Lake Champlain Sea Grant and Partners Host Stormwater Trainings to Promote Best Practices
Lake Champlain Sea Grant has been working with watershed partners this summer to host trainings about stormwater management and green stormwater infrastructure solutions. The Green Infrastructure Collaborative, a partnership between Lake Champlain Sea Grant and the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation , combines efforts to bridge the gap among research, extension, and application of green stormwater infrastructure and natural asset management in Vermont.
Trainings are developed to support specific audiences. This summer, trainings were hosted for educators, natural resource and stormwater practitioners, and contractors. These trainings bring professionals together to learn about stormwater best management practices in the field and highlight the importance of regular maintenance.
Yestermorrow Resilient Sites Training
In June, Yestermorrow Design/Build School held an exciting hands-on training to demonstrate proper methods for siting and installing a culvert. Culverts work to convey stormwater runoff away from infrastructure toward vegetated areas, but they need to be sized and sited correctly to prevent clogging and cause erosion. This training was held in collaboration with Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District, Stone Environmental, and Hilltop Construction, with funding from the Lake Champlain Basin Program/NEWIPCC. Participants observed as an experienced excavator operator installed the culvert and helped with building the rock headwall at the inlet to the culvert and compacting the topsoil on top of the culvert. The training increased attendees’ knowledge on best practices for siting and installing a culvert and their understanding of the materials used in the project. It was an engaging afternoon with lots of good discussion, learning, and networking.
One attendee shared, “I will use the head wall information for construction. I will use this as a base to conduct further research on culvert design and materials for runoff issues at various sites where I work.”
The planning team hopes to host a follow-up training series this fall focused on the installation of an infiltration-based stormwater practice and information on stormwater management, planning, and maintenance.
Town of Shelburne Green Infrastructure Site Visit Day 
Shelburne was the fifth town in the last few years to partner with Lake Champlain Sea Grant on a site visit day for stormwater practitioners. This year, 34 attendees joined for visits to a variety of stormwater treatment practices: two gravel wetlands, three rain gardens, and subsurface detention paired with a new Contech StormFilter system.
At each site, designers and project managers shared an overview of each projects’ design, funding, lessons learned, and maintenance activities. The interactive nature of the site visits allowed for thoughtful discussion about these projects. Attendees reported using maintenance methods learned from this event in their stormwater management systems.
Previous year’s GSI site visits were held in Burlington, South Burlington, and Essex and Essex Junction.
DEC Clean Water Project Operation and Maintenance Training
Vermont Department of Environmental (DEC) Clean Water Initiative Program and LCSG worked with Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission to host a field training day on DEC verification tools for clean water projects. Fourteen clean water partners attended the training, which featured site visits to a gravel wetland in Moretown and a riparian buffer planting in Middlesex. Project managers and a private landowner shared insights on each project, followed by an overview and hands-on practice using the Survey123 tool to assess project condition and maintenance needs. Information shared at this training will be used by partners to develop operation and maintenance plans for future projects.
This training was the first of three summer/fall O&M trainings. Upcoming trainings will be held on August 22 in Poultney and Hubbardton and September 19 in Barton and Morgan. Trainings are open to state agency staff and partner organizations interested in learning more about Clean Water Project Verification. To attend, please register using this RSVP form.
Stormwater Methods Course
For the last few years, Lake Champlain Sea Grant has hosted a teacher and educator professional development training to share the Soaking up Stormwater Curriculum. The attendees learn about lesson plans that can be used with upper elementary, middle, and high school students. The curriculum can also be used for other audiences interested in learning about stormwater. It includes hands-on activities, shows how to identify stormwater issues in their community, and promotes site visits to green stormwater infrastructure installations.
This year the training included a site visit to a newly installed infiltration system at Hunt Middle School funded by the Green Schools Initiative, and a rain garden at CP Smith Elementary School.
LCSG is grateful for the partnership with local organizations that made these trainings happen and to attendees who are interested in engaging with one another and committing to improving stormwater management across the Lake Champlain basin.
Have ideas for other stormwater trainings that Lake Champlain Sea Grant can partner on? Please reach out to Green Infrastructure Collaborative Coordinator, Jill Sarazen, jcsaraze [at] uvm.edu