ACSEC Meeting Minutes USDA Vegetable Laboratory December 10, Meeting Start: 12:00pm

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1 ACSEC Meeting Minutes USDA Vegetable Laboratory December 10, 2015 Meeting Start: 12:00pm Kim Counts Morganello- Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service Guinn Wallover- Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service Stacey Weinstock - Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service/College of Charleston Kathy Woolsey- Charleston County Soil and Water Conservation District Debbie Eckard- Charleston County Soil and Water Conservation District Lisa Hajjar Charleston County Soil and Water Conservation District Marty Morganello- Surfrider Foundation, Charleston Chapter Jestine Deepe Mount Pleasant Waterworks Kelsey Gagnon Berkeley County Government Chris Berg SC DNR ACE Basin NERR Coastal Training Program Brett Champion Town of Mount Pleasant Sara Tice - Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service Chuck Jarman - Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service Doug Tompkins Berkeley County Water and Sanitation Greg Gress Sullivan s Island Water and Sanitation Angela Crouch- Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service Jennifer Scales Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service Joe Fersner Bowman Consulting Bonnie Miley Town of Summerville Jamie Gillette Keep Charleston Beautiful Cheryl Carmack- Charleston Waterkeeper Matt Moldenhauer- Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission Jordan Febler- Charleston County Government Chris Wannamaker Charleston County Government Hillary Repik Town of Mount Pleasant Kacy Berg Dorchester County Government Stanley Sweatman Dorchester County Government Crystal Muller Woolpert Jacob Burkey Woolpert Kinsey Holton City of Charleston Mason Ackerman City of Charleston EV Bell South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium April Turner South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium Blake Lanford - Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service

2 Kim welcomed the Consortium members and asked them to introduce themselves. Kim asked the Consortium to review the listserv and make corrections or additions to the contact list and information. Kim reminded the Consortium about the Ripple Effect, the Consortium s online newsletter that is distributed to 2500 people. Kim requested that partners let Guinn and Kim know about upcoming events and outreach activities that they would like to include in the Ripple Effect. Kim also reminded the Consortium about the ACSEC s Facebook page. Kathy Woolsey suggested that partners share ACSEC posts to help spread information in communities. Education Partner Updates Surfrider Foundation: o This fall, 26 storm drains on Sullivan s Island were marked with metal markers in partnership with ACSEC. o Mutt Mitt Program: Over the last seven years, almost a quarter million bags were distributed to help manage pet waste on Folly Beach. Mount Pleasant Water Works: Intern research submitted for publication; the research looked at presence and source of bacteria in a stormwater pond in Inlet Creek, in Mount Pleasant. The project was a collaboration between the Charleston Waterkeeper, College of Charleston and Mount Pleasant Waterworks. SC DNR ACE Basin NERR Coastal Training Program: o DNR is working with SCDHEC on a living shorelines program; as part of this program, they will be installing experimental sites and monitoring sites at private property locations with SCORE. Chris Berg request that communities please share contacts of private property owners who have approached communities with erosion/shoreline stabilization concerns. If aware of contacts, please pass along contact information to DNR (Blaik Keppler or Chris Berg). The process will help streamline regulations for shoreline stabilization that use alternative methods to rip rap, such as oyster shell which may result in rehabilitated oyster reef. o The CTP program will be offering another of its ongoing training in March 2016; this training will focus on Managing Visitor Use in public spaces. o The CTP program partnered with the ACSEC to offer trainings this fall, including a shorescaping workshop and a rain garden for professionals workshop.

