Coastal Plain Outreach Materials

In recent years, the number of educational materials on low impact development (LID) practices has multiplied; yet, most are geared towards practitioners, with fewer resources developed specifically to engage the general public about these practices and why they are important. A major barrier to implementation of LID practices is the lack of applied local examples to convince elected officials, local staff, citizens and developers that LID practices a) actually work, b) can be cost-effective and c) can be very attractive. Some of the most common questions asked by stakeholders at local site planning roundtables when presented information about innovative stormwater approaches is "will this work in my community?" and "where can I see a local example of that?"

The importance of linking stormwater education to specific local examples is supported by recent social marketing research conducted by Edge Research for American Rivers. Findings are summarized below (Edge Research, 2007):

• All stormwater is local: We tested seven message concepts with local leaders, and they all resonated. However, they had the most impact when they matched local conditions and problems.
• Images are powerful – when they're right: The visual part of the message usually had more impact than the text. When the photographs looked appropriate to the local topography and level and type of development, they really hit home.
• Link problem and solution tightly: Although we have to be able to quickly explain the problem to grab attention, for a message to be persuasive it must quickly pivot to the specific solution for which we are advocating.

We decided to help fill this gap to promote LID practices in the coastal plain. This page contains three key resources:

• A Powerpoint presentation that provides an overview of LID practices in the coastal plain. This presentation can be downloaded and tailored for educating your local elected officials or other groups.
• A Flickr! photo library of LID practices in the coastal plain because the power of visuals is so important. Tailor the above presentation or your own presentation by incorporating photos from your region or state.
• A Powerpoint presentation intended for a more technical audience (e.g., municipal, staff) that introduces four tools to promote the widespread implementation of LID practices in the coastal plain