Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition 9/15 update
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Update on the Conservation Fund's Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coastal Resilience Project, funded by NFWF. Presented at the 9.8.15 Baltimore Urban Waters Partnership meeting.
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Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition 9/15 update
- 1. Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition Coastal Resilience Project: Supported by NFWF Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Competitive Grants Program Funded by Department of Interior Urban Waters Federal Partnership Meeting 9/8/15
- 2. Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition: Envisioning the Growth of a Connected and Protected Green Infrastructure Network in the Heart of Maryland • Resilience • Biodiversity • Equity • Discovery
- 3. • Sea Level Rise • Wave Impacts • Storm Surge • Flooding Addressing the Impacts of MD Changing Climate
- 4. Green Infrastructure Solutions – Natural Networks
- 5. Green Infrastructure Solutions – “Nature-based”
- 6. Resilience: Four Principal Objectives • Map existing green infrastructure contributing to coastal storm resilience • Prioritize and map green infrastructure enhancement opportunities • Evaluate best governance mechanisms for managing and protecting green infrastructure • Build a better regional green infrastructure network 6
- 8. Resilience Project Time Line September 2014 – August 2016 Phase 1: Project Initiation and Data Collection (Fall 2014 – Spring 2015) Phase 2: Develop Resilience Green Infrastructure (Spring 2015 – Fall 2015) Phase 3: Prioritization of Resilience Network (Winter 2016 – Summer 2016) Phase 4: Implementation Strategies & Toolkit (Winter 2016 – Summer 2016) 8
- 9. Inventorying State, Regional, and Local Plans, Programs, Regulations, and Misc. Policies The Policy Context for Green Infrastructure Protection & Enhancement in the Resilience Project Study Area
- 10. What We’ve Found Metric State Local Regional Total Agencies/Jurisdictions/Entities Contacted 4 19 6 29 Staff Members Contacted 14 48 5 67 Plans 14 161 6 181 Laws/Regulations/Intergovernmental Agreements 18 105 3 126 Programs 24 13 2 39 Other Policies 4 34 0 38 Total Policy-Related Tools 60 313 11 384
- 11. Key Takeaways • The State of Maryland’s comprehensive planning, forest conservation, and stormwater management requirements have a large influence over local policy and action to protect or expand green infrastructure at multiple scales. • Only four localities in the study area currently have green infrastructure network plans. • Localities in the study area generally meet but do not exceed state thresholds for protection of environmentally sensitive features. • There is little evidence of ongoing or sustained regional planning for green infrastructure protection or expansion. • While several hazard mitigation/climate adaptation plans in the study area recommend using green infrastructure to enhance resilience, there is no evidence of combined hazard mitigation–green infrastructure planning processes.
- 12. What’s Next? • Identifying noteworthy plans, policies, and implementation tools outside the study area for using green infrastructure to enhance coastal resilience • Noteworthy examples of regional green infrastructure or climate adaptation plans • Noteworthy local green infrastructure or climate adaptation plans • Model ordinances and noteworthy examples of local regulations • Noteworthy regional and local programs
- 13. Increasing Resiliency in Maryland’s Greater Baltimore Wilderness • U.S. Geological Survey Project Personnel: Jonathan J.A. Dillow, Edward J. Doheny, and John C. Hammond • Study Area: upper and middle Patuxent River; Patapsco River; and Gunpowder River watersheds, including their tributaries. 13
- 14. Role of the U.S. Geological Survey • USGS has long-term stream gages and data in the watersheds of interest. • USGS has access to historical information that might be useful to partner efforts to prioritize and protect infrastructure. • USGS has the ability to create flood maps that can demonstrate potential infrastructure vulnerability under historical and more extreme flood conditions. 14
- 15. • 14 study gages • 37 additional active gages • 35 indirect measurements 15
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- 19. Green Infrastructure at multiple scales • State Scale: MD GreenPrint • Local Scale: County or Local Green Infrastructure • Site Scale: Localized Green (stormwater) Infrastructure 19