3 Soil and Conservation District: o Tugadoo Watershed three- year grant will end at the close of A major focus of the grant was replacing failing septic systems in the Hollywood area; to date, 45 failing septic systems have been replaced which cost $246,000. Of the replacements made, over 50% on properties owned by households who were classified as extremely low income. Another portion of the grant included oyster reef builds, with the most recent occurring in the summer of Interpretive signage was installed at Roxbury Park, near designated restoration site. Lastly, over 60 homeowners in the area have taken septic tank maintenance training supported by the grant. o Education programs have been really busy this year, including the Education Recognition Dinner, Envirothon, educational programs and Twiggy the Tree. Planning has already started for the 2016 year. 4H: Disney Grant has funded a six- part ecology program for Title 1 schools in Charleston and Dorchester Counties. There is no charge if the school is classified as Title 1. The program targets 7 th grade students and is aligned with core standards, designed to supplement what is already been taught in school. As a reward for participation, a free field trip is provided to the Birds of Prey Center, or the Center will come visit the school. Jenn Scales requested that any potential contacts within schools please be sent to her (jscales@clemson.edu). Adopt A Highway: Four cleanups occurred in 2015, with approximately 2300 volunteers in Charleston County alone. This is more volunteers participating than did last year. If you know people who are interested in adopting, send to Angela Courch (acrouch@clemson.edu). Chuck Jarman, Water Resources Engineer with Clemson Extension: o BMP Inspector Course was held in the Charleston area this fall This course will take place again in Spring 2015, with the field day taking place in the Upstate, likely Furman campus. This is an online and field based course. o Bioretention Cell Design Workshop- This program is in development and will address bioretention cell design for the engineers/technical audience. o Erosion & Sediment Control Course- The pilot of this program will take place in Columbia, SC. This course will go into further detail than some of the topics covered in CEPSCI. Ideally, this course will be offered in the Lowcountry next year. Guinn commented that the ACSEC would be bringing the program here for local audiences, too. The program is geared towards contractors.

4 Carolina Yards: Two new flag recognition items are available through the Carolina Yard program. Flags are available for purchase; Sara shared that the flags were in the back of the room if members wanted to view. Master Gardener Program: Clemson Extension is in the process of updating the Master Gardener training manual; rain gardening and rainwater harvesting, as well as concepts of low impact development, will be included as part of the new subject content. Charleston Waterkeeper: o Data has been validated for 2015, with more than 380 samples collected and analyzed for presence of bacteria. After the flooding fall of 2015, the water quality was very poor. The Waterkeeper s score card will be available in early February; this is the third year for the monitoring program so there is a much more comprehensive data set now available. o The Waterkeeper s Boat Pumpout Program is still operational and doing well after minor boat repairs this fall. Keep Charleston Beautiful (KCB): Jamie Gillette introduced herself as the new KCB Program Director. KCB is looking for a new education intern for school programs; these programs will be focused on waste responsibility and begin in January. KCB is always looking for volunteers to assist with marsh cleanups. Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission: The two rain gardens installed with ACSEC as demonstration sites are doing very well; the rain gardens are installed at Wannamaker and Caw Caw County Parks. The rain gardens are functioning as intended and growing well. The ACSEC hosted another workshop at a CCPRC facility this year; Guinn commented that it was the Master Pond Manager Recreational Field Day and that they enjoyed the opportunity to host programs like these at CCPRC facilities. SC Sea Grant Consortium: o From Seeds to Shoreline - Student driven restoration program led by SC Sea Grant Consortium and offered in partnership with Clemson Extension and SC Department of Natural Resources. The 2015 year was the biggest year yet; 52 teachers spanning coastal and inland teachers participated in the program. EV shared that they also recently received a grant from EPA to expand the program into Georgia and North Carolina. Other products produced as part of this grant included a salt marsh poster and guide. The 2016 Teacher

5 Training dates will be June 29 th for new teachers and June 30 th for returning teachers. Story board to be developed by GIS personnel at SC SeaGrant to tell the story. o NOAA Marine Debris Program funding was received to support marine debris collection and removal in the Charleston Harbor. As part of the funding, SC Sea Grant worked with partners to collect 9.6 tons of debris at a collection day in Spring 2015, with some items collected being boats. In addition, as part of the grant, there were 10 vessels removed from the Charleston Harbor; this is equivalent to 78 tons of debris removed. o In February, a well attended outreach event to take place, the STEM fest hosted at Brittle Bank park. Topics are diverse ranging from career development to early child activities; the festival targets anything STEM related. Guinn asked that EV consider sharing the program information on the ACSEC listserv for other community and education partners. o Stormwater Pond Collaborative leading the focus on stormwater pond research in South Carolina. The Collaborative is a multi- disciplinary effort that includes an advisory council, researchers, managers, etc. Products of the collaborative effort include a pond inventory classification and State of the Knowledge Report. As part of this Report, sections will include research on ecosystem function, cost, management, future outreach, etc. Sea Grant is finalizing the Report now and identifying opportunities for future potential including product development and trainings. o The SC Sea Grant Consortium noted that the SC Low Impact Development Manual, which is housed on their website among others, had 4,800 downloads in November 2015 alone. City of Charleston: o Upper Peninsula Water Task Force has identified a site for bioretention cell as a demonstration site. A few other developments will be dealing with contaminated soils and will need to try alternative best management practices for management. o General Stormwater information to go out with Charleston Water System s sewer bill in January. This bill insert will be received by approximately 102,000 people; information included in the bill stuffer will reference the ACSEC and associated resources. Charleston County Government: 450 contractors were provided with the new manual and training information as part of the County s construction inspection program. Berkeley County Government:

