Providing the Best Environmental Outcome: The Right BMP in the Right Place

Shawn Tracy, Landscape Restoration Specialist. Formerly with Metro Conservation Districts.

As attention increasingly turns to ensuring that effective water quality improvements are being made, stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) have become an essential tool in communities’ clean-up efforts. These BMPs must help communities make the substantial improvements being called for by many water clean-up plans, but tracking their ability to do so is challenging. To address this efficacy issue, the Twin Cities’ metro area Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) developed an urban stormwater analysis to identify the highest-value treatment options. The analysis identifies in which subwatersheds, catchment areas, and specific locations to target specific BMPs, and builds from the Center for Watershed Protection’s “Urban Stormwater Retrofit Practices Manual” and Minnesota’s e Stormwater Manual. It ultimately provides a multi-year, multi-scale implementation plan for watershed managers. This allows decision-makers to confidently direct fund and labor toward the right BMP in the right place – all leading to the best environmental outcome. Come learn about this tool to maximize the performance of stormwater BMPs!

The Mississippi River Forum is a program of the National Park Service funded by the Mississippi River Fund and the McKnight Foundation.

Light breakfast provided. Free. Please RSVP to lark_weller@nps.gov.