- 20. 20 MD State Hubs and Corridors for Study Area
- 21. Howard County (2012) Locally scaled Green Infrastructure Prince George’s County (2005) Anne Arundel County (2002) Baltimore County (2014) Also in development: • Montgomery County • Harford County 21
- 22. 22 Locally Defined Green Infrastructure: • Howard County • Prince George’s County • Anne Arundel County
- 23. 23 Additional Green Infrastructure Criteria: Contiguous tree canopy and forest blocks Wetlands Floodplains Riparian buffers Critical Habitat Steep Slopes Highly erodible soils
- 24. 24 Combining State and Local Green Infrastructure
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- 26. BMP Suitability BMP Site Suitability Criteria Drainage Area (acre) Slope (%) Hydrological Soil Group Water Table Depth (cm) Road Buffer (ft) Stream Buffer (ft) Land cover Bioretention < 2 < 5 A–D > 61 < 100 > 100 Constructed Wetland > 25 < 15 A–D > 122 -- > 100 Dry Pond > 10 < 15 A–D > 122 -- > 100 Grassed Swale < 5 < 4 A–D > 61 < 100 -- Infiltration Basin < 10 < 15 A–B > 122 -- > 100 Infiltration Trench < 5 < 15 A–B > 122 -- > 100 Porous Pavement < 3 < 1 A–B > 61 -- -- Sand Filter (non-surface) < 2 < 10 A–D > 61 -- > 100 Sand Filter (surface) < 10 < 10 A–D > 61 -- > 100 Vegetated Filterstrip -- < 10 A–D > 61 < 100 -- Wet Pond > 25 < 15 A–D > 122 -- > 100 Green roofs, rain barrels, and cisterns did not require site targeting. Exclude open water, forests, wetlands, other designated sensitive areas, buildings, and roads from other BMP siting. 26
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- 30. Outreach • Primary focus on local governments & agencies • Baltimore Metropolitan Council • BWPFS workshop – 9/22/15 30
- 31. Project Next Steps Activities: • Finish 1st DRAFT GI Network (Early Fall) • Prioritize GI investments – Fall/Winter 2015-2016 • Groundtruth GI Network (student engagement) – Fall 2015 • Develop Local Planners Workshop • Start Planning for CPAT(s) – Fall 2015 31
Notas do Editor
- The Coalition was awarded a $600,000 grant to plan for coastal resilience in the greater Baltimore area. Resilience is the ability to bounce back after hazardous events like hurricanes, storms and flooding rather than reacting to impacts. But it also may be the ability to develop social-ecological systems that bounce forward in response to changing conditions. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, building resilience is a high priority for agencies to help communities We plan to do this by identifying green infrastructure investments in the region that will be cost-effective, benefit communities, fish and wildlife while increasing resilience and lowering risk. The project duration is two years and funded at $600,000 Project Team Members include: The Conservation Fund, American Planning Association, USGS, Chesapeake Conservancy and Center for Chesapeake Communities Activities: Map existing green infrastructure Identify opportunities for future green infrastructure given SLR and inland flooding Examine governance structures and programs for implementation of a regional green infrastructure vision Desired Outcome: catalyze a new wave of regional green infrastructure protection and restoration for coastal resilience.
- The Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition (GBWC) was formed recently (2013). It is an alliance of local, state and federal government agencies, non-governmental organizations, professional associations, and other conservation coalitions, supporting the vision of a connected, protected and expanded green infrastructure network spanning populous central Maryland to achieve multiple objectives through a variety of means. The Coalition has identified 4 principal areas of focus: Resilience, Biodiversity, Equity and Discovery Resilience – will be the focus of this grant project
- The GBWC is working to improve the region’s capacity to deal with expected impacts of climate change, such as stronger coastal storms that produce intense downpours and cause flooding across the region’s watersheds. These storms and accelerating sea level rise in tidal waters, such as the Chesapeake shoreline and embayments, impact coastal communities and natural areas through storm surge, wave damage, and higher tides. The effects include flooding of built areas, damage to homes and businesses, and threats to critical infrastructure such as wastewater treatment plants, transportation facilities, and energy transmission lines. Climate change is also forecast to produce extended droughts that deplete regional water supply reservoirs, impacting cost of treatment.
