The purpose of this guide

The Oregon Rain Garden Guide was written to help Oregonians learn how to design and build rain gardens to treat the stormwater runoff from their own homes or businesses. Rain gardens are “gardens with a purpose”; they help reduce the amount of excess water and associated pollutants reaching local lakes, streams, and bays. Ultimately this results in healthier waterways, fish, other wildlife, and people.

This how-to guide provides information specific to Oregon’s conditions, including the rainfall and appropriate plants for your site. You don’t have to be a stormwater, garden, or landscape professional to use this guide. It provides the necessary information to safely build and maintain a rain garden, along with references for more detailed guidance for special conditions. You may also contact the authors and partners directly for more information.

What is a rain garden?

For the 2008 and 2009 field seasons, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and the Lake Tahoe Basin fire chiefs have agreed to make some changes to Best Management Practices (BMPs) recommendations to make it easier for homeowners to implement effective defensible space practices. These are described in the “Living With Fire—A Guide for the Homeowner, Lake Tahoe Basin” (Second Edition). Please make note of the following changes to specific pages in the “Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe and Vicinity,” University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE) publication EB 06-01.

Defensible Space Zones

The area from 0 – 5 feet from structures should be a noncombustible zone. In this zone, you should remove flammable shrubs and trees, dead branches and dried grass, flowers and weeds. Do not use pine needles, bark or wood mulches in this zone. This zone includes both the drip lines and gable ends of structures. It can be covered with gravel, rock, brick, concrete, or low-growing, irrigated herbaceous plants such as lawn, erosion control grasses, clover, forbs and succulents. Firewood, flammable construction materials and dead plant materials should be removed from this zone. Do not cross this zone with wood landscape timbers or boards.

What is Water-efficient Landscaping?

Water, many agree, is our most precious natural resource; without it, life ceases. Yet judging by our water use and consumption practices, many of us in the United States seem to take it for granted. A typical household uses approximately 260 gallons of water per day. “Water conscious” individuals often install high-efficiency shower heads and toilets and wash only full loads of clothes and dishes to reduce consumption. But in the summer, the amount of water used outdoors by a household can exceed the amount used for all other purposes in the entire year. This is especially true in hot, dry climates.

Tractor Safety Training Guide

Suggested Materials

• Tractor Safety (English, MF2708 and Spanish, MF2708S)
• Sign-in sheet
• Pencils
• Instructor Guide
• Training overheads/slides/projector
• Blank overheads/flipchart/blackboard/pen for listing participant responses and outlining important concepts.
• Tractors and implements for hands-on exercises
• Ear plugs and other protective equipment for hands-on exercises
• Toy tractors and implements for visual aids
• Temporary traffic control devices for hands-on exercises

….

Prepare for Safe Operation

Questioning
What is the company policy for recording pre-operation equipment checks?

Visual Aid
Display the overhead “What’s Wrong with This Picture?” on page 21 of the Instructor Guide. Have participants identify and discuss all safety problems they see. Check participants’ observations from the overhead with the answer key on page 22 of the Instructor Guide.

Discussion
Discuss the company’s safety belt and hearing protection policy. What are some barriers that keep other workers from wear safety belts? Hearing protection? How can these barriers be removed?