On April 10th, the Center for Watershed Protection hosted the third National Watershed and Stormwater Conference. This year’s conference focused on fresh ideas about funding and watershed and stormwater management.  We wanted to share a quick wrap-up and testimonials about this annual event!

Who was there

Our unique conference format united online participation via national webcast with in-person discussion at our local hub in Baltimore, Maryland.  In total, we had 148 attendees from 20 states from California to Connecticut and even from Canada!

At the Baltimore hub, more than 100 registrants from federal, state and local government agencies, consulting firms, universities and non-profits came to participate and learn face-to-face. The conference also attracted 40 online attendees.

What we learned

Major national topics included:

It Ain’t Easy Getting Green:  Incentivizing Watershed Programs

  • Paying for Watershed and Stormwater Management Programs (Stacey Berahzer, Environmental Finance Center at UNC)
  • Stormwater for Sale: Washington, DC’s Stormwater Retention Credit Program (Greg Hoffmann, Center for Watershed Protection)
  • Tree for All: Catalyzing Landscape Scale Restoration Through Transformative Partnerships (Antonia Machado, Hillsboro, OR Clean Water Services)

Managing Stormwater at the Agriculture/Urban Continuum

  • Pollutant Sources and Pathways Present In Mixed-Use Watersheds And The Issues And Challenges Faced With Their Management (Jonathan M. Duncan, Ph.D., M.P.A, Pennsylvania State University)
  • Lessons Learned from In-Ditch Bioreactor Design, Construction and Monitoring on Maryland’s Eastern Shore (Carol Wong, P.E., Center for Watershed Protection)
  • Ohio’s Domestic Action Plan: Coordinating Nutrient Reduction at the State Level (Sandra Kosek-Sills, Senior Technical Staff, Ohio Lake Erie Commission)

The Baltimore hub also included presentations on local stormwater and watershed concerns. Some of these topics included:

  • The Impervious Cover Model, Revisited (Again)
  • Pooled Monitoring Effort & Restoration Research Award Program
  • Alternative Headwater Channel And Outfall Crediting Protocol
  • Inlet Cleaning Pollutant Characterization Study for TMDL Compliance
  • MD Phase III WIP Update
  • Chesapeake Bay TMDL Modeling and the Mid-Point Assessment
  • Phase I MS4 Local TMDL Implementation Plans: Lessons Learned
  • Stream Restoration: Frequently Asked Questions
  • Ask the Expert Stream Restoration Roundtable

What our attendees had to say

“I had a few coworkers here at the City of Rockville attend and they thought the sessions and the overall setup for the conference were wonderfully unique. Topics and speakers were relevant.” Dylan Drudul, CPESC, President, Mid-Atlantic IECA

“The conference exceeded our expectations. We especially appreciated the opportunity to speak about our Pooled Monitoring effort. Since the conference we’ve had many new connections form. Finally, the networking was key and seems that all the right folks attended for this to be successful. Congrats on a good conference.” – Sadie Drescher, Director, Restoration Programs, Chesapeake Bay Trust

How the conference was made possible

Support from 18 industry sponsors helped make the annual conference a great success. Thanks to: Anderson, Davis & Associates, Chesapeake Bay Trust, Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed, Day Deadrick Marshall Insurance, Ecosystem Services, Ecotone, Environmental Quality Resources, Hatcher Group, KCI, M&T Bank, Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the International Erosion Control Association, Meadville Land Service Inc., Maryland Water Monitoring Council, Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC, Stormwater Maintenance and Consulting, Stormwater One, Straughan Environmental, Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc.

What’s ahead for 2019

Mark your calendars and pack your bags, because next year we are moving the conference to Charleston, South Carolina! Our 2019 conference will be in-person only and expanded to four days. It will take place from April 29 to May 2, 2019 at the Francis Marion hotel in Charleston. We hope to see you there!

 

Karen Cappiella

Karen is a former GIS guru whose areas of expertise include applied watershed research, watershed planning, producing guidance documents and articles on watershed and stormwater management, and proposal writing. In addition to managing the Research Program, she coordinates proposal submissions for the Center. Karen has been with the Center since 2000, and has a B.A. in Geography from Millersville University and an M.A. in Geography from East Carolina University. She lives in New Market, Maryland with her husband and daughters.