6 o The County is looking forward to the potential hosting of a new rain garden site for future Rain Garden for Professionals training. Kelsey will be discussing potential locations with Kim and Guinn. o A Keep Berkeley County Beautiful will be established in the future. Lisa Hajjar: How did community stormwater management measures function in the flooding event? Kelsey Gagnon: Ponds worked well. Practices functioned as intended. This flooding event helped people to understand the impact of development on stormwater. Berkeley County received many concerns from Cane Bay and Del Webb. Kelsey worked with the community and hosted a presentation on basic stormwater management; she commented that she was appreciative that she could use some ACSEC products to communicate stormwater outreach with the community. Chuck Jarman, Lessons learned: A lot of these techniques have been being implemented since the 1980 s in the Lowcountry.. Most of the problems they had in the upstate took place on older properties were stormwtater management practices was not in place. For example, old strip centers that were totally impervious. It s nice to hear the success stories. Strategic Plan: Incorporation of bacteria In light of proposed TMDL s and existing water body impairments for bacteria, the ACSEC voted to incorporate bacteria as a priority issue for the Consortium. Everyone was provided a summary of this decision making process (see below summary included in meeting minute appendix). Guinn reviewed the new priority issues established as a result of this change, which now including bacteria management for residential audiences. Bacteria management will focus on pet waste disposal and protecting sink drains and maintaining septic tanks to prevent clogs and sewage overflows. Guinn and Kim provided the Activity Timeline for Bacteria Management; the version distributed is a draft and the final version will be sent electronically to the ACSEC. Guinn commented that the ACSEC will be able to capitalize on already existing efforts of Carolina Clear and ACSEC community and education partners for this education strategy, as well as expanding outreach where needed. Guinn reviewed the timeline (see below included timeline) and the upcoming activities planned for the remaining Year Four and Five of the Strategic Plan period. Year Four would be a period of development and implementation, while Year Five would be devoted to continued implementation and evaluation. All activities will be a collaboration opportunity between ACSEC partners. Example activities include storm drain marking door hangers, street interview series, boater pump out program, pet waste stations, conservation districts addressing septic management, collaboration with utilities on messaging. New materials may also be created including outreach products and trainings (specifically a septic tank maintenance training).

7 Guinn emphasized again that the timeline distributed was a draft; Guinn asked that feedback and suggestions be submitted to Kim and Guinn. Comments will be incorporated and a final version of the timeline will be provided to the group in January The other ACSEC yearly timelines will also be distributed at that time. Want to hear about partner collaboration ideas. Hillary commented that the difficulty is finding an engaging way to convey messaging to the public. The Town s biggest struggle is getting the word out; the Town is looking to social media and newspapers for distributions. Hillary said it might be helpful to create a toolbox of canned material that can be pushed out. Joe Fersner said that additional messaging should address actions for backyard pet owners. Need to get message as specific as possible. Ex. Pick up pet waste on trash day or pick up before it rains. Make sure to pickup your bag. Greg said it was very important to also address sanitary sewer protection associated with SSO s as well. Jestine agreed and said that there are some residents who do not realize how the storm sewer system works. Messaging should also address that the storm drain is a separate system from the sanitary sewer system. Guinn highlighted that this was a core message already existing and that the second edition of the Street Interview series even addressed this specifically in a video that can be found on the Carolina Clear YouTube page. Annual Report Kim reminded the Consortium that the reporting year has changed and is on the calendar year now, instead of the fiscal. The report that is being distributed in April 2016 will summarize activities that occurred between January 1, 2015 and December 31, Kim asked education and community partners to submit data for the upcoming annual report by January 8 th. Debbie asked if the report link would be circulated so partners can see previous data submitted. Kim asked if MS4s would help communicate the report to relevant constituents in their communities. Kim reviewed the report timeline; a draft of the report will be available for community partners by February 1 st. Any suggested edits will be due back by February 12 th. The report will be delivered to partners in hard copy and electronic by March 1. Kim also shared a statewide update from Katie on reporting template for DHEC. Guinn reminded the Consortium that DHEC s reporting cycle is a two- year, while the

