The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) encourages the use of green infrastructure to manage stormwater discharges. While local codes, stormwater utilities, and other innovative financing mechanisms often create standards and incentives for green infrastructure, regulatory drivers such as permits can also provide an effective foundation for consistent implementation of green infrastructure at the local, state, or cross-jurisdictional level. This compendium presents a variety of existing permitting approaches that encourage or require green infrastructure in municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s); it also provides excerpts from current state and EPA MS4 permits and examples of how MS4 permittees implement green infrastructure permit requirements. These excerpts and examples can serve as a road map for permitting authorities and permittees that are interested in incorporating green infrastructure into permitting programs or identifying successful strategies to maintain compliance. To develop this compendium, EPA reviewed final individual and general National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) MS4 permits issued through August 2021.
This compendium is part of a series of compendia of MS4 permit excerpts and is intended to serve as a snapshot of permit provisions. As permits are reissued or revised, EPA may update this compendium to include more recent examples and new information. EPA also welcomes input on this compendium and expects to update it as appropriate based on the comments received. EPA notes that the inclusion of any particular permit example should not be read as an endorsement of the entire approach taken in that permit, nor should it be read as EPA’s independent determination that the permit terms meet the Phase I and/or Phase II MS4 requirements.
In addition, this document does not impose any legally binding requirements on EPA, states, or the regulated community and does not confer legal rights or impose legal obligations upon any member of the public. EPA made every attempt to ensure the accuracy of the examples included in this document. In the event of a conflict or inconsistency between this compendium and any statute, regulation, or permit, it is the statute, regulation, or permit that governs, not this compendium. For more information about the NDPES Stormwater Program, visit www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater.
Jurisdiction Size: Small
Urban Tree Canopy Assessment Toolkit
Within our cities and towns, the trees that line our streets, fill our parks and
shade our streams provide people and nature with a multitude of benefits—
seen and unseen. These trees help clean the water flowing into streams, rivers
and Puget Sound, help purify the air we breathe, cool our neighborhoods—and
so much more.
AS THE PUGET SOUND
REGION’S cities and towns
experience increasing growth,
identifying opportunities to
invest in high-impact tree
planting and preservation
based on local priorities is a
fundamental step to ensuring
people will continue to
receive the myriad benefits
trees provide.
Urban tree canopy
assessments are foundational
to understand the amount
and distribution of tree
canopy cover in a community
to set goals and targets
to strategically increase
canopy cover and prioritize
protection of existing tree
canopy. However, our cities
often lack the resources
to support urban tree
canopy assessments as
well as efforts to expand,
manage and protect urban
tree canopy based on the
priorities of their individual
communities.
With these challenges in mind,
a coalition was formed with the
following goals:
1. Create a regional highresolution urban tree canopy
assessment based on best
available science to prioritize
urban tree canopy projects
that achieve the highest
return on investment.
2. Pilot urban forest carbon
credit projects to tap new
sources of funding.
Funding from the USDA Forest
Service Urban and Community
Forestry Program, administered
through the State of Washington
Department of Natural Resources
supported collaboration across The
Nature Conservancy, Davey Tree
Expert Company, American Forests,
and City Forest Credits in developing
a suite of resources to deliver on
these goals.
The outcome is the Urban Tree
Canopy Model. The model provides
Central Puget Sound municipalities,
organizations and tree advocates
with the data and tools to prioritize
tree planting and preservation that
supports multiple benefits: reduced
stormwater pollution, improved air
quality, captured carbon, expanded
habitat, health and well-being, and
social equity. Carbon financing
resources supplement the model as
a new form of funding to support
implementation.
Now, practitioners in the region and
beyond can access these resources
and engage with the partners
behind the effort. The Urban Tree
Canopy Assessment Toolkit provides
guidance and resources to get
started.
Arbor Day Foundation Tree Enforcement Ordinance Examples
Without enforcement, even the most robust tree ordinance can become mere guidelines. Clear penalties, site inspections, stop-work authority, and a defined process for addressing infractions all help motivate compliance and deter violations. The key is to scale enforcement mechanisms to match your community’s available staff and resources. The three levels of sample language and examples below demonstrate how enforcement language can be scaled up, depending on resource availability.
Raingarden Handbook for Western Washington
This handbook will guide you
through the following stages:
plan, build, plant, and
maintain. The handbook is
written for conditions specific to
western Washington, including
appropriate plant selections
and sizing recommendations
based on regional soils and
rainfall patterns.
