Some Resources to support proposals for Outreach and Training Modules.
Flood Ready Vermont
Flood Ready Vermont www.floodready.vt.gov is one of the places that may host web-based modules. Another potential host site is on the new VT DEC pages dec.vermont.gov/watershed/rivers The modules may also be modified and used by NY DEC and provided to other partners such as regional planning commissions and watershed organizations.
There are many resources on the two websites regarding both river corridors and floodplains. Here are some of the resources posted on Flood Ready:
- Next Steps VT - tinyurl.com/nextstepsVT
- Why Protect River Corridors? tinyurl.com/whycorridor
Resilient Vermont - River Corridor Protection Collection and Discussion
A committee of Resilient Vermont collected a set of resources being used to encourage river corridor protection including: https://rivercorridorsvermont.wordpress.com/ w/ tabs featuring graphics, handouts, videos and presentations from a workshop 1/2016.
VT Municipal Floodplain Managers Survey
With regards to municipal officials (notably Zoning Administrators, or Floodplain Administrators in communities without zoning) in November 2015 VT DEC conducted a survey of floodplain managers regarding topics that they felt most in need of and the kinds of formats that work best for them. The population is both geographically spreadout/isolated and vary in their level of comfort with technology. Here are the results from 108 people (including non-ZA contributors such as regional planners).
- Data Q3
- Data Q5
UVM Lake Champlain Sea Grant Program Survey
In May 2016 the UVM Lake Champlain Sea Grant Program undertook a survey of municipal officials and planners in NY and VT with regards to identifying barriers to municipal action to protect river corridors.
Here is the summary of the study from Kristine Stepenuck, University of Vermont Extension Leader, Lake Champlain Sea Grant, Extension Assistant Professor of Watershed Science, Policy and Education, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources
Here is the data summary: Barriers and Motivations to Town Implementation of Floodplain Ordinances (NY) or River Corridor Bylaws (VT) in the Lake Champlain Basin
UVM Lake Champlain Sea Grant - Realtor Workshop Evaluations
The UVM LCSG Program has also been organizing in-person workshops on Floodplains and River Corridors for Realtors in Vermont. These workshops have been approved for CECs. Here is the course outline, a sample reduced presentation, a handout (among others), and several evaluations (Winooski, Rutland, Williston, and Ludlow).
Social Marketing
Effective use of social marketing concepts is welcome where they engage the ZAs / community officials in their roles as gatekeepers/networkers and support their ability to effectively communicate the importance of river corridor and floodplain protection.
Water Words that Work does interesting work on assessing public understanding and identifying a vocabulary needed to address water system protection. Here is a short presentation on the theme at www.aswm.org/ (which also hosts: Wetland Mapping Training Webinar Recordings Available for Free Download)
Dennis Mileti Professor Emeritus of Sociology at University of Colorado, has a number of documents and presentations regarding effective public communications.
In addition to the many official FEMA technical bulletins and guidance documents there is also the FEMA 480 Desk Reference for Municipal Officials. (on-line here at ASFPM's Floods.org ).
The ideal modules will probably be very topically focused rather than comprehensive in character.
