Daily Archives: May 10, 2011

Nine new low impact development fact sheets from Oregon Sea Grant

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The following publications are available from Oregon Sea Grant.

Low Impact Development Fact Sheets. This series of short publications, developed by Oregon Sea Grant’s watershed education and outreach team, lays out guidelines for choosing, building, maintaining and testing a variety of “green” options for handling stormwater runoff from residential, commercial and public property. (For greater detail, see also: The Oregon Rain Garden Guide from Oregon Sea Grant.

  • Rain Gardens
  • Porous Pavement
  • Vegetated Filter Strips
  • Drywells
  • Stormwater Planters
  • Swales
  • Green Roofs
  • Infiltration Testing
  • Soakage Trenches

New publication seeks to understand the roles of Oregon’s non-consumptive recreational ocean users

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The following publication is available from Oregon Sea Grant.

It may also be purchased from Oregon Sea Grant.

Oregon’s Non-Consumptive Recreational Ocean User Community: Understanding an ocean stakeholder

While some types of ocean use, such as recreational and commercial fishing, have received research attention, little research has been directed at Oregon’s non-consumptive recreational ocean users.

Surfers, kayakers, kiteboarders, boat-based nature viewers, divers, wind surfers, and boaters are among Oregon’s non-consumptive recreational ocean users. They are neighbors and business owners, community leaders and family members, employees and friends. They are an important group of people making economic and cultural contributions to coastal communities, and one with a stake in the outstanding public ocean resources near and far from Oregon’s shores.

Non-consumptive recreational ocean users are often stewards of the beaches and sea, and they are coming to play on the ocean from all over Oregon and beyond. They are also currently underrepresented in the literature, and are poorly understood. This publication seeks to remedy that situation.

A report to the Port Orford community on the potential effects of climate change

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The following publication is available from Oregon Sea Grant.

Working Group Considers Effects of a Changing Climate: A Report to the Port Orford Community

This report summarizes the activities to plan for climate change undertaken cooperatively by Oregon Sea Grant and a working group of Port Orford (Ore.) citizens from January 2009 to August 2010. The working group had no official capacity; they simply had a shared interest in how the community might adapt to a changing climate.

The Oregon Sea Grant communications and Extension faculty involved considered this a pilot project and tested methods and tools, including the development of concept maps (to make group thinking visible) and pre- and post-project participant surveys. This short report is intended for distribution in Port Orford, but the methods and tools are discussed in other publications linked at http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu.

Some local results: After hearing the working group’s presentation on the potential effects of a changing climate, the Port Orford Planning Commission agreed unanimously that climate change must be considered when reviewing city ordinances, the Port Orford Comprehensive Plan, and land-development proposals.

New publication looks at helping coastal communities prepare for greater resilience in the face of climate change

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The following publication is available as a free download from Oregon Sea Grant.

It may also be purchased from Oregon Sea Grant.

Coastal Resilience: Assisting Communities in the Face of Climate Change

Community resilience is the ability of a community to respond to or recover from systemic disturbances, including climate-related effects on the environment, economy, and society. In coastal areas, where communities are particularly vulnerable (as Hurricanes Katrina and Ivan demonstrated), this topic has sparked considerable interest among academics and agencies, though examples of communities working toward resilience in any systematic way appear to be few. Nevertheless, preparing coastal communities for greater resilience in the context of a changing climate is a critical activity for many U.S. coastal professionals.

To address a need for greater interchange between researchers and community practitioners, Oregon Sea Grant facilitated a teleconference among 13 diverse national experts. This dynamic discussion, which includes first-hand accounts of participant experiences as well as discussions about how to define, approach, and “achieve” resilience, is transcribed here.

This exchange of information, experience, and ideas will be of interest to other researchers and practitioners and may, over time, contribute to coastal community resilience.

Oregon Sea Grant has reduced the price of one of its most popular DVDs

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We’ve reduced the price of one of our most popular DVDs. The Watersheds and Salmon Collection DVD is now priced at $12.95 (was $29.95) plus shipping and handling. It contains the following four videos:

Life Cycle of the Salmon (5 minutes)
Governor Kitzhaber Interview (9 minutes)
The Return of the Salmon (33 minutes)
Salmon: Why Bother? (12 minutes)

You may purchase Watersheds and Salmon Collection DVD online from Oregon Sea Grant.