- Benedict and McMahon (2006) defined green infrastructure as “a strategically planned and managed network of natural lands, working landscapes, and other open spaces that conserves ecosystem values and functions and provides associated benefits to human populations”. Forests and other natural land cover prevent water from quickly running off the land surface and carrying contaminants to streams and waterways, thereby helping to regulate and cleanse waters flowing into drinking water reservoirs. A regional green infrastructure network in the upper reaches of the area’s major watersheds -- a network that would include intact and connected blocks of forested lands, forested and vegetated stream buffers, and restored wetlands and floodplain -- would help absorb heavy rainfall, temporarily store water, and slow flows of rainfall and snow melt to low-lying coastal areas.
- Green infrastructure is used in different contexts. It is sometimes employed with specific reference to alternative stormwater management practices for site specific low impact development. (aka green stormwater infrastructure) Closer to the coast and in developed areas, features such as the urban tree canopy, parks that manage stormwater, rain gardens and restored coastal wetlands, can help reduce adverse impacts from localized flooding, wave damage from storms, and provide additional community benefits, such as cleaner air, space for recreation, and relief from urban heat. Our project embraces both concepts of green infrastructure and seeks additional investments in both to maximize resilience and public engagement.
- Our tasks are to: 1) Look comprehensively at the existing green infrastructure. 2) Try to identify what that green infrastructure will look like given SLR and inland flooding projections Identify opportunities for the green infrastructure that “could be” if we make strategic investments in its protection and enhancement. Look at how we are organized to implement such networks and how we can improve our chances for implementation through decision-making and funding.
- The boundaries of the resilience project and the coalition are not identical. The resilience project was defined using watershed boundaries and based on project costs. The coalition is a more loose boundary that contains a growing list of organizations and agencies. Ultimately this effort may extend into DC and to the Northern Virginia suburbs, but for now it is Maryland based.
- In our NFWF proposal we outlined 4 project phases to occur over a 22 month period. We began work on the project during the fall of 2014. The grant agreement was signed in December 2014 and September chosen as the starting month. We are currently wrapping up the first phase of the project focused on outreach, data collection and synthesis of information. We expect to complete this phase in late Spring and begin the development of the regional resilience network over the summer. So far we appear to be roughly on track with the project schedule. Everyone on the project team is making progress and more folks in the region are being introduced to the project every month.
- Green infrastructure is not a new concept in this area. The state and local jurisdictions have each developed green infrastructure mapping products. What is new is utilizing green infrastructure as a tool for building resilience. Our project therefore needs to consider several scales of green infrastructure investment since they all potentially contribute to building resilience. To start, we are proposing at least 3 distinct tiers of green infrastructure mapping T1 – the state’s GI defined using ecological criteria T2 – locally developed GI using a combination of ecological and policy criteria T3 – site level GI designed to mimic natural features where natural solutions may not be available. Baltimore City’s green pattern book and the Army Corps of Engineers nature-based feature work reflect these site level concepts.
- The concept of green infrastructure is not new to Maryland. Local Communities have developed green infrastructure networks building off the state’s GreenPrint, but they have often used different criteria to identify their own local networks. It is worth noting that many of these are being updated in 2015. Montgomery County has a GI plan in development Harford County is planning to develop one in 2015 Baltimore County has a series of programs that support GI concepts, but does not have a hub and corridor map. The NPS has been working with a local group, Neighborspace to apply GI concepts to the inner ring of suburbs outside Baltimore City.
- This map shows both state and local green infrastructure as well as flood mapping and local zoning information for Howard County. The County is completely contained within our study area.
- We are transitioning the project from the initial phase 1 of the project into phase 2 where we will begin developing the green infrastructure resilience network. Outreach activities will continue. The Baltimore Washington Partners for Forest Stewardship is helping to organize a workshop with the MD DNR to further engage people in the project area. Representatives from Chicago Wilderness will join us for the workshop, expected to occur in late spring 2015. We plan to develop a draft version of the resilience network over the summer 2015. As the resilience network is developed, the Chesapeake Conservancy can begin their segment of the project by helping us groundtruth priority areas within the network while giving students an opportunity to learn about the project and mapping skills. As APA compiles a synthesis of the 348 plans, policies, programs they have identified, we may have an opportunity to work with the MD Dept. of Planning to discuss resilience with planners throughout the area. A workshop for the Fall 2015 is being discussed.