If you are a regular visitor, by now you should know that I
give day long workshops throughout the state of Virginia. I do it for a living and in general I do on
to two day-long workshops each week. I
will detail the workshops below, but first a brief explanation.
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| An updated photograph from 2019 during teleworking times. I somehow lost the original pic. |
We have a mandatory certification program for people working
in Erosion and Sediment Control and in Stormwater Management. In the distant past I used to be in charge of
that program, and taught the certification classes. However, the program was moved from one
government department to another, and guess what? I lost my job as manager of the program. This is what usually happens with mergers, so
it did not come as a surprise. What surprised
me was that they kept me, I was actually afraid of being laid-off or moved to a
different job. However, my current
supervisor understood my love of course development, teaching, public speaking,
and my life experience. So, I am still
allowed to do what I love to do these things: but especially teach.
Actually, one of the things I was asked to do was to step
away from teaching the regular classes and to develop a number of classes that
go deeper into the various subjects discussed in our certification
classes. We call these classes our
Continuing Education classes; although the other day I called them the Special Ed.
classes. In my classes I stay away from
my political opinion (although my regular readers now I have one), I am
somewhat of a lecturer, but try to be Socratic at times. So what classes did I develop and teach?
Integration of Erosion and Sediment Control and Stormwater
Management Program – This was the first course I developed. It dealt with the transition from one department
to another and the adoption of the then new stormwater management
regulations. I talked about how the two
laws and regulations interacted and complemented each other. Many of the Erosion and Sediment Control
professionals were all the sudden faced with having to deal with enforcing the
new Stormwater regulations and having to deal with a new State agency. This was a
very intense 6-hour class; it also introduced a lot of controversial new
regulatory issues.
Plan Review Using the Older Standards – Since the adoption
of the new Stormwater Management Regulations there were a group of older
(grandfathered) stormwater structures that needed to be reviewed by folks who
had never reviewed them before. We teach
the review of the new Low Impact Development (LID) Best Management Structures
(BMPs) in our regular classes, so this class was for the review of some of the
older more traditional ones. This was
another intense 6-hour class.
Erosion and Sediment Control Inspector Refresher Class –
Everyone needs a refresher class so now and then; to go back and to hear it all
again. I end this class with a Bingo
game. This is a fun filled, very interactive
5.5-hour class.
Native Plants for Stormwater and Erosion and Sediment
Control – Being a Plant Ecologist by training, this class was my first real
hobby class. I love doing this class and
people seem to enjoy it as well. I will
be redesigning it this winter a bit, and will de-emphasize the law and
regulations a bit and add more discussion about the various plants (that is
what I also one of the comments in the evaluations of the class I received).
One or two people have an issue with me bringing up evolution and natural
selection in this class. So be it. This is a very intense 6-hour class.
Applied Soils for Erosion and Sediment Control and
Stormwater Management Professionals – This is another one of my favorite courses. I developed this with a dear friend of
mine. We taught it together until he
left the department; and now I am on my own.
In this class I deal with soils in three ways. I look at it from the agriculture (USDA)
side, the hydrology side and the engineering (Unified Soil Classification) side. Then I try to tie it in to our job in
construction as it relates to erosion and stormwater management. This is a great 5-hour class.
Wetlands for Erosion and Sediment Control and Stormwater
Management Professionals – This is not a class intended to turn people into
wetland delineators. While I worked as a
delineator for over 15 years, that is not the intent of this class. What I do in this class is teach inspectors
and plan reviewers to recognize “red flags” and know what to do when they see
them. I also want them to know how to
react to sediment releases in wetlands. This
past week I taught the last of this class in its current format. I will be redesigning it and taking a lot of
the discussion on law and regulations out of it and putting it on-line. For the rest, I again want to make it more
hands-on and show pictures of plant species (invasive and typical wetland species)
to get people more in to it. This is a 6
to 6.5-hour class.
SWPPP Inspections –
This is the most interactive class of the bunch, with a class exercise. We discuss the development of a Stormwater
Pollution Prevention Plan, the different elements and the inspection of a site
for compliance with the SWPPP and the Pollution Prevention Plan (P2). This is a great 5-hour class.
Where the water goes – A class subtitled “Hydrology for
Inspectors.” A class that deals with the
flow of water on a construction site.
How water behaves itself on slopes, why it matters and what we do to mitigate
for its effect. We discuss how we manage
the flow of water on a site and examine a lot of “how-not-to” photographs. I love this 6-hour course.
Soil Amendments for Erosion and Sediment Control and
Stormwater Management Professionals – This is a 3-hour course divided into two
parts. The first part deals with the use
of compost and fertilizers in the restoration after construction has been
completed. In the second part we discuss
the use of special soil mixes for bio-retention areas.
Photography for Inspectors – This is also a 3-hour course
that I usually do in combination with the previous course. As readers of my blog may know, I am somewhat
of a photographer and I have been trained in it. I teach the do’s and don’ts for inspectors as
well as some of the photographic theory.
Finally, I am in the process of developing some more classes
(no rest for the weary). But it keeps my
brain going, it keeps me young. I often
joke, that I roll out of my motel bed in the morning and look on my sign-in
sheet what class I am teaching that day; for sure, never a boring day.
In addition to all these classes, I also do some workshops on
request here and there that are hybrids between these classes. As I tell my students, if you have ideas for
classes let me know.
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