This 5 year plan was prepared by the Coalition of Our Green Duwamish Partners. It represents our best effort to highlight and measure our collective impact towards achieving the mission of improving and accelerating watershed-scale stormwater runoff management actions in the Green/Duwamish watershed, collaboratively, with community, jurisdictions, agencies, nonprofits and businesses.
This blog entry is meant to appreciate all of those who contributed their skills, knowledge, time, and images. Thank you for your continued dedication to improving the health of the Green/Duwamish watershed.
What’s next, you ask? Let’s get to work.
I am so proud of the co-designed work that was done to complete this Implementation Plan. We are making progress. All the time.
2021 Workshop Schedule (Third Thursday):
February 18th
April 15th
June 17th
September 16th
November 18th
Please email me if you have questions or if you’re interested in participating in these workshops. Our doors are always open, and we value and encourage a diversity of opinions.
As we near the winter solstice I’m feeling energized by the way we are closing out the year. I am also looking forward to reemerging into a brighter 2021 with an exciting Implementation Plan for the next 5 years.
We have collected your feedback on the Implementation Plan and are working to respond to your comments. The complete set of comments and responses will be made available by the end of December. In a manner that mirrors the last 5 years, we appreciate your constructive tone and the collective desire to realize success.
Our timeline has intentionally been slow and deliberate. With an initiative of this magnitude, one that relies on the voluntary commitment of such a broad representation of organizations, we cannot afford to rush at the expense of building a strong foundation for future progress. I am encouraged by the enthusiasm and level of participation we have maintained, particularly during the last 9 months as we were forced into a remote meeting space.
I am encouraged by the enthusiasm and level of participation we have maintained, particularly during the last 9 months as we were forced into a remote meeting space.
Our two OGD subgroups are flourishing, providing additional capacity in a way that had not yet existed prior to OGD. The Coordination subgroup has connected with nine relevant and regional partnerships to communicate OGD goals, promote synergy between work plans, and identify opportunities for collaboration and mutual benefits.
The Mapping subgroup has been busy working with a consultant to build out a mapping tool that will assist Phase II Municipal NPDES Permittees with meeting Stormwater Management Action Plan permit requirements. This mapping tool will free up capacity and funds at all the jurisdictions who choose to use it, allowing them to redirect those resources to other areas where there may be more need.
In 2021 we will be rolling out our next two-year work plan for review, focusing on the thoughtful feedback from OGD partners. In addition to meeting the targets outlined in the Implementation Plan, we will be striving to complete flagship projects that reflect OGD’s vision, develop a subgroup driven to examine alternative funding mechanisms, and find new ways to support the efforts of our partners that bring us closer to our desired future.
Thank you all for your hard work this year. Please continue to be safe.
Thanks to everyone who was able to attend out September 17th partner meeting. Each time we gather remotely I learn something new about how to engage with everyone. It appeared to be a very successful use of our online platforms, and I’m excited about further exploring the use of breakout rooms at our November 12th meeting.
For those of you who were unable to attend, we used a large portion of the meeting to discuss our goal recommendations. The Goal recommendations are a high-level summary of the efforts we will need to consider implementing in the next couple of years. Combined with our existing actions, the recommendations will help us achieve our desired future state for each goal and get us closer to realizing our vision for stormwater management in the watershed.
We are incorporating feedback on the recommendations and adding it to the Implementation Plan now. A final draft of the plan will be available by the end of October, and we will plan on celebrating our collaborative success in November at our next partner meeting.
We are also looking for photos of the watershed that we can use in the Implementation Plan. This is a great opportunity to showcase some of your work in the watershed. We are looking for pictures of wildlife, recreation, restoration, and construction to name a few. If you have a photo you’d like have included, please email me directly.
There are a lot of exciting things happening in the next couple of months. One that I’d like to highlight is the Duwamish Alive festival and Green-Duwamish Journey:
This year you can participate in a self-guided activity, visiting the natural areas of the watershed to learn about the ecosystem, wildlife, history, and culture.
