The northern Shenandoah Valley area is experiencing rapid growth and development, with consequent strains on environmental resources. The challenge for citizens, land-use planners, and policy makers alike is to make decisions and policies that will both protect natural resources, making life both possible and attractive in the Valley, while at the same time, accommodating a developing economic base and changing demands for land and water use in urban and urbanizing regions.
The Lord Fairfax Soil & Water Conservation District established an Urban Environmental Issues Committee for the purpose of developing a new educational initiative. This new initiative was designed to take advantage of current software technology to make effective presentations to citizens as well as planning and governing bodies. The project was funded by a grant from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and had two primary objectives. First, five separate issues of water use, policy, and planning were researched and the information compiled into slide presentations by Sympoetica, Inc. of Woodstock, Virginia, using Microsoft Power Point (tm) software. The second grant objective was to present the slide sets to public policy makers throughout the District.
A key feature of the water quality presentations (titled "Changing Our Water Ways") is that they are designed to be flexible and are easily tailored to meet the needs of a particular audience and jurisdiction. Alternative slides with notes to guide the speaker are interchangeable when a program is assembled. Typically, most presentations run a half an hour and require 10 to 15 slides. Thus, each presentation can be customized for maximum effect on the audience.
The District has received a good response to
"Changing Our Water Ways" presentations made to date. Our audiences
have included local government officials, candidates for public office, and
a wide variety of citizens' groups interested in issues of soil and water
conservation. While specific examples in the presentations are
directed to the Lord Fairfax Soil & Water Conservation District, there is an
emphasis on general and background information, making the presentations
adaptable to other districts and areas of the state.
