GCSHES – Education Program – Soaking it All In: Creating and Sustaining Stormwater Schools through Nature-based Solutions

Soaking it All In: Creating and Sustaining Stormwater
Schools through Nature-based Solutions

Room: 106
Time: 3:00pm – 4:00pm

This session aims to educate attendees on nature-based solutions to capture and manage stormwater on school campuses, while increasing green space and tree canopy. Council for Watershed Health and Amigos de los Rios have led led schoolyard transformations throughout L.A. County with demonstrable success in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Pasadena Unified School Districts and other districts. Green Schoolyards America has been leading nationally on school greening for over a decade with a focus on climate resiliency and child-centered help, including recently released tree canopy equity study. This session will highlight the successes of these efforts and feature replicable models to inspire other schools and school districts. In addition, the session will feature new research and funding opportunities for stormwater management on school grounds in L.A. County. The speakers will share success stores, considerations and promising practices to inspire and guide the region towards more sustainable infrastructure solutions.

California has over 10,000+ public schools which serve 5.8+ million K-12 students on 131,000+ acres of public land, every day. Much of that land is paved and lacks tree canopy in places where children spend their time during the school day, so millions of students are exposed to unhealthy high temperatures on a regular basis. There’s an opportunity to provide multi-benefit solutions on school campuses, to manage stormwater, create more green space, and increase permeable surfaces to support sustainability goals and student learning.

Learning Objectives:

1) Understand nature-based solutions opportunities for school grounds
2) Learn from case studies of green infrastructure implemented on school grounds
3) Deeper knowledge of lessons learned from long-term implemented stormwater infrastructure projects
4) An increased understanding effective and creative procurement options

Speakers:

Mikaela Randolph, Associate Director, Regional Programs, Green Schoolyards America
Eileen Alduenda, Executive Director, Council for Watershed Health
Claire Robinson, Founder & Managing, Director

Speaker Photos and Bio’s Coming Soon!

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