This is a great activity for kids, and you can win prizes!
The three months between meetings has flown by. The OGD team at King County has been working tirelessly to consolidate all of the amazing contributions to the Implementation Plan we’ve received from our stakeholders.
I want to take a minute to say ‘Thank You’ to all of you who were able to carve out some time for individualized and focused conversations centered on refining content and tying up loose ends. The quality of the Implementation Plan will be better because of your commitment and contributions. We anticipate having a completed draft available for your review at the stakeholder meeting on September 17th.
The quality of the Implementation Plan will be better because of your commitment and contributions.
Progress towards a beta version of the mapping tool continues on track. During this interim period, the mapping subgroup was able to meet and provide valuable feedback to help Christian Nilsen at Geosyntec advance the development of our mapping tool. A link to the base layers we’ve been planning to use can be found here. The technical memo detailing the mapping tool’s features and needs is available for download, and can be found below. Please email Todd Hunsdorfer with any feedback you may have about the direction we’re headed for this mapping tool.
Our agenda for the September 17th stakeholder meeting will be focused on providing brief updates from our subgroups and refining the list of Implementation Plan recommendations provided by our stakeholders – over the last several months. We plan on using some new interactive ways of engaging during this remote workshop, so get excited!
I sincerely hope everyone is staying healthy and safe and having a wonderful summer.
The Our Green Duwamish Stakeholder Group continues to make progress on articulating the actions that will bring us closer to realizing a future built on clean water. The Implementation Plan describes current conditions in the watershed, and identifies existing and future actions required to improve them. We are still on track to provide the Stakeholder Group with a draft version of this Implementation Plan in September 2020. Now we need some feedback from you!
Do you have ideas for action(s) in the watershed that could lead to real improvements?
This survey is one way we are collecting ideas for future recommended actions that Stakeholders can take in the next 5 years to move closer to achieving our goals and overall watershed vision. The survey will remain open until June 25.
“Thank you!” to all the stakeholders who were able to attend our workshop on April 9th, and another huge “Thank you!” for your continued dedication to improving the watershed.
Our conference call was brief but we had a few updates I wanted to share with everyone following this blog.
1. Subgroup Updates
The Mapping Subgroup now has a contract in place to begin the development of a watershed-wide mapping tool to guide decision making, track progress on reaching our desired future states, and assist with Municipal NPDES permit compliance. We can expect additional updates from this group at our June workshop.
The Coordination subgroup made great progress on identifying regional collaborative groups with goals that help to advance the goals of Our Green/Duwamish. This subgroup compiled a list of overlapping goals and objectives, mapping them to the goals and objectives of Our /Duwamish, and identified ways to collaborate on future actions. These opportunities have been pulled into our draft Implementation Plan, and will be available for comment until October 2020. Stay tuned for more updates from this subgroup as they begin to connect with the other regional groups they’ve identified.
2. Implementation Plan Updates
We received a number of great comments about the organization of the Implementation Plan from stakeholders in February. We made edits based on those comments and presented them during the April 9th stakeholder workshop.
3. Implementation Plan Editing
Finally, we had reserved time at the end of the April 9th conference call to collectively provide comments on the current draft of our Implementation Plan. At one point there were more than 15 people looking at the document simultaneously. Thank you for all the constructive comments. The link will remain open until April 22nd, so please be sure to review the document if you haven’t had a chance yet. It’s the perfect activity for telecommuting.
4. Action Tables
We ask that all stakeholders complete action tables for goals 5, 6, and 7 (or all goals not previously completed). To date we have received actions from the cities of Renton, Auburn, Kent, Maple Valley, and Seattle. King County, WSDOT, Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, Department of Ecology, Puget Sound Regional Council, and Stewardship Partners have also contributed actions. GREAT WORK!
If your organization is doing work in the watershed to improve water quality please contribute to the Implementation Plan! We want to know what you’re up to! Email me to get a FREE blank copy of the Action Tables – fill it out with actions specific to the strategies and objectives under each goal.
