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Officials discuss "Raise the Blade" lawn-care outreach at Chittenden County clean-water meeting
Summary
Karen Bates (DEC) urged simple, repeatable messaging for a 'Raise the Blade' lawn-care campaign and asked whether CCRPC, towns and MS4s will push the outreach; members discussed capacity, local outreach channels and next steps for coordinated messaging.
Karen Bates, of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), led discussion on residential lawn-care outreach and urged use of simple, repeatable messages such as the earlier “Don’t P on your lawn” campaign and the newer “Raise the Blade” approach. She told the Clean Water Advisory Committee the outreach must work at the local level to change homeowner behavior.
The committee discussed how the campaign could reach residents. Dan Albrecht, CCRPC staff, said the need extends beyond regulated MS4 communities and suggested CCRPC could assist with outreach if towns are willing to participate. Merrily Lovell said her town has a poster at the town hall and has hosted a speaker to the selectboard; other members reported similar limited local efforts.
Shelburne representative Chris Robinson said the town has struggled to prioritize the campaign amid other regulatory work and suggested the effort could be organized at the state level if necessary. Bates countered that messaging tends to be most effective when delivered at the lowest organizational level and said CWAC should avoid creating extra work for local staff while ensuring messages do not conflict with local outreach.
Committee members asked staff to map potential outreach steps and to coordinate with existing channels such as selectboards and municipal newsletters. Dan Albrecht offered to do outreach to municipal contacts and to forward suggested outreach methods to towns if members provide them.
The committee did not take a formal vote on adopting or funding the campaign at this meeting. Members agreed to continue conversations about coordinating outreach and tracking effectiveness.
