Grantee Research Project Results
Public Engagement and Outreach
EPA Grant Number: R835142C005Subproject: this is subproject number 005 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R835142
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Center for Integrated Multi‐scale Nutrient Pollution Solutions
Center Director: Shortle, James S.
Title: Public Engagement and Outreach
Investigators: Royer, Matthew B , Gray, Barbara L , Echols, Stuart Patton , Saacke-Blunk, Kristen
Institution: Pennsylvania State University
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: March 1, 2012 through February 28, 2017
RFA: Sustainable Chesapeake: A Collaborative Approach to Urban Stormwater Management (2011) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , Watersheds , Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Water
Objective:
Authentic engagement of decision makers at the relevant scales provides the essential relationship of reciprocity that connects the research to the field and importantly, ensures that the field better the research. An ambitious public engagement and outreach plan for the Center is proposed to engage target region communities and fully involve decision makers faced with green infrastructure and stormwater management choices at multiple levels ranging from state to local to ensure that the research conducted in Projects 1, 2, 3, and 4 is located in and has relevance to the target region. This will ensure that research outcomes will have greater likelihood to inform actual decision makers and achieve the fundamental shift in whole scale adoption of sustainable stormwater management practices in Pennsylvania communities of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Moreover, by focusing on three Pennsylvania counties confronted by high development pressure and high, existing, and growing urban loadings to the Bay, public engagement and outreach targets priority watersheds and communities across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Integration of engagement at multiple levels will seek to achieve a better understanding of the barriers to adoption and potential conflicts that exist between stakeholders at these various levels that are unique to Pennsylvania’s local government structure and stormwater management regulatory framework.
Approach:
Establish and convene a Community Partners Council that will serve as a vehicle for connect decision makers to research. Active engagement of decision makers and citizens will be accomplished through a series of workshops, conferences, and web-based communications that links the ongoing research objectives of Projects 1, 2, 3, and 4 to a critical audiences and input sources.
Expected Results:
1) A detailed understanding of the cognitive and institutional barriers that influence stormwater management decisions that enable the Center and local partners to prioritize projects and approaches to advancing green infrastructure stormwater management that will best overcome these understood barriers; 2) engagement with, and demonstration- and dissemination of visualization tools for improved decision making regarding green infrastructure approaches for improved implementation in high priority/high stormwater load locales; 3) improved adoption of multiple tools and approaches for green infrastructure use to manage stormwater; 4) removal of barriers preventing adoption of green infrastructure.
Relevant Websites:
ecosystem, water, groundwater, land, sediments, precipitation, ecological effects, effluent, discharge, indicators, regionalization, scaling, public policy, community-based, cost-benefit, public good, socio-economic, willingness-to-pay, conservation, environmental assets, modeling, monitoring, Mid-AtlanticProgress and Final Reports:
Main Center Abstract and Reports:
R835142 Center for Integrated Multi‐scale Nutrient Pollution Solutions Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R835142C001 Decision Making – Cognitive and Institutional Barriers
R835142C002 Green Infrastructure Design and Visualization
R835142C003 Hydrologic and Water Quality Modeling for Green Infrastructure
R835142C004 Non-Hydrological Benefits and Citizen Preference
R835142C005 Public Engagement and Outreach
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.