Community Outreach
Community Outreach includes citizen monitoring, community education, conferences, symposiums, festivals, streamwalks, cleanups, tree plantings, watershed sign installation, and special events.
Citizen Action Projects:
Project SIGNS:
Greenacres was part of the steering committee to initiate the Project SIGNS (Signs Inspire Great Neighborhood Streams). During late September and early October 2004, informative watershed signs were installed at over 130 stream crossing locations in southwest Ohio, northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana. These signs identify the name of the stream being crossed and the watershed in which it is located. If you are interested in installing watershed signs in your neighborhood, contact:
Indiana
Dearborn County – Dearborn Soil and Water Conservation District
http://www.dearbornswcd.org
Ohio
Butler County – Butler County Stormwater Management District
http://www.stormwaterdistrict.org
Clermont County – East Fork Little Miami River Coordinator http://www.clermontswcd.org/eflmr.html
Hamilton County – Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District
http://www.hcswcd.org
Warren County – Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District (
They use their own sign design – NOT Project Signs Design)
http://www.warrenswcd.com
Kentucky
Sanitation District #1 – Northern Kentucky
http://www.sd1.org
Are you looking for ways you and your family can help clean up our local rivers and streams? Then check out this flyer developed by Clermont County Soil and Water Conservation District and modified for use by Project SIGNS - Signs Inspire Great Neighborhood Streams. The flyer can be accessed at:
10 Tips Flyer for Hamilton County
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Community Streamwalks
Community Streamwalks are organized events to document conditions of your local stream. Greenacres has partnered with organizations in Hamilton and Clermont Counties to organize these events. Participants are taught how to complete an Ohio EPA developed a CQHEI form , which stands for Citizen Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index. This easy-to-use index will tell you if fish can live in your stream. Ohio is one of the few states that use bio-criteria (fish and aquatic life) to evaluate the health of our streams. Data collected at these events is supplied to Ohio EPA and other water management agencies. Repeating these events annually helps communities track changes in stream health so that measures can be taken to preserve or improve stream health. If you are interested in holding this type of event in your area, please contact the Water Quality Project Director.
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Cleanups
Greenacres works with a variety of groups to organize cleanups, advertise cleanups, and solicit volunteers to help with cleanups. Greenacres advertise annual cleanups on this website. If you need help organizing an event in your community, please contact Water Quality Project Director.
Restoration Projects
Greenacres Foundation has been actively involved in two restoration projects on Greenacres Foundation Property. We have also assisted citizens and communities with tree plantings, wetland plantings, rain gardens, and streambank stabilization.
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Greenacres Pond Restoration Demonstration: Greenacres has are restoring the riparian zone of Greenacres Pond, a pond used in our educational programming by planting native wetland/pond plants and seeding the pond with muck from other productive ponds in the area. This 5-year effort has yielded us a very nice teaching area for our on-site environmental education programs.
- Greenacres South Ornamental Pond Algae Control Project: We have been experimenting with the use of barley straw pellets to naturally control algae and aquatic plants in a cement pond in front of the Greenacres Greenhouse on the south farm. Plans are underway to install a solar pump system to circulate water in the pond and to re-activate an old waterfall feature adjacent to the pond. A combination of both of these projects we hope will demonstrate how to effectively control unwanted algae and aquatic plants without the use of harsh chemicals and dyes.
Greenacres South Ornamental Ponds Gets A Facelift (32kb size pdf file)
Cattail Filter Being Expanded to Reduce Pollution from Greenacres’s Cattle Operations (68kb size pdf file)
Rain Gardens:
- Greenacres Rain Garden Demonstration Project
Greenacres secured a mini-grant from the Hamilton Stormwater District to create a demonstration Rain Garden in the Greenacres Arts Center parking lot. Greenacres will be holding a workshop for homeowners on how to plant rain gardens and planting this rain garden in October 2007. For more information contact Water Quality Project Director.
- Greenacres Portable Rain Garden Display
Greenacres created a portable display system using funds from the Hamilton Stormwater District to take to festivals, fairs, events, and other meetings that promotes the creation of residential Rain Gardens to capture and treat stormwater runoff before it reaches our local streams. The display is available on loan. We also created a Greenacres Rain Garden Factsheet for homeowners on how to create a small rain garden on residential property. (See Greenacres Rain Garden Factsheet (244kb pdf file).
- Greater Cincinnati Rain Garden Alliance:
A new Greater Cincinnati Rain Garden Alliance has formed in this region to promote installation of Rain Gardens throughout the region. The Alliance will be conducting training programs and workshops to educate homeowners and technical professionals. A website is under construction and a link to this website from this website will be added in Summer 2007. Mill Creek Watershed Council has also created a Rain Garden Guide for homeowners to use to aid them in designing and planting a rain garden on residential property. See MCWCC Rain Garden Guide (3.1 MB pdf file).
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Pervious Pavement: Plans are underway install pervious pavement overflow parking lots at Greenacres in the near future. We will be conducting a monitoring project after they are installed to determine their effectiveness in capturing and treating runoff when compared with traditional parking lots. Greenacres is currently evaluating pervious pavement as part of the Great Miami Runoff Reduction Project.
Events, Festivals, and Fairs - See Greenacres Events Calendar
Educational Symposiums - See Greenacres Events Calendar
Technical Support
Greenacres offers technical support in water quality education, water quality management, and water quality monitoring. Staff works with citizens and community organizations with a variety of water quality concerns including local pollution problems, pond/lake management issues, and understanding water quality laws and regulations such as Wastewater Treatment Plant permitting and upgrades, stormwater management alternatives, septic tanks issues, Total Maximum Daily Load Studies (TMDLs), and Watershed Action Plans. Staff provides education and referrals to other water quality management professionals who can provide more detailed information and support.
Oil and Grit Separator Monitoring
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Streambank Restoration |
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