PA Organization For Watersheds & Rivers Hosts 2-Part Webinar On Opportunities, Challenges Of Green Parking Lots March 29, April 12

Join the PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR) and your watershed colleagues for one or both sessions of a two-part conversation about the benefits, challenges, and opportunities for creating green parking lots in your community

Across Pennsylvania, parking cover thousands of acres with impervious asphalt, contributing to the urban heat island, elevating temperatures in communities, impacting water quality, and creating stormwater runoff that degrades streams and rivers. They also detract from community character and affect pedestrian and driver safety.

Green parking lots can reverse those trends by creating a landscape that not only improves the aesthetics and safety of a site, but also intercepts stormwater runoff and allows infiltration, shades parked cars and paved surfaces, and helps to cool the surrounding environment.

POWR is continuing it's Meaningful Engagement with Local Government initiative with a FREE two-part learning series for watershed organization leaders, volunteers, and partners:

-- March 29 - Part 1 will focus on:

-- Green parking lot designs for cars and trees that improve safety and community character,

-- Environmental, health, and economic benefits,

-- Selecting trees and using best management practices to promote survival, and

-- Managing stormwater with landscape features.

-- April 12 - Part 2 will focus on:

-- Developing municipal codes and ordinances and

-- Case studies of community and commercial green parking lots.

During both sessions participants will be encouraged to share local examples, ask specific questions, and learn from one another's ideas and success stories.

Sessions presenters are: Pattie E. B. Guttenplan, Assistant Director of Design & Outreach, Montgomery County Planning Commission and Vincent Cotrone, Urban Forester and Natural Resource Extension Educator, Penn State University.

These webinars are FREE but registration for BOTH must be completed separately.

-- Click Here to register for Part 1 on March 29 from 6:00 – 7:30 PM

-- Click Here  to register for Part 2 on April 12 from 6:00 – 7:30 PM

Visit the POWR Events webpage for upcoming events and recordings of past online events and educational sessions.

For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and help available to community-based watershed organizations, visit the PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers website.  Follow them on Facebook.

Related Articles:

-- Bay Journal: Pennsylvania's State Water Plan Points To New Challenges - By Ad Crable, Chesapeake Bay Journal  [PaEN] 

-- Lehigh Valley Watershed Conference At Lehigh University On March 14  [PaEN]

-- Stroud Water Research Center: Cutting Waste In Reforestation Of Riparian Buffers; Summer 

-- Erie Times: Gannon University Seeks To Clean Lake Erie And Boost Economy In The ProcessIntern Opportunities  [PaEN]

[Posted: February 23, 2023]  PA Environment Digest