineers; natural resource managers; builders; developers, homeowners.
Continuing Education Credits: These classes are likely to meet the continuing education credit requirements for engineers, archtitects, designers, contractors, and others.
Want these classes in your community? I am often willing to travel to some far-flung places in Oregon, Washington, and California to teach these classes to your audience. Contact me to discuss! (Prices vary depending on the overhead of the organization/institution offering the courses with me, and whether or not I can write the trip off and visit a friend nearby, but why not ask?!) |
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Date & Time |
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Topic & Other Details |
Thu, Sep 3
noon to 5 pm |
Coos Bay , OR |
Vegetated Stormwter Facilities Technical Field Class (Free!)
WHERE: We will meet at the new Coos History Museum ( 1210 N Front St, Coos Bay, OR 97420) and then carpool to various projects around town, ending at the 7 Devils Brewery. Please stick around to continue the conversations and networking over a pint!
WHAT TO BRING: Notebook, snacks, rain gear (just in case!), and willingness to learn, share, and collaborate. We want to tap into YOUR experience and ideas to get a sense of what’s working and what’s missing in Coos Bay.
WHAT TO EXPECT: This technical field class will help beginner to experienced designers, city planners, developers, contractors, educators and others who want to be better prepared to make holistic design choices. We'll carpool to a few different facilities, comparing and contrasting them as we consider long-term function. We’ll learn in a fun and collaborative atmosphere about how the sum of the parts (inlets, outlets, check dams, etc) in a variety of vegetated stormwater facilities (e.g. rain gardens, bioswales, infiltration basins) can be designed, constructed, and maintained to perform better and cost less.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
- How choices about inlet & outlet structures, soil depth and type, and other components affect facility function.
We’ll specifically discuss the design, construction, and maintenance alternatives for inlets, outlets, soils (both native and bioretention soil mixes), vegetation, mulch, geotextile, check dams, pretreatment, existing infrastructure undercut protection, high flow bypass strategies, irrigation, artwork, and lighting.
- How design, construction, and operations & maintenance choices relate to ecological function and cost.
- What is meant by sustainable stormwater and the average annual water balance.
To holistically restore watersheds, average annual rainfall and the hydrologic cycle must be assessed as those natural processes are impacted by urbanization. We’ll talk about the local stormwater system and how it affects choices about infiltrating appropriate volumes.
- How to collaborate in an interdisciplinary team.
Because the ecological system we’re trying to restore is complex—and the social structures of the communities they’re being built in are diverse—everyone has a piece of important knowledge about how best to implement a low impact development program.
CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS: This class is pre-approved for 5 LCB credits (for contractors licensed through the Landscape Contracting Board of Oregon). You may also apply for other credits through your respective licensing organizations, using the learning objectives listed below.
Brought to you by…
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Cool Stuff from Green Girl |
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Hi Fans & Friends,
It's been wacky, in an awesome kind of way, here in the little world of Green Girl, so I haven't put out a newsletter all year. I apologize for the brevity of this one, as long overdue as it is, but I wanted to get the word out on just a few things. I will try to share more cool stuff from myself and others next time!
I'm rebranding my business, specializing in green infrastructure/stormwater management consulting, and I've got a new logo (See it? Right there, up on the left?) by Martorana Design. Yippee!
If you ever tried to tell someone what I do, this is for you! Click here for a two-page summary of my services, clients, and testimonials. It's filled with lots of bullet point and pretty pictures. Go ahead. Click on it. :-)
Thanks for your continued support and interest in the goings-on!
Maria |
| XRAY Radio Interview on Apr 15, 2015 from 1:30 to 2 pm. I'll be chatting with Weston Miller about stormwater and rain gardens on his show GrowPDX. The show will be in podcast form here two weeks after the interview. |
Instagram. Green Girl is on Instagram as greengirlpdx : Follow me to get photos and comments on the good, bad, and the ugly in real time as I see them... out there.. in the real world. Here's a real sexy one for ya:
My comment was: Close up of erosion control for depaving project working.