8 ACSEC s Annual Report is yearly. The DHEC report template that will be included will summarize the two- year activities. ACSEC Programmatic Updates - Kim discussed the 2016 Rain Barrel Sale, which will be held in the three counties again. Kim proposed considering similar sites that were used in the 2015 sale, as these are centrally located and geographic localized. Chuck proposed considering locations in the East Cooper. Kim said she was concerned with logistics but was open for discussion. April asked if there was good participation in other Carolina Clear consortiums that included composting bins; Marty responded that in areas where he has assisted with this, bins have not sold well. - Stacey described the potential for a storm drain art mural painting contest in the three communities. Ideal locations would be publically owned, whether that s a government building parking lot area or schoolyard. Ashley suggested considering a chalk drawing contest. Angela suggested that there may be roads that exist she could help identify. Hillary suggested a sub- committee that could help identify locations. Bus stops, libraries, school campus, and other public buildings were suggested. Kathy asked about prizes or incentives; Stacey and Guinn said the ACSEC would be considering a pizza party or other type of celebration. Kathy suggested an ice cream company sponsoring an ice cream party at a shop location or at the school. - Stacey also mentioned that she is providing Stormwater Jeopardy days at schools and looking for classrooms and teachers to work with next winter and spring. She asked for help identifying schools for this program. Stacey s contact information is sweinst@clemson.edu. Brett commented that he had enjoyed partnering with Stacey on this program and appreciated her participation. - Kim announced the formal launch of the Carolina Rain Garden Initiative. Kim shared that this program is a resource for handling client calls on drainage, stormwater management and wildlife gardening. The Initiative s website is Clemson.edu/extension/raingarden. Kim shared some of the past workshops associated with the Initiative, including the RG for Professionals Workshop. To date, a total of 16 private sector businesses participated, 10 university, 10 county and local government, and a handful of non- profits. Kim is looking forward to hosting the next workshop in Berkeley County. - Kim also shared the Virtual Rain Garden, which includes 17 two- minute videos on how to design, install, and maintain a rain garden. - Guinn shared that the Master Pond Manager course has had a very successful year, with two offerings in the coastal region, and a pilot in the greater Charleston area. A total of 51 people have participated in the program over the year, with 11 managers certified. There are a potential 14 more managers that could be recognized this fall at the close of the final exam (January 1). Guinn said that a list of these managers could be found at the Master Pond Manager website. Guinn also commented that because this program was hybrid, it had a far reach including participants from the BCD region in each offering in 2015, as well as participants from North Carolina and Georgia.

9 - Guinn shared that the 2016 Charleston Area Stormwater Pond Management Conference will be held in fall This was decided in order to increase professional participation; with cooler weather, aquatic plant issues should not be as much of a concern. In each of the offerings, the ACSEC has tried to make unique in content offered and discussed. In this third year, the conference will capitalize on information that came out of Stormwater Pond Management Collaborative, including a section on communication tools for pond managers and HOA boards when working with communities. The Pond Conference is a collaborative offering; the DNR ACE Basin NERR CTP is a partner in organizing and offering. Guinn said that during the next spring consortium meeting, they will be soliciting for feedback on agenda and content. Hillary suggested the inclusion of a session that addresses maintenance of other best management practices. Guinn also said that the DNR ACSE Basin NERR CTP was considering offering other LID practices, based on manual that may also include this component. - Guinn shared several Carolina Clear updates provided by Katie and Amy. These included: 1) The Charleston area had the largest media campaign this fall than we have ever purchased, in support of stormwater pond outreach activities. The stormwater pond commercial was shown approximately 1400 times in September and October on channels such as MSNBC, FOX News, Food, Discovery and HGTV. Approximately 50% of those airings were negotiated as FREE! 2) The Clearly Doing Good program will be officially offered this spring, with a training for companies interested in expanding their business to install rain gardens, rain barrels, downspout planter boxes, shoreline vegetation and resident Canada Goose fencing, and match these trained companies with private lot owners who apply within a partner region for a bmp. Any help is appreciated to promote this program through the business licensing offices or through direct contact with landscaping companies with which the cities and counties already have regular contact. Meeting Conclusion, 2:45pm Guinn concluded the meeting at 2:45 pm. The ACSEC voted and agreed that next Spring meeting would be on Tuesday, May 24 th. Guinn and Kim reminded the participants to complete the meeting evaluation to help improve meetings in the future.

