Alley Creek Watershed Management and Habitat Restoration Plan

December 10th 2014

3rd Community Meeting

This project is being funded in part

through a grant from the New York State

Department of State under Title 11 of the

Environmental Protection Fund

Meeting overview

2Title of Presentation Goes Here

Meeting objective: Present & review 10 strategies and associated priority recommendations

Presentation (6:10 – 7:00pm)

Site specific recommendations

• Strategy 1 Protect and restore habitats

• Strategy 2 Stormwater management

General Recommendations

• Strategies 3 – 10 (Regulatory, engagement, other)

Questions and Discussion 7:00 – 7:30

Characterization

and Assessment

Opportunity

Identification

Implementation

Strategy

Goals and

Objectives

Alley Creek Ecological

Restoration and

Watershed

Management Plan

Getting to the PlanWatershed Plan Development

Draft vision

statement /

objectives

Stakeholder &

Community input,

(1st Community

meeting)

FINAL VISION

STATEMENTS

Watershed &

Ecological Context,

Current conditions,

Problem

Identification

Characterization

report

Ecological mgmt &

restoration,

Stormwater Capture,

Other (Education,

outreach, Regulatory

& policy reform, etc.)

Prioritization

(feasibility/cost,

environmental benefit)

2nd community

meeting to present

priority

recommendations

Strategies for

coordination,

planning and fund

raising.

Monitoring and

tracking planning.

Feedback on

recommendations

and strategy

(3rd Community mtg)

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4

“Vision statement”

The Alley Creek Watershed is an ecologically healthy urban system where clean water, wetlands, fish, water birds, and other native species are valued and protected from the headwaters to the bay. It is a place where water-sensitive practices, policies, and environmental stewardship help maintain and improve water quality and diverse native habitat, as well as public health, recreation, and a high quality of life for local and adjacent communities.

Goals of the plan

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I. Habitat Restoration

a. Upland Forest, Meadows and Streetscapes

b. Riparian and other Freshwater Wetlands

c. Coastal Ecosystems

II. Hydrology and Water Quality

III. Public Engagement

IV. Improve Resiliency

Goals to Implementation

6

Goals

(4)

Strategies

(10)

Habitat

Stormwater

Illicit discharge

Partnerships

Codes

Engage Public

Training

Communicate

Research

Track

General

(97)

Prioritization

Short term

(28)

Long term

(208)

Existing

programs

1270

869

4

7

11

9

4

7

8

7

Spatial

analysis

Existing

partnerships

Existing

projects

Identified

funding

Recommendation

Implementation

Total (236)

By site

(139)

Strategy 1 – Protect and restore Habitat

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1. Protect and Restore Habitat

• Upland recommendations

• Freshwater & riparian recommendations

• Coastal recommendations

2. Manage stormwater using best management practice

3. Fix illicit connections and septic systems

4. Promote partnerships and interagency collaboration

5. Review & update regulation/codes

6. Engage the public

7. Increase training and professional capacity

8. Promote research and adaptive management

9. Track and monitor plan progress

10. Communicate progress and plan updates

Upland short term recommendations

8

Upland long term recommendations

9

Riparian & freshwater short term recommendations

10

Riparian & freshwater long term recommendations

11

12

Coastal short term & long term recommendations

Strategy 2 – Manage stormwater

13

1. Protect and Restore Habitat

2. Manage Stormwater using best management practice

3. Fix illicit connections and septic systems

4. Promote partnerships and interagency collaboration

5. Review & update regulation/codes

6. Engage the public

7. Increase training and professional capacity

8. Promote research and adaptive management

9. Track and monitor plan progress

10. Communicate progress and plan updates

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Stormwater infrastructure & outfalls in the watershed

Impacts of stormwater:

• water quality

• erosion

• habitat degradation

Stormwater management opportunity identification

15

• Identified opportunities

using GIS

• Prioritized opportunities

based on location,

property owner,

complexity

priority sites

other sites

16

Short term stormwater management recommendations

General stormwater management recommendations

17

• Engage with private landowners

• Promote partnerships to develop & recommend a

Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP)

