How do you get local communities to change long-standing building codes and regulations to allow for green development? It helps to have evidence that the practices being recommended work and save money.
An innovative storm water management experiment in Connecticut may be getting coastal resource managers the verification they need.
The cover story of this edition of Coastal Services features that state's almost complete 10-year monitoring initiative that followed side-by-side developments—one employing traditional building practices, the other using practices that are more conducive to reducing runoff and protecting water quality.
Preliminary results from the Jordan Cove National Urban Watershed Monitoring project are positive and may give communities the substantiation they need to re-evaluate outdated storm water management regulations that can hold back developers willing to build with the environment in mind.
If your storm water management problems are coming from across the state line or national border, you will want to read the article on the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve's international efforts.
With about two-thirds of the 1,750-square-mile Tijuana River watershed in Mexico, the reserve has had to get creative in its efforts to reach across the U.S. border to identify and address areas of mutual interest.
Their efforts provide a template for other coastal resource managers who may be looking for a way to work across political boundaries to protect an entire ecosystem or watershed.
Also in this edition of Coastal Services, you'll read how Wisconsin is celebrating its coastal program's 25th anniversary by giving a gift to every child in the state, and how Georgia is helping reduce the health threat to swimmers by providing beach etiquette lessons to dog owners.
We are open to your suggestions about what you would like to read about in the next edition of Coastal Services. As we come into the opening months of 2004, please share with us your successes, concerns, and resolutions.
-- Margaret A. Davidson
