Presentation

You are to use your property, or your parents property, or your kids property, or another property you want to use and evaluate how the land is being used currently, how much runoff occurs (which depends upon impervious surfaces, rainfall, and soil type), and what you can do to improve the situation. You are to research all the items mentioned in the syllabus for this assessment and use the eight tools of watershed protection and management to determine how to improve the property. I hope this helps explain what is expected.

Provide an educational power point presentation on how you would use the eight tools of watershed protection and management we discussed in class on your own property or that of an organization you belong to.  The organization can be a religious, or any public or private organization.  You should provide background on the land for your proposed management, and analysis of the watershed issues, including:

(1) Land area, and land use, noting the approximate area that is covered with impervious surfaces, grass, and various landscaping options.  (Pictures are helpful for this requirement.) You can use google earth or some other aerial photograph provider to get an aerial image of your property and you can estimate the amount of impervious surfaces from this.

(2) Type of soil (explain how you determined this). You can go to the US soil survey to find the soil type in your area.

(3) Typical rainfall amounts and volume of stormwater runoff generated by that rainfall (explain how you determined this). You can go to NOAA or some other weather service and find the amount of rainfall for your area or your State.

(4) Typical stormwater runoff pattern.  (A picture or drawing of this is very helpful!)

(5) Calculation of how much water would runoff from that land given its land use and typical rainfall amount. You can use the equations we learned from this class.

(6) How you plan to use the tools for watershed protection to manage that site, resulting in effective watershed management, ecologically, socially, and financially.

Please note that you do NOT need to use all the tools for watershed protection – just the relevant ones!  To provide insights into the relevant tools you might want to use locally, please research what tools have been used effectively in your community, and provide a summary of the effectiveness of these tools in your local community (or in communities with similar land use and climate and topography).

The overall goal of this project is for each student to learn more about the eight tools of watershed protection, including how it is used, and results of that use, demonstrating its effectiveness on one watershed management project.  Students are to present the information they have researched in a concise way (using any format they wish), and teach the other students about how you would use the tools for watershed protection to manage the local site you have chosen.  You may choose to use the resources listed below, or search for additional resources. Please provide citations for all sources used in APA format.  

1) Land Use Planning

Suggested Reading:

• Estimating Residential Development Capacity by the Maryland Department of Planning. Retrieved from:

2) Erosion and Sediment Control

Suggested Reading:

• A Citizen’s Guide to Erosion and Sediment Control in Maryland by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Retrieved from:

3) Land Conservation

Suggested Reading:

• The Nature Conservancy website www.tnc.org 

4) Stormwater Management

Suggested Reading:

• EPA’s Stormwater Homepage. Retrieved from: http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/npdes/stormwater/index.cfm 
• Stormwater Manager’s Resource Center: www.stormwatercenter.net

5) Aquatic Buffers

Suggested Reading:

• The following sections from Protecting Stream and River Corridors by S. Wenger and L. Fowler:
  • Functions and Characteristics of Riparian Buffers
  • An Effective Buffer Ordinance: The Components

6) Non-Stormwater Discharges

Suggested Reading:

• EPA’s Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination website: http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/npdes/swbmp/Illicit-Discharge-Detection-and-Elimination.cfm 

7) Better Site Design

Suggested Reading:

• Growing Greener – Conservation by Design by the Natural LandsTrust. Retrieved from:

8) Watershed Stewardship

Suggested Reading:

Watershed Stewardship Program. Retrieved from:

Please make sure to integrate the concepts we have covered in this course, as relevant to your report.  For example, if you are discussing conservation of forests, please briefly discuss the vertical and horizontal complexity of the forests your case study is trying to conserve or any aspect of the forest that is important such as its riparian corridors.  You do not have to covered every topic we have discussed in class, but please touch upon connections whenever possible.

You are welcome to use voice-over for your presentation, but it is not required.

REVIEW the following writing resources before working on your final assessment:

·      Writing for an audience at:

·      Evaluating Resources at: 

·      The Research Process at:

·      Academic Integrity and Documentation at: 

·      12 Tips for creating better power point presentations at: