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ENCAP has hosted
a lot of great workshops and seminars this year. We have now teamed up with some top real
estate professionals to bring you the most important and relevant workshop
that you can attend in 2009. Save Thursday April 23rd for a rewarding and insightful experience.
If you work in
the real estate industry, you can't afford not to attend this workshop. Gain valuable,
practical insights on how to make the most of your current real estate
projects. You'll hear how market research can prevent costly mistakes, learn
about successful marketing strategies, understand when an auction is the right
option, learn how to avoid environmental fines and retain property value,
understand workout options that protect your assets and much more!
Click Here to
find out more and Register!
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Available Grants May Help You Reach Your Goals
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With the country in
recession, more and more individuals, organizations, and agencies are looking
for financial assistance. Numerous
government sponsored grants are available for ecologically related projects such
as soil erosion and sediment control, water quality, wildlife habitat, and
environmental education. "For
profit" projects generally cannot receive grant money for activities that are
required as part of a permitted activity; however, grant money can be applied
towards remedying environmental problems on older developments; or you may just
want to improve the natural conditions of your own private property.
ENCAP,
Inc. has the resources and experience to assess which grants may be applicable
for your project and assist with grant applications, as well as provide
consultation and installation services for the related ecological concerns. If you need a grant for a project that is beyond our expertise ENCAP. Inc. can direct you to the right professionals. Pat Hickey
is available to discuss how grants may benefit you at phickey@encapinc.net or phone 815-899-1621.
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It's Time to Gear Up for Monitoring
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Burn season is still in full force but springtime is looming. The days are getting longer
and the temperature is getting warmer.
 You
know what this means...Monitoring Season is just around the corner. Starting in May 2009, formal monitoring of
regulated sites will begin. Some sites
require spring and fall monitoring, while others only require one summertime
visit. These monitoring visits are crucial
to the performance of native landscaped areas.
During these visits, the consultants not only review the current
conditions of the site, but they identify management activities for the
upcoming growing season.
These
management activities can range from mowing practices, to herbicide
applications of specific non-native species, to prescribed burns. It is important to note that communication
between consultant and restoration manager plays a critical part in restoring a
native area. If you have any questions
regarding monitoring or managing native areas, please contact Carl Peterson of
ENCAP, Inc. | |
The Agricultural and Urban Link to Stormwater Improvement: 2009 Iowa Stormwater Conference
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March 9-10, 2009 marked the 5th
annual Iowa Storm Water Conference and for the first time was combined with the
Iowa Agriculture and Environment Conference.
The theme of the 2009 Iowa Water Conference was Reducing Runoff: The Agricultural and Urban Link to Watershed
Improvement. Many distinguished
speakers from Iowa and throughout the U.S. presented
research, case studies, and commentary on the challenges of managing storm
water runoff. The central theme of
reducing runoff was the focus of speaker Tom Schueler, director, Chesapeake Stormwater Network.
Mr. Schueler related the history of the
Chesapeake Bay watershed challenges to the
challenges of any watershed undergoing a transition from rural/agricultural
land use to urban land use. A simple
graphic analysis of data relating amount
of impervious cover to stream quality revealed interesting results. The data suggest that stream quality begins
to decline from excellent to moderate when the watershed impervious cover
climbs from 0% to 10%. As impervious
cover climbs from 10% to 25%, stream quality begins to level off at poor
quality. This leads to the conclusion
that increased urban runoff input contributes to stream degradation.
 Traditional storm water runoff control
has focused on capturing runoff, storing it, and releasing it at a historic
rate. While release rate remains at
historic levels, duration has typically been unregulated. This is how increased volume gets into a
stream system. In order to counteract
the increased volume input, a paradigm shift has taken place in the Chesapeake Bay  watershed.
Instead of sending all runoff to storm water storage facilities, the
focus is to infiltrate as much runoff as possible through a series of
BMPs. Some of these practices are
biofilters, rain gardens, green roofs, pervious pavement, bioinfiltraton, and
open swales. A great deal of the runoff
reduction results from the use of amended soils within these practices. Additionally, water quality improvements
provided by these practices have been shown to exceed those of traditional wet
storage.
So, keep your minds open to innovative
permanent storm water BMPs that may offer a practical site solution. |
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Wheaton Native Plant Sale
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Saturday,
April 25 from 8:30
am to
Noon WheatonPublicWorksBuilding
The annual Wheaton
Native Plant Sale will be held at the Wheaton Public Works Building on Liberty
Street across from the Wheaton Police Station from 8:30 a.m. until noon (or
whenever the plants are gone) on Saturday, April 25.
- Many species
of trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers native to northern Illinois will be
available for purchase
- Wood chips will be available for
residents to pick up
- Rain barrels will be
available for purchase ($85). Click
here to view a rain barrel flyer with additional
information. Pre-order rain barrels by
contacting:
Jim Kleinwachter
The
Conservation Foundation
630-553-0687x
302
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There is always more to be learned. If your organization has an ecological challenge that needs to be addressed we can help. Just give us a call. 815.899.1621.
Sincerely,
Carl Peterson and Jonathan Koepke
ENCAP, Inc. |
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| Upcoming Events |
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Look for ENCAP professionals at these upcoming winter training sessions.
Winnebago County SESC Seminar
Thursday March 26th
Contact below for more information
Winnebago County SWCD
DeKalb County State of the County Dinner
Tuesday, March 31st
See website below for more information
DECD
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| Useful Ordinance Links |
Lake County
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