10 Meeting Minute Appendix Summary of ACSEC Strategic Plan Discussion that took place in August 2015: In 2010 and 2011, the ACSEC met multiple times to discuss the ACSEC education strategy in order to develop a 5-year strategic plan. Meetings included a review of the 303(d) list and identification of priority pollutants and their potential sources/behaviors that contribute to the issue. Upon this discussion, the region-wide priority issues were selected to guide the ACSEC Strategic Plan. The region-wide priority issues were identified as the following: Region-Wide Priority Issues: Residential Audiences Ø Home Landscaping (nutrient management/proper application of fertilizer) Ø Pond Issues & Awareness (maintenance, public/hoa awareness) Ø Home Auto Repair (petroleum and other automotive fluid management) Region-Wide Priority Issues: Commercial Audiences Ø Landscapers & Pond Management Companies (nutrient management & post construction BMP maintenance) Ø Restaurants/Hospitality (FOG management Ø Automotive Businesses (includes maintenance/repair shops, gas stations, car washes, etc.-petroleum product management) To date, these priority issues have been addressed with efforts including Carolina Yards, Charleston-area Stormwater Pond Management Conference, Master Pond Manager, outreach materials for distribution, BMP Inspection and Maintenance Course, Carolina Clean Business Recognition Program, demonstration site installation, and the many efforts of the ACSEC partnership and collaboration. A full description of all efforts can be found in the ACSEC s Annual Reports, which can be viewed at: In 2011, it was decided by the ACSEC that bacteria impairments in local waterways are attributed to sanitary sewer overflows (SSO), and this was more of a County/Service Provider management rather than a strategy that can be effectively addressed through education. At the August 27, 2015 meeting, the ACSEC reviewed a current map of waterways and bacteria impairments and total maximum daily loads (TMDLs). Of the 435 water quality and shellfish monitoring stations in the Tri-County, 61 have been identified as impaired for bacteria, while eight TMDLs exist. An additional TMDL is proposed for the Wando River. Following this review, the ACSEC discussed whether it should consider revising its education strategy to address bacteria by including bacteria management as an ACSEC region-wide priority issue. A few suggested options the ACSEC considered and discussed as a group included: Option 1 There should be no change to region-wide priority as identified through the ACSEC s Strategic Plan. Option 2 Revise priority issues to identify bacteria management (pet waste, septic tank management, FOG s) as a priority issue instead of residential home-auto repair.

11 Option 3 Amend the third residential priority, which is currently residential home auto repair, to also include bacteria management. This would be a more general priority concern with the ACSEC focusing on addressing household pollutants. The discussion concluded with a voting activity in which individual participants placed a sticker on one of the three options (no change at all to ACSEC strategic plan, amend residential priority pollutants to remove home auto repair and replace with bacteria management, or amend as a more general category household waste). The vote was unanimous, it was decided to update ACSEC strategic plan to remove home auto repair and replace with residential bacteria management. The revised region-wide priority issues will now include: Region-Wide Priority Issues: Residential Audiences Ø Home Landscaping (nutrient management/proper application of fertilizer) Ø Pond Issues & Awareness (maintenance, public/hoa awareness) Ø Bacteria Management (pet waste disposal, septic tank management, FOG prevention) Region-Wide Priority Issues: Commercial Audiences Ø Landscapers & Pond Management Companies (nutrient management & post construction BMP maintenance) Ø Restaurants/Hospitality (FOG management Ø Automotive Businesses (includes maintenance/repair shops, gas stations, car washes, etc.-petroleum product management) At the December 10, 2015 ACSEC meeting, a draft of the five-year bacteria management education strategy timeline was distributed to members. This timeline is in a similar format as other ACSEC priority issues education strategies.