Successes & Challenges in Achieving Green Stormwater Retrofits Via Volunteer-Based Programs

The challenge of shifting to low-impact development practices in the Salish Sea region seems overwhelming, in new construction and existing development. Retrofitting existing developments will require many thousands of small actions at the site scale to bring about measurable improvements to watersheds. With budgets stretched ever thinner, capacity-building programs will be essential to achieve the level of retrofits necessary to make a measurable change. What capacity-building strategies will prove most effective and affordable? For the past three years, WSU Extension in Thurston County has piloted a program with the potential to achieve substantial on-the-ground results through highly trained volunteers offering LID education and site-based technical assistance to landowners. This program has the potential to significantly expand capacity for wider-spread education and technical guidance that can be scaled up throughout the region. The goal is to move landowners forward in carrying out the full complement of LID retrofit options on their properties. Under this program, volunteer Stormwater Stewards provide landowner clients with free on-site evaluations, followed by specific recommendations and guidance for carrying out LID retrofit projects, including rain gardens, pervious pavements, green-stormwater landscaping, large-scale rainwater catchment, and vegetated roofs. The training programs are accompanied by a suite of user-friendly, peer-reviewed tools that allow volunteers to step into the role of stormwater educators and advisors. How much can we depend on volunteers to help bring about on-the-ground change? What are the benefits and drawbacks of a volunteer-based program? After three years of program implementation and evolution, we will fully describe the program framework, potential, marketing, implementation tools, staffing/funding levels, management challenges, practical hurdles/our solutions, gaps remaining, and program evaluation and impacts