I wanted to use this forum to provide a quick update for those that couldn’t make it to our stakeholder meeting on February 13th.
Together we:
Discussed how our co-designed content is being used in the Implementation Plan
Gathered feedback about the Implementation Plan outline
Built a table describing the strengths of our organizations
Heard an update from the Mapping Tool and Coordination Subgroups
Discussed the 2020 Work plan
We have some heavy lifting to do in the next 3 meetings. We are hoping to build out the content of the Implementation Plan by goal area before the end of June, and have a completed draft by September of 2020. In addition, we are planning to have a ‘proof of concept’ mapping tool to assist our partners with decision making and permit compliance by the end of the year.
2020 is going to be very busy for all of us, and I continue to be optimistic. We are doing more together.
Please email if you have any questions. It was great to see so many familiar faces at the Green Duwamish Symposium yesterday. What a fantastic event!
Last year was incredibly productive and critically foundational to the work we have teed up in 2020. I would like to thank everyone who participated and provided feedback on all the products we co-designed.
In 2019 we:
Created a 2-year work plan (and we’re still on target!)
Adopted Co-Design strategy
Compiled and discussed early mapping tool ideas
Initiated Coordination and Mapping subgroups
Designed a Public Input tool for gathering more feedback
Created an Implementation Plan outline
Committed to an adaptive management approach
Reestablished recurring blog posts
Drafted an informational website
Agreed on our Desired Future States for each goal area
Brainstormed metrics to track progress in each goal area
We are also very excited to be recently invited to participate in the Green – Duwamish Watershed 2020 Symposium. I hope you see you at this symposium on February 24th, 2020!
At our next stakeholder meeting (Thursday, February 13) we will continue working on our Implementation Plan for those actions needed to improve the watershed. If you would like to learn more, please email me directly.
If you would like to follow our progress, subscribe to this blog post, and engage as we transform the watershed together.
Another very productive stakeholder meeting is in the books.
Thank you to all who were able to attend.
At the Oct. 10th meeting we were able to generate
ideas for the future state of goals 5, 6, and 7, and comment on the draft of our
future states for goals 1, 2, 3, and 4.
In general, feedback was very positive and aspirational –
exactly the kind of energy we need to continue our progress developing the
implementation plan. If you’d like to see or comment on the draft versions of
the future state goals, you can do so using our public input tool.
The meeting also included presentations about King County’s Land
Conservation Initiative and a Stormwater
Pollutant Heatmap being developed by The Nature Conservancy and
Geosyntec. It was interesting to consider how these projects overlap and
support the goals of Our Green Duwamish. We also heard some quick updates from
the Regional Coordination and Mapping Subgroups.
If you’re interested in learning more about those subgroups
and are considering new opportunities to engage with the larger group, please
feel free to reach out to Todd
Hunsdorfer.
It’s been more than two years since this blog has been
updated, but I want to assure you – we
have been busy. In April 2018, we got the ball rolling with a meeting about
our new approach and biennial work plan, and momentum continues to increase
with every bimonthly stakeholder meeting.
We have met six times, since the beginning of 2018, to discuss the implementation of OGD’s Stormwater Strategy. Agendas have focused on building the components necessary for an implementation plan – using an adaptive management approach. We have discussed the development of metrics, prioritization, and adaptive management. A draft outline for the implementation plan is complete as well as draft language of a vision for each goal area. The goal area visions will help guide our conversation about identifying priorities and metrics for the implementation plan.
Review and comment on the draft goal area vision statements here. For your comments to be considered, please comment before October 31st.
A mapping tool is being built to reflect OGD priorities to help
Phase II cities in the watershed meet permit compliance with their Stormwater
Management Action Plans. In the future, the implementation plan metrics can
also be incorporated into the mapping tool to help track progress over time.
To facilitate collaboration and provide transparency, an online
space is in development to host OGD products, meeting agendas and summaries,
and any other materials you need to stay informed on this important initiative.
Our next stakeholder meeting is October 10, 2019. If
you are not currently on the email notification, list and would like to be,
please contact me.
