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Green from the Ground Up

Planning and conservation  ›  Land and development  ›  Nature-friendly development  ›  Green from the Ground Up

Discover seminars for land-savvy building professionals.

It's a fact of nature. Preserving natural features can benefit both the developer and the development. Nature-friendly development practices can add value to your property, protect natural resources and help your bottom line grow. Metro's Green from the Ground Up seminars can show you how.

Seminar features

Metro's Green from the Ground Up seminars on nature-friendly development practices bring together builders, developers, designers, stormwater engineers, practitioners and jurisdictional staff from around the region. This seminar series features: 

• leading regional experts and practitioners in the fields of building, site planning and marketing
• local case studies, real-life experiences and lessons learned
• educational materials
• product information
• technical guidance
• networking opportunities.

Learn how to: 

• add value through green development practices
• market green development to gain competitive advantage
• save money with smart site planning
• use landscape features that double as stormwater management systems
• keep native vegetation and trees to increase property values

• get the latest information on regional permits and code

On line seminar videos

Did you miss a recent seminar? Watch videos of every Green from the Ground Up presentation on line. More

2009 Seminars

Swales, rain gardens and the new Low Impact Development Approaches handbook

The Homebuilders Association Green Building Council, Clean Water Services (CWS) and Metro have brought together Carrie Pak, engineering division manger from CWS, Paul Dedym, PE, KPFF Engineering, Mike Faha, Landscape Architect, Green Works and Alan Hipolito, Executive Director and business manager, Verde, to introduce Clean Water Services' new Low Impact Development Approaches (LIDA) Handbook for the Tualatin Basin and share experience-based insights and lessons learned about swale and rain garden design, installation - from sizing to plant selection - and operations, maintenance, project examples and case studies. Presentations available below.

Swales and rain gardens

Metro brought together an engineer, landscape architect and contractor to present a comprehensive spectrum of information on swales and rain gardens. Presenters Paul Dedyo, PE, KPFF Engineering, Kevin Robert Perry, landscape architect, Nevue Ngan Landscape Architecture, and Alan Hipolito, Executive Director and business manager, Verde, shared experience-based insights and lessons learned about swale and rain garden design, installation - from sizing to plant selection - and operations, maintenance, costs, project examples and case studies.

Video: Swales and rain gardens seminar

 

Seminar materials and presentations are also available below. Borrow a full length seminar DVD by e-mailing your request to nature@oregonmetro.gov.

2008 Seminars

Low impact development with Larry Coffman
Larry Coffman, nationally recognized expert on low impact development technology for water resources and ecosystem restoration, answered tough questions from builders, developers, engineers and jurisdictional staff during two fall seminars.  

Watch videos of Larry's presentation and Q & A session. Go

Pervious Surfaces
These technical seminars focused on how pervious surfaces work, site considerations and preparation and types of available products. Optional site tours were offered. Topics included site considerations and preparation, pervious concrete, pervious asphalt, permeable interlocking concrete pavement, and vegetated plastic grids. Presentations, maps and materials available below.

Green from the Ground Up seminars are offered throughout the year.

Seminar presentations and case studies

To download seminar presentations and case studies made by regional experts, learn more about nature-friendly development projects in your area or print a set of fact sheets, check out the seminar materials listed below.

Green from the Ground Up seminars are brought to you by Metro's Nature in Neighborhoods program in partnership with the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland, Earth Advantage, Energy Trust, Energy Star, City of Beaverton, City of Gresham, East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, Clackamas River Basin Council, Clackamas Soil & Water Conservation District and OSU Sea Grant Extension. These seminars are partly funded by a Section 319 grant from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

need assistance?

