Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition

Coastal Resilience Project: Supported by NFWF Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency

Competitive Grants ProgramFunded by Department of Interior

Urban Waters Federal Partnership Meeting 9/8/15

Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition:

Envisioning the Growth of a Connected and Protected Green Infrastructure Network in the

Heart of Maryland

• Resilience• Biodiversity• Equity• Discovery

• Sea Level Rise• Wave Impacts• Storm Surge• Flooding

Addressing the Impacts of MD Changing Climate

Green Infrastructure Solutions – Natural Networks

Green Infrastructure Solutions – “Nature-based”

Resilience: Four Principal Objectives• Map existing green infrastructure contributing to

coastal storm resilience• Prioritize and map green infrastructure enhancement

opportunities• Evaluate best governance mechanisms for managing

and protecting green infrastructure• Build a better regional green infrastructure network

6

Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition & Resilience Project Area

7

Resilience Project Time Line September 2014 – August 2016

Phase 1: Project Initiation and Data Collection (Fall 2014 – Spring 2015)

Phase 2: Develop Resilience Green Infrastructure (Spring 2015 – Fall 2015)

Phase 3: Prioritization of Resilience Network(Winter 2016 – Summer 2016)

Phase 4: Implementation Strategies & Toolkit(Winter 2016 – Summer 2016)

8

Inventorying State, Regional, and Local Plans, Programs, Regulations, and Misc. Policies

The Policy Context for Green Infrastructure Protection & Enhancement in the Resilience Project Study Area

What We’ve Found

Metric State Local Regional Total

Agencies/Jurisdictions/Entities Contacted 4 19 6 29

Staff Members Contacted 14 48 5 67

Plans 14 161 6 181

Laws/Regulations/Intergovernmental Agreements 18 105 3 126

Programs 24 13 2 39

Other Policies 4 34 0 38

Total Policy-Related Tools 60 313 11 384

Key Takeaways• The State of Maryland’s comprehensive planning, forest

conservation, and stormwater management requirements have a large influence over local policy and action to protect or expand green infrastructure at multiple scales.

• Only four localities in the study area currently have green infrastructure network plans.

• Localities in the study area generally meet but do not exceed state thresholds for protection of environmentally sensitive features.

• There is little evidence of ongoing or sustained regional planning for green infrastructure protection or expansion.

• While several hazard mitigation/climate adaptation plans in the study area recommend using green infrastructure to enhance resilience, there is no evidence of combined hazard mitigation–green infrastructure planning processes.

What’s Next?• Identifying noteworthy plans, policies, and

implementation tools outside the study area for using green infrastructure to enhance coastal resilience• Noteworthy examples of regional green

infrastructure or climate adaptation plans• Noteworthy local green infrastructure or climate

adaptation plans• Model ordinances and noteworthy examples

of local regulations• Noteworthy regional and local programs

Increasing Resiliency in Maryland’s Greater Baltimore Wilderness

• U.S. Geological Survey Project Personnel: Jonathan J.A. Dillow, Edward J. Doheny, and John C. Hammond

• Study Area: upper and middle Patuxent River; Patapsco River; and Gunpowder River watersheds, including their tributaries.

13

Role of the U.S. Geological Survey

• USGS has long-term stream gages and data in the watersheds of interest.

• USGS has access to historical information that might be useful to partner efforts to prioritize and protect infrastructure.

• USGS has the ability to create flood maps that can demonstrate potential infrastructure vulnerability under historical and more extreme flood conditions.

14

• 14 study gages

• 37 additional active gages

• 35 indirect measurements

15

16

Detailed mapping for all study gages

17

Comparison with FEMA flood maps

18

Green Infrastructure at multiple scales

• State Scale: MD GreenPrint

• Local Scale: County or Local Green Infrastructure

• Site Scale: Localized Green (stormwater) Infrastructure

19

20

MD State Hubs and Corridors for Study Area

Howard County (2012)

Locally scaled Green Infrastructure

Prince George’s County (2005)

Anne Arundel County (2002)

Baltimore County (2014)

Also in development: • Montgomery County• Harford County

21

22

Locally Defined Green Infrastructure:

• Howard County

• Prince George’s County

• Anne Arundel County

23

Additional Green Infrastructure Criteria:

Contiguous tree canopy and forest blocks

Wetlands

Floodplains

Riparian buffers

Critical Habitat

Steep Slopes

Highly erodible soils

24

Combining State and Local Green Infrastructure

25

BMP Suitability

BMP

Site Suitability Criteria

Drainage Area (acre) Slope (%)

HydrologicalSoil Group

Water Table Depth (cm)

Road Buffer (ft)

Stream Buffer (ft) Land cover

Bioretention < 2 < 5 A–D > 61 < 100 > 100  

ConstructedWetland > 25 < 15 A–D > 122 -- > 100  

Dry Pond > 10 < 15 A–D > 122 -- > 100  

Grassed Swale < 5 < 4 A–D > 61 < 100 --  

InfiltrationBasin < 10 < 15 A–B > 122 -- > 100  

InfiltrationTrench < 5 < 15 A–B > 122 -- > 100  

PorousPavement < 3 < 1 A–B > 61 -- --  

Sand Filter(non-surface) < 2 < 10 A–D > 61 -- > 100  

Sand Filter(surface) < 10 < 10 A–D > 61 -- > 100  

VegetatedFilterstrip -- < 10 A–D > 61 < 100 --  

Wet Pond > 25 < 15 A–D > 122 -- > 100  

Green roofs, rain barrels, and cisterns did not require site targeting.

Exclude open water, forests, wetlands, other designated sensitive areas, buildings, and roads from other BMP siting.

26

27

28

29

Outreach

• Primary focus on local governments & agencies

• Baltimore Metropolitan Council

• BWPFS workshop – 9/22/15

30

Project Next StepsActivities:

• Finish 1st DRAFT GI Network (Early Fall) • Prioritize GI investments – Fall/Winter 2015-2016

• Groundtruth GI Network (student engagement) – Fall 2015

• Develop Local Planners Workshop

• Start Planning for CPAT(s) – Fall 2015

31

Project Discussion

32