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Pre-Conference Activity (Sunday, September 14)

***NOT included in the registration. This is an optional activity. All activities will depart from the Renaissance Hotel Lobby at 9:00 am and return at 3:30pm. Lunch is included in the fee. Participants have a choice of one (1) activity listed below:

Trip #1. Canoeing the Darby –

Experience first-hand the beauty and diversity of a National Scenic River by canoe.

Trip #2. Urban Bike Tour – CANCELLED!

If you signed up for this trip you are eligible to go on Trip #1. Please contact Holly Bartholomew for more details.

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Field Trips (Tuesday, September 16)

**included with full registration** All field trips will depart from the Renaissance Hotel Lobby at 8:45am and return to the hotel at 3:30pm. Lunch is provided. Participants have a choice of one (1) of the following full-day field trips:

Field Trip Option 1 – Collaborative Watershed Planning: The Darby Watershed

The Darby Watershed represents one of the most biologically diverse aquatic systems in the Midwest. The watershed is part of the larger Lower Scioto River Basin and encompasses 560 square miles. Ten jurisdictions in the Big Darby Watershed within Franklin County have cooperatively developed a multi-jurisdictional plan to preserve and protect the Big Darby Creek, a National Scenic River, and its tributaries.

This tour will explore how collaborative partnerships can lead to comprehensive land use policies in a rapidly urbanizing watershed, demonstrate how watershed-scale policies translate to reach-scale implementation of stream protection, and highlight the watershed's diversity with a mussel "noodling" activity.

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Field Trip Option 2 – Innovative Solutions to Stream Restoration and Enhancement

This field trip provides a unique opportunity to visit three different stream enhancement/restoration design projects in both urban and rural settings demonstrating natural channel, two-stage, and self-forming concepts. Practitioners will present economic, socio-political, and scientific successes, failures, and findings from these on-the-ground examples.

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Field Trip Option 3 – Alternative Agricultural BMPs

Learn about drainage water management and other innovative conservation practices while touring the 2,100-acre Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, Ohio. The tour will include a visit to the Gwynne Conservation Area, a unique resource with a variety of habitats and ecosystems and appropriate conservation and resource management practices.

Participants will see unique management practices on site as examples of ways in which their land can be enhanced for economic, environmental, and enjoyment purposes. The tour will include time for participants to visit the Farm Science Review featuring hundreds of agricultural demonstrations and machinery.

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Field Trip Option 4 – Managing Stormwater in Urban Areas

This tour focuses on strategies and opportunities for managing stormwater in urban areas. Planning and design considerations for stormwater-friendly practices such as bioswales, rain gardens, and green roofs will be discussed and demonstrated at urban centers around central Ohio.

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Workshops (Wednesday, September 17)

**included with full registration** Workshops will occur concurrently. Participants can select one (1) Full Day or Half Day workshop or two (2) Half Day workshops. Lunch is provided with workshops.

1. Monitoring and Assessment of LID/Green Infrastructure Projects
(Full day; eligible for 6 PDUs)

This workshop will provide U.S. EPA, state, and local NPS practitioners with a comprehensive set of methods for assessing the performance and benefits of low impact development (LID) and green infrastructure practices.

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2. The STREAM Modules: Spreadsheet Tools for River Evaluation, Assessment and Monitoring
(Full day)

This workshop will use a case study example and a weight of evidence approach to: introduce channel-forming discharge concepts to help diagnose problems with stream form and function; discuss key issues in assessing stream morphology and watershed hydrology; and provide hands-on instruction to using and applying the STREAM Modules.

The optional, field-based Part 2 of this workshop has been canceled.

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3. Developing Social Indicators for NPS Management
(1/2 day, 10:30am - 2:00pm)

Effective management of NPS water pollution requires addressing both environmental conditions and the choices people make that impact the environment. Social indicators for NPS management provide information about awareness, attitudes, constraints, capacity, and behaviors that are expected to lead to water quality improvement and protection.

By measuring these indicators over time, water quality managers can target their project activities and assess whether their projects are accomplishing changes expected to improve and protect water quality. Monitoring social indicators, like monitoring environmental indicators, gives us valuable information about how well our management strategies are working.

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4. Watershed-Based Planning: A Blueprint for Action
(1/2 day, 2:15pm - 5:15pm)

This workshop will examine the watershed planning process and the Nine Key Elements of Watershed Plans, including the quantification of existing loads and the load reductions expected from BMPs (recently released in the U.S. EPA Handbook for Developing Watershed Plans to Restore and Protect Our Waters). Specific EPA internet tools that support the creation of watershed plans, such as STORET and the NPDES features on Enviromapper, also will be covered. This workshop is intended for watershed group members and managers, public agency staff, planners, consultants, and other active in the water resource planning field.

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5. Meeting Water Quality Standards with Stream Restoration
(Full day)

This workshop will provide participants with the necessary information to assess a stream restoration plan to determine if it has the potential to meet success criteria. Common stream impairments and the feasibility of restoration of those impairments will be discussed using project examples. Participants will develop a prediction of the restoration results and then have the opportunity to see first hand how well the prediction and restoration approach works. Attendees will work toward answering the question “Can we meet the Clean Water Act goals of use attainment for degraded waters?”

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Contact Jessica D'Ambrosio with any further questions.