My comment now: It's always tough, seemingly impossible to capture fine soil and concrete particles once they're on pavement. The compost behind the bags seemed to do a pretty good job, probably because it has much better contact with the pavement (especially after stomping on it)) than the biobags.
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| Cool Stuff from Others (& from Green Girl) |
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Alberta Street Project. Every year, instead of sending a material thank you gift to clients, I donate $10/client (this year, $170) to a non-profit organization. This year the organization is Oregon Websites & Watershed Project , Inc for work on their Alberta Street Project with World Arts Foundation. The project will provide local African American students with meaningful employment, current technical and communication skills, and a valuable network of local business and community leaders as they create the "2015 Alberta Street Cultural Resource Inventory with Recommendations." The project originators will also create an "operations manual" so that this civic engagement model of planning with disadvantaged communities in their own communities can be replicated elsewhere.
Green Girl LDS is currently donating time as well to develop the curriculum. If fully funded, I'll also be presenting careers in engineering, landscape architecture, environmental science, architecture, and so on and teaching students how to use the tools of the land development trade, like AutoCAD.
For more info or to help fund this project yourself, you can contact me, Maria Cahill 503.334.8634.
These were my 2014 clients... I know. I told you. It's been wacky wonderful!
MY GREAT GRATITUDE GOES OUT TO MY CLIENTS!
Thank you to my 2014 clients in Oregon, Washington, & Hawaii. Clients hired me to help them with projects, education, or outreach:
- Oregon Environmental Council
- West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District
- Southwest Neighborhoods Inc
- American Society of Civil Engineers
- Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Portland, OR
- Hui o Ko’olaupoko, Kailua, HI
- City of Newberg, OR
- City of Central Point, OR
- City of Gresham, OR
- Oregon State University Extension
- Susan Weedall, Portland, OR
- Granshaw-Colemans, Portland, OR
- The numerous individuals who attended my workshops
And, thank you to the organizations who supported 3 or more folks to participate in my workshops:
- City of Lake Oswego, OR
- Kitsap County, WA
- Jackson County, OR
- City of Keizer, OR
- Department of Environmental Quality, OR
This year, I have some extra thanks because my work on the Western Oregon LID Guidance Template (http://oeconline.org/lidmanual/ ) has been supported through grants and donations to the Oregon Environmental Council:
- City of Central Point
- City of Coburg
- City of Coos Bay
- City of Cottage Grove
- City of Keizer
- City of Medford
- CH2M Hill
- Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
- Oregon Department of Forestry
- Rogue Valley Sewer Services
- City of Veneta
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| Events |
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| Presenting to developers, agency staff, designers, and the general public at the Oregon Environmental Council's Stormwater Solutions event in Grants Pass, OR. 2009. |
Who should attend: anyone interested or engaged in implementing sustainable stormwater practices including commercial and residential contractors; public works staff; landscape architects, designers, and contractors; planners; architects; engineers; natural resource managers; builders; developers, homeowners.
Continuing Education Credits: These classes are likely to meet the continuing education credit requirements for engineers, archtitects, designers, contractors, and others.
Want these classes in your community? I am often willing to travel to some far-flung places in Oregon, Washington, and California to teach these classes to your audience. Contact me to discuss! (Prices vary depending on the overhead of the organization/institution offering the courses with me, and whether or not I can write the trip off and visit a friend nearby, but why not ask?!) |
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Date & Time |
City |
Topic & Other Details |
Sun, Apr 19
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Sun, May 3 |
SW Hills,
Portland, OR |
Stormwater Challenge - FREE Field Classes
No sitting needed, but come prepared to help actually install some best practices! Ttwo class locations to choose from!
Testimonial from participants a year after our first program, Mark & Koree Leisenring:
"Our [compost amended clay soil] garden beds produced a good amount of food for us last year and we expect the same this year. The pea gravel path has really helped with the mud on the side yard and there has been no visible runoff occurring from that area anymore."
"I love our yard still and still feel so blessed to have been able to participate in the workshop last year. We get compliments often."
Click on the image below or this text to register.
Click on this text to visit my updated outreach website with best management practices summaries, fact sheets, material sources and other handy goodies!
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