Free Virtual Training! - Critical Areas Adaptive Management

Webinar Series on Critical Areas

The Washington State Departments of Commerce, Ecology, and Fish and Wildlife are hosting an 11-week webinar series to review best practices, case studies, resources, and tools to enhance monitoring and adaptive management efforts for critical areas and shorelines geared toward local government planners.

Webinars are held each Wednesday from 9-11 AM beginning January 13th through March 24th. 

*Note: For webinars that you may have missed, recordings are posted at the bottom of this web page: Critical Areas Adaptive Management Training Workshops (wa.gov).

Topics related to stormwater issues that I would recommend viewing include:

• Wetlands (Jan. 27)
• This webinar will look at the important role local governments play in protecting wetlands and provide practical advice for the monitoring and adaptive management of wetland regulations and permit processes. Speakers will discuss Ecology’s wetlands compliance program, explore a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of wetland buffers, and provide recommendations for what local governments may want to track as part of a local critical areas monitoring and adaptive management program.

• Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas (Feb. 10)
• In this webinar about Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas we will discuss what the GMA requires of local governments and tools designed to help you and your customers succeed in your efforts to conserve these critical areas. We will review resources available through WDFW and demonstrate new web-based tools. We will discuss our recently updated riparian management recommendations and web-based related tools.

• Frequently Flooded Areas (Feb. 17)
• This presentation will focus on the role of local governments in regulating frequently flooded areas. Speakers will provide resources for identifying frequently flooded areas, make monitoring recommendations, and explore potential adaptive management strategies. This webinar will be most relevant to participants who work for communities that experience flooding.

• Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas (Feb. 24)
  
• This webinar will provide an overview of how monitoring and adaptive management applies to critical aquifer recharge areas. We will cover wellhead protection areas, source water protection, individual residential wells, threats to drinking water, and how local government can prevent contamination.

To register and for more information on each session visit the project page at Washington Department of Commerce Growth Management Critical Areas.

References

The post 2021 Critical Areas and Shoreline Monitoring Adaptive Management Online Workshops first appeared on Strategic Initiatives of the Puget Sound National Estuary Program.