Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21474

The Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS) is administered by the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). It is a campus-wide initiative that harnesses the expertise of UMD faculty and the energy and ingenuity of UMD students to help Maryland communities become more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. PALS is designed to provide innovative, low-cost assistance to local governments while creating real-world problem-solving experiences for University of Maryland graduate and undergraduate students.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Environmental Science and Policy

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    Food Access and Equity in Prince George's County
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2021) Drewyer, Darcy; Exar, Laura; Macek, Eva; Rush, Katherine; Scheckman, Adam; Torres, Liana; Williams, Jare; Spivy, Annette
    The semester was divided into a group of students who studied a comprehensive comprehensive analysis of food equity in Prince George’s County, with a focus on the most vulnerable communities including to determine appropriate definitions of food access, food security, food equity, and to conduct a spatial analysis of Prince George’s county. The students used ArcPro to produce maps identifying healthy food priority areas while providing policy recommendations to the M-NCPPC planning department and outlining further steps for future capstone groups.
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    Stormwater Maintenance Assessment and Recommendations
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2020) Bishop, Zack; Cerpa, Candela; Edmonds, Kimberly; Lipsky, Emma; Ramotnik, Sara; West, Tara; Yarborough, Aniya; Spivy, Annette
    Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning (M-NCPPC), which operates under Prince George's County (PGC) Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), is responsible for approximately 194 stormwater management systems (SWM) throughout the county that range in scale, complexity, and type. The management of these assets is currently overseen by the Maintenance and Development Division, however, their staff lacks the expertise and training to repair and maintain these structures. Furthermore, an updated best management practices (BMP) maintenance manual is not available for staff and many existing structures need upgrading to meet current standards. Our team aims to assist M-NCPPC in the maintenance and development of its stormwater management structures. To accomplish this, we completed a literature review of best practices for stormwater management, curated customized checklists, and visited nine of the Department’s stormwater management assets to assess their condition. We also propose recommendations for improvements of existing structures. This section of our research aims to assist M-NCPPC staff in maintaining existing and potential new SWM structures. The Department also seeks consolidate its current SWM assets into standardized categories to make forecasting potential maintenance costs and schedules easier. The Department would like to capture best practices used by similar agencies to create standards and start tracking spending metrics of these best practices and become more effective stewards of taxpayer money. This report includes a comparative literature review of national and international SWM BMPs to consolidate the current 16 SWM categories. Based on our research and on an assessment of the nine sites visited, we were able to identify opportunities for improvement and create maintenance guidelines. We hope this work, along with an assessment by an appropriate specialist, helps M-NCPPC maintain and improve existing structures, and develop new stormwater management structures.
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    Flooding in Patapsco Valley State Park: Recommendations for Signage and Communication Materials
    (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS), 2020) Acuña, Kierstin; Colbert, Jack; Garvey, Christina; Hebner, Briley; Joy, Katie; Plotkin, Jordan; Wilhelm-Glab, Christiana; Boules, Caroline; Miralles-Barboza, Andrea
    Patapsco Valley State Park (PVSP) and its surrounding areas have been subject to increased flooding in recent years. In 2016 and 2018, the area experienced two 1,000-year floods (Halverson, 2018) that significantly damaged the park. Flooding events of this severity and magnitude are expected to be exacerbated in the future due to rapidly increasing impacts from climate change (Denchak, 2019). The park has found it challenging to communicate flood risks to visitors. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which manages PVSP, is concerned that visitors don’t plan ahead when they attend the park, and don’t know the risks involved in hiking through the park, which puts them at a greater risk of harm in the event of a flood. Additionally, many PVSP visitors don’t speak or read English, which creates a significant communication gap between visitors and the park to convey safety messages about flooding. This project aims to determine the most effective language for signage and communication materials to communicate flood risks and what to do if a flood occurs. The group reviewed academic and non-academic literature on the best ways to communicate risk, the best ways to educate youth, strategies used by other parks to communicate risk, as well as information about the Ellicott City area. The research and final deliverables aim to determine the most effective language for signs within PVSP, and the best education and communication materials to distribute to park visitors. The project began with a client meeting to define expectations for the project. We determined three major aspects: creating safety signage, creating educational materials, and creating a video to be shown at the PVSP mobile ranger station. We also discussed the importance of improving communication with Spanish-speaking visitors. Following this meeting, the group researched flood-risk education, risk communication in parks, risk communication with Spanish speakers, and best practices for park signage. A site visit gave the team a better understanding of the client’s expectations. After this visit, the group divided into three teams; the first team was tasked with editing existing park signs, the second team was tasked with developing educational materials, and the third team was tasked with writing a detailed video script for use throughout the park and at the mobile ranger station. Each team conducted additional relevant research. The result was three deliverables: recommendations and mock-ups of effective safety signage, educational pamphlets that inform park visitors about flooding risks, and a script for an educational video on flooding. We hope this work can contribute to DNR’s goal of providing accessible and appropriate flood communication materials for all park visitors.