The San Juan Islands Conservation District actively promotes sustainable land use practices.
Our Natural Resource Planner is available for individual site visits to help landowners conserve their natural resources.
Call or email to learn about your soil and water resources, 360.378.6621 or info@sanjuanislandscd.org
A report following the visit will contain information on the soils of your site, an aerial photo, LID fact sheets and site specific information such as vegetation management guides, a raingarden handbook and native plant use. For additional information check the Puget Sound Partnership website: www.psp.wa.gov
Low Impact Development is a stormwater management and land development strategy applied at a small scale that emphasizes conservation and use of on-site natural features integrated with engineered hydrologic controls that mimic existing on-site hydrologic functions. In Western Washington the guide to implementing LID is the Low Impact Development Technical Guidance Manual for Puget Sound (2005), published by the Puget Sound Action Team.
Introduction to LID (PDF 1 MB)
Presentation on LID (PDF 5.3 MB)
LID Technical Guidance Manual.pdf (PDF 5 MB)
Rain Garden Handbook (for Western Washington Homeowners) (PDF 20 MB)
Ten Common LID Practices
1. Rain Gardens and Bioretention
2. Rooftop Gardens
3. Sidewalk Storage
4. Vegetated Swales, Buffers, and Strips; Tree Preservation
5. Roof Leader Disconnection
6. Rain Barrels and Cisterns
7. Permeable Pavers
8. Soil Amendments
9. Impervious Surface Reduction and Disconnection
10. Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping
Low Impact Development approaches save money
Preserving forested or natural areas can save up to $10 per square foot or $435,000 per acre over conventional landscape solutions.
Balancing cut and fill on site can save up to $100 per cubic yard in haul costs.
Using raingardens and bioretention areas can save up to $4,800 per residential lot over conventional engineered solutions (Sherwood Gap Creek, 2000).
Creating narrow streets (24 feet wide) versus wide streets (32 feet wide) can save up to $30 per linear foot in street costs.
The use of on-lot bioretention areas can save up to $4,000 per residential lot over standard stormwater management pond costs (Somerset, MD, 2005).
On-lot bioretention can save up to 75 percent of stormwater fees per residential lot (Kensington Estates, WA, 2001).
Shade trees on the south side of buildings can save up to $47 per tree per year in energy costs (Peper, 2007).
Green roofs can retain more than 75 percent of rainfall annually, reducing downstream stormwater management costs (ASLA Green Roof, 2007)
Recycling construction waste can save tens of thousands of dollars in haul costs, dump fees, and material costs (Stapleton, 2006).
From Sustainable Sites 2009: Low-Impact Development Strategies: Examples of Best Practices for Developers
Innovative LID Techniques
Brochure (PDF 636 KB)
Bioretention Applications (PDF 136 KB)
Conservation Design for Stormwater (PDF 9.7 MB)
Hydrologic Analysis (PDF 2 MB)
Integrated Design (PDF 8.4 MB)
Literature Review (PDF 568 KB)
Permeable Pavements (PDF 68 KB)
Vegetated Roof (PDF 152 KB)
Soil Management Plan
Try to incorporate these Best Management Practices (BMPs) Soil_BMP_Manual
See "Soils for Salmon" for more information
Saving Trees During Construction
How to Save Trees During Construction (PDF 300 KB)
National/Regional Programs
Check out Built Green and LEED for Homes (LEED-H) and Sustainable Sites for helpful guidelines on land development and retrofits.
We also publish articles in 'Project Home' a monthly supplement to the Journal, Islands Sounder and Islands Weekly.
Download past articles as PDF documents from here.