Creek Coordination: Working Together to Restore Urban Streams
Erin Shanaberger
City of Charlotte
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services
Charlotte NC
As a City of 900,000 residents, covering the majority of Mecklenburg County, NC, Charlotte Storm Water Services (Storm Water) must collaborate with other departments for nearly every project for it to be successful. Storm Water’s primary missions include protecting and improving surface water quality, maintaining storm water infrastructure, and reducing structure flooding. Whether it is working within our own division to accomplish multiple goals with a single project, working with our County Storm Water partners to implement improvement projects on large and small stream systems, across City departments to install a new sewer line and greenway within the same Storm Water project area, or working on watershed-wide stream restoration project with Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department, we often find ourselves in stakeholder meetings trying to collaborate effectively while still meeting our individual missions.
The City has implemented over 20 miles of stream restoration since the establishment of its’ Umbrella Mitigation Bank in 2004; and over 14 of those miles have involved partnerships with other government entities that were essential to the success of the projects. The many successes also came with failures and lessons learned. Honest communication and understanding, timing, documentation, innovation, flexibility, grace, trust and openness are all key components to successful multi-partner watershed restoration projects.
This presentation will highlight several City stream restoration and watershed improvement projects that are case studies in successful partnership. These case studies will include projects that are completed and projects in planning and design. We will also discuss lessons for future collaboration. In addition to specific project examples, other initiatives, such as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Creek Coordination Meeting, will be discussed that highlight the need for and benefit of working as partners outside of specific projects to lay the foundations for future collaborations.
About Erin Shanaberger
As the Watershed Planning and Project Implementation Supervisor for the City of Charlotte, Erin manages Charlotte’s Umbrella Mitigation Bank, watershed planning, and stream/wetland and storm water control measure project implementation. Erin has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science from Appalachian State University, and a Master of Science in Earth Sciences from UNC Charlotte. Erin has been with the City of Charlotte for 5 years and is a Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS).