Locally-led Education and Action for Protecting the Environment

Deborah G. Grantham, Senior Extension Associate

Department of Crop & Soil Sciences, Cornell University

Project Leader:Deborah Grantham, Dept. of Crop & Soil Sciences

Collaborators:• Jeannie Barnaba & Steve Smith, Cornell Institute for Resource

Information Systems

• Pete Loucks, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering

• David Allee, Lyle Raymond, & Jim Skaley, Cornell Local Government Program

• Frank Rossi, Dept. of Horticulture

• Rebecca Schneider, Dept. of Natural Resources

• Ann Lemley and Katrie DiTella, Dept. of Textiles & Apparel

• Robert Kent and Eileen Keenan, NY Sea Grant

• Jurij Homziak and Mark Malchoff, Lake Champlain Sea Grant

• Anita Deming, Sheila Myers, Daniel Olmstead, Lorne Brousseau, and Emerson Hasbrouck, Cornell Cooperative Extension

• Hank Lambert, Vermont Local Roads Program

Funding

• US Environmental Protection Agency/NYS

Department of Environmental Conservation

Section 319 Program funds

• US Department of Agriculture -- Cooperative

State Research, Education, and Extension

Service Water Quality Program

• College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,

Cornell University

What is LEAPE?

• Educational program

that builds local capacity

to protect water

resources:

– NPS pollution control &

watershed management

– Uses resource information

technologies

– Offers management

options for local

government

Connecting with local government

• LEAPE points out connections between

water resources management and other

local government responsibilities

• Purpose is to provide motivation for

managing water resources

• Gives officials justification when talking

with other officials and constituents

Local government and water:

• Public safety: road and bridge erosion

• Public health: drinking water protection

• Land use planning: activities on the land impact water

• Economic strength:

– water-based tourism

– water quality reflected in property values

– business reliance on clean and abundant water

LEAPE components

• Introductory NPS/watershed information

• Management options on NPS issues

• Introduction to technology

• Runoff model

• In-depth information in Web-browser style

document (electronic manual) and linked

to management options

LEAPE Format

• Core of LEAPE is laptop-based custom software

• Software drives– slide presentations,– Web browser-style documents,– GIS, and– runoff model

LEAPE main screen

Point and click to go to management options, GIS examples, other features

of LEAPE

Specific NPS Issues

• Management

options on:

– On-site wastewater

treatment systems

– Streamsides

– Turf

– Local roads

– Marinas

For example, we talk about...

Streamsides• Benefits:

– trap sediment;– slow and retain

floodwaters; – filter pollutants; – shade stream;– provide habitat and

recreation• Impairments:

– loss of vegetation;– impervious surfaces;– erosion

Concise information on topics

Electronic manual

Data used in LEAPE• Public domain data• Topo maps and aerial photos give

historical perspective• Digital data includes

• orthophoto quad• soils (generalized)• infrastructure• aquifers• surface water• DEM

Data illustrate management options

Pilot workshop results

• Approach successful in catching attention

• Gets participants thinking on landscape or watershed scale

• Need more information about local government

• Participants want more!

Pilot workshop results (continued)

• Switched from ArcView to ArcExplorer to make workshop easier

• Changed from GIS interface to watershed graphic interface

• Developed an electronic manual

• Identified need for additional information such as alternative septics technology

Delivery

• Cornell Cooperative

Extension educators and

county water quality

coordinating committees

• Four regional train-the-

trainer sessions in 2002

• Set of laptops for regional

training of educators and

for loan to educators

LEAPE in use

• Cayuga Lake Watershed Network received funding from Tompkins Foundation to deliver LEAPE to 12 municipalities

• Cornell Cooperative Extension of Essex County and the Ausable River Association received funding from Lake Champlain Basin Management Program to deliver LEAPE throughout Essex County

Other Audiences• Middle and secondary school teachers

and students:– Using the program to achieve community

participation goals– Work on watershed issue, identify action

local government can take, and report

• Watershed organizations– Identify actions to encourage local

government to take

Next Steps

• Train educators in use of LEAPE

• Coordinate with NYS WRAPS by training educators in next WRAPS basin to use LEAPE

• Add stormwater management component

• Expand use of runoff models in LEAPE