Corie Harlan
503-797-1764
corie.harlan@oregonmetro.gov

Files and related materials

Files that are downloadable from this page

• Swales, rain gardens and LIDA handbook presentation (Carrie Pak, Clean Water Services) 8.8M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published November 13, 2009
• Swales, rain gardens and LIDA handbook presentations (Mike Faha, Paul Dedyo, Alan Hipolito) 16.9M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published November 13, 2009
• Rain gardens and swales seminar presentation (contains presentations from Kevin Perry, Paul Dedyo and Alan Hipolito) 9.3M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published February 10, 2009
• Low impact development presentation by Gail Shaloum (presented to the Oregon Facilities and Sustainable Buildings Conference) 2.4M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published February 10, 2009
• Larry Coffman: Low impact development overview 18.2M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published November 3, 2008
• Larry Coffman: Navy yard low impact development retrofit case study 10.9M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published November 7, 2008
• Larry Coffman: Overview-Low Impact Development (LID), A Sensible Approach to Land Development and Stormwater Management 467K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published November 7, 2008
• Larry Coffman, Low Impact Development Design: A New Paradigm for Stormwater Management Mimicking and Restoring the Natural Hydrologic Regime, An Alternative Stormwater Management Technology 462K MS Word | Published November 7, 2008
• Sustainable project check off list example 28K MS Word | Published November 7, 2008
• Examples Of Habitat Friendly Development Practices from Title 13 15K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published November 7, 2008
• Builder's guide to low impact development 34.9M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published November 7, 2008
• Municipal guide to low impact development 36.7M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published November 7, 2008
• Native plant list 74K MS Excel | Published August 25, 2008
• Green from the Ground Up factsheet: Nature-friendly design 803K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published October 23, 2008
• Green from the Ground Up factsheet: Low impact site design 750K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published October 23, 2008
• Green from the Ground Up factsheet: Tree planting and retaining vegetation 1.1M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published October 23, 2008
• Green from the Ground Up factsheet: Rain gardens and swales 1.1M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published October 23, 2008
• Consumer research into demand for green homes-Robert Charles Lesser & CO, real estate advisors, 2007 1.1M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published August 25, 2008
• Map: pervious surface project site locations 1.4M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published March 21, 2008
• 2008 Stormwater management with pervious surfaces: Site considerations and preparation, Maria Cahill, MGH Associates 968K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published March 12, 2008
• 2008 Stormwater management with pervious surfaces: Pervious concrete, Dan Huffman, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association 13.5M MS PowerPoint | Published March 3, 2008
• 2008 Stormwater management with pervious surfaces: Pervious asphalt, Matt Rogers, Century West Engineering 10.2M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published February 6, 2008
• 2008 Stormwater management with pervious surfaces: Permeable interlocking concrete pavement, Gale Schroeder, Willamette Graystone 9.9M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published February 6, 2008
• 2008 Stormwater management with pervious surfaces: Vegetated plastic grids, Andy Gersen, Gersen Company, Stormwater Products 10.3M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published February 6, 2008
• 2008 Stormwater management with pervious surfaces: Overview, Steve Fancher, City of Gresham 10.8M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published February 6, 2008
• 2008 Stormwater management with pervious surfaces: Internet resources 101K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published February 18, 2008
• 2008 Stormwater management with pervious surfaces: Nature-friendly development practices table 15K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published February 18, 2008
• Leslie Carlson and Steve Kokes, Coates Kokes: Marketing your nature-friendly development 842K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2007
• Barbara Fryer, City of Beaverton: Tualatin basin Goal 5 implementation 1.6M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2007
• David Heslam, Coho Construction Services, Inc: Residential stormwater treatment 822K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2007
• Dan Hoyt and Christina Skellenger, Costa Pacific Communities: Villebois master-planned community case study 2.9M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2007
• Cedomir Jesic, WRG Design: Heritage Heights Townhouse development case study 4.3M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2007
• Greg Kurahashi, Kurahashi Associates: Opus Northwest Business Park case study 5.4M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2007
• Josh Lighthipe and Steve Murray, KPFF Consulting Engineering: New Columbia affordable housing case study 5.8M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2007
• Kevin Robert Perry, Nevue Ngan Associates: Transforming gray space into green space 16.7M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2007
• Gail Shaloum, Metro: Overview of regulations, urban hydrology and nature-friendly development practices 8.4M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2007
• Duane Woik, Earth Advantage: The green building experience 3.9M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published May 30, 2007