Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials
As metropolitan areas grow, so does the amount of impervious surfaces, or built areas, within the watershed. This can lead to increased polluted runoff running downstream into coastal waters, causing damage to coastal natural resources. Local elected and appointed officials in these metropolitan areas often have little, if any, training in land use planning or natural resource protection, yet they are required to make decisions every day that determine not only how our nation's future landscape will look, but the quality of water and natural resources. The Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials project, or NEMO, is one tool that has been developed to educate local decision makers about the relationship between land use and natural resource protection.
The NEMO project was started in 1991 by the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System, in partnership with the Connecticut Department of Natural Resources Management and Engineering and the Connecticut Sea Grant Program. It began as a pilot project to design and test a new way of presenting information to three coastal communities in the state. It is now active in 20 states in the U.S. and a national NEMO Network has been developed. The NEMO Network provides a way for NEMO programs to share information, education tools, and experience.
NEMO relies primarily on face-to-face training, utilizing advanced technologies such as geographic information systems, remote sensing, and the Internet to enhance the effectiveness of its programs.
To guide towns, NEMO outlines a three-tiered strategy: natural resource based planning, site design, and the use of storm water best management practices. NEMO offers 13 different education programs organized around this strategy. The basic NEMO course, Linking Land Use to Water Quality, explains the links between land use, water quality, and community character. Once the educational component is in place, follow-up presentations focus on planning processes, preservation priorities, and development options. NEMO also offers related publications and Web-based services to communities.
While the NEMO program is designed for local officials, it encourages all interested local groups to get involved in various aspects of natural resource-based planning, because public understanding and acceptance is crucial for implementation. In order to include all members of a community, NEMO offers education packages to schools as well. The key is to present complex information in a manner that is easily understandable for diverse audiences.