• Design and construct recommendations from LTCP

Strategies 3 – 10 (general recommendations)

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1. Protect and restore habitat

2. Manage stormwater using best management practice

3. Fix illicit connections and septic systems

4. Promote partnerships and interagency collaboration

5. Review & update regulation/codes

6. Engage the public

7. Increase training and professional capacity

8. Promote research and adaptive management

9. Track and monitor plan progress

10. Communicate progress and plan updates

Strategy 3. Fix illicit connections and septic systems

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• Ensure all illicit

connections are

tracked down and

corrected.

• Work with state

agencies to address

localized sources of

contamination

Strategy 4. Promote partnerships and interagency collaboration

• Continue interagency collaboration to

develop a SWMP

• Continue NRG, NAC, USFS

collaboration and expand to other

agencies

• Integrate stewardship activities with

maintenance needs at Oakland Lake

ball field meadows

• Partner with stewardship groups and

organizations such as APEC, UCPC,

and DMEA.

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Strategy 5. Review & update regulation/codes

• Develop citywide SWMP working with stakeholders. The SWMP will include:

Address pollutants of concern (floatables)

Public engagement

Public involvement

Mapping

Illicit discharge detection and elimination

Construction stormwatermanagement

Post construction stormwater management

Pollution prevention/good house keeping

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Strategy 6. Engage the public – short term

• Identify key issues that would benefit from education programs (such as private landowner sustainable stormwatermanagement)

• Carry out and analyze park stewardship survey (USFS)

• Seek funding for staff to help coordinate and strengthen outreach and engagement

• Identify an execute one coastal and one upland restoration activity with community/volunteer coordination

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Strategy 6. Engage the public – long term

• Through a new hire, regularly

identify key ways the community

can be directly engaged in active

and proposed restoration

projects, and support that

engagement

• Using the stewardship survey as

a base, support connections

between and capacity of

community groups surrounding

the watershed

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Strategy 7. Training and Professional Capacity

• Develop and implement a

pollution prevention/good

housekeeping program for

municipal operations and

facilities in NYC (e.g.

sanitation, transport vehicles,

snow and ice)

• Train park managers in

invasive species and native

species identification.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/watershed_protection/stormwater_ms4.shtml

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Strategy 8. Research and adaptive management

• Identify knowledge gaps

• Continue to expand

collaboration with

universities

• Develop management

recommendations based on

(recently completed) forest

and wetland assessments

25

Strategy 9. Track and monitor plan progress

• Continue forest restoration

inspections

• Track forest planting and

management

• Track community engagement

and stewardship

• Continue monitoring at

established sites

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Strategy 10. Communicate progress and plan update

• Hold annual meetings.

• Potentially move the watershed plan online where progress

and updates can be published.

• Track projects through existing programs such as Harbor

Estuary Plan, LIS CCMP, NYC SWMP…

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28

Implementation

mechanism

Strategy/recommendation (#)

Existing programs • Forest restoration (Million trees) (S1)

• Illicit connections (MS4 permit) (S3)

• Codes (MS4 permit) (S5)

• Public engagement (MS4 permit) (S6)

• Training (MS4 permit) (S7)

• Monitoring (NRG, NAC) (S9)

In house (DPR) • Monitoring (S9)

• Partnerships (S4)

• Research (S8)

Awarded grants • Marsh restoration design and construction (S1)

Future programs

& grants

• Coastal build out (S1)

• Riparian restoration (S1)

• Stormwater (S2)

• Public engagement (S6)

TBD • Annual meetings (S10)

Opportunities for Feedback

• Public comment to 30th

January 2015

• Plan is found here:

http://issuu.com/alleycreek

This project is being funded in

part through a grant from the

New York State Department of

State under Title 11 of the

Environmental Protection Fund

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