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1 2016 City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot Summary Report Add logos Madison Area Municipal Stormwater Partnership (MAMSWaP) June 2017 ---PAGE BREAK--- 2 Introduction Leaves left in the street are a known source of phosphorus to area waters in urban environments with mature terrace trees. When it rains, water runs through fallen leaves creating a “leaf tea” rich in phosphorus. This “leaf tea” flows through storm sewers into local waters and can cause algae blooms, deplete oxygen levels and reduce water clarity. Outreach efforts such as the “Love Your Lakes and Rivers, Don’t Leaf Them” campaign have helped raise awareness around the issue asking residents to keep leaves out of the streets to protect Dane Co. waters. The City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot aims to build off the success of the Love Your Lakes and Rivers, Don’t Leaf Them campaign and other community-focused social marketing studies such as the Clean Lakes Alliance (CLA) DeForest Leaf-free Street Pilot and the Lake Wingra/City of Madison Leaf Pilot to keep leaves out of the street. The Madison Area Municipal Stormwater Partnership (MAMSWaP) partnered with the City of Middleton and Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy (FOPB) on this pilot. The goal of the City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot was to enlist the help of residents to remove leaves from streets in front of their home prior to a predicted rain event. The pilot study took place between October 1st and November 30th, 2016 and included two test sites and one control site within the City of Middleton. Residents living within the test area were mailed information about the pilot requesting their participation in September 2016. Interested residents returned a commitment card pledging to remove leaves from the curb and street in front of their home before the rain. Electronic (text or email) rain event alerts were issued to pilot participants 1-2 days prior to a rain event prompting participants to remove street leaves. FOPB volunteers conducted pre and post storm observational surveys in both the pilot test and control areas to track leaf removal efforts. Following the pilot period, questionnaire surveys were mailed to participants in the pilot test area and to all residents within the control area to further evaluate actions taken during the pilot and predict future actions as a result of the pilot. Location MAMSWaP considered several urban locations within the MAMSWaP boundaries for this pilot and ultimately made a decision based on the how well the potential site met the following criteria: presence of large terrace trees, existing leaf management efforts, and the ability to partner with an active local group. The City of Middleton was selected because they met all the criteria and had a very willing and eager partner, the Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy. Methods Recruitment Methods Recruitment A two pronged approach was used to recruit pilot participants. A mailing was sent in mid-September 2016 to each of the 95 residences located in the Elmwood and Hubbard Test Sites followed by door to door visits from Friends of Pheasant The pilot area included two test sites and one control site (Figure Test site 1 (Elmwood) was located on Elmwood Ave from Middleton St. to Park Street. Test site 2 (Hubbard) was located on Hubbard Ave. from Middleton St. to Park Street and the control site was located on Hubbard Street from Park Street to S. Gateway St. The pilot area included a total of 153 residences, 48 within the Elmwood Test Site, 47 within the Hubbard Test Site and 58 within in the control site. Figure 1- Pilot Area ---PAGE BREAK--- 3 Branch volunteers in late-September. The mailing contained an informational letter from the City of Middleton describing the pilot, a Frequently Asked Questions flyer, a pre-stamped commitment postcard and a coupon for a free cookie from Hubbard Street Diner. See Appendix A for samples of the mailing. The goal was to get as many residents as possible to complete and return the commitment postcard. By completing and returning the postcard residents pledged to remove leaves from the curb and street in front of their home after receiving rain event action alerts from October 1st through November 30th. FOPB volunteers made door to door visits to each of the residences to answer any remaining questions and encourage residents to participate in the pilot. In the event that residents weren’t home or didn’t answer, volunteers left door bags with a copy of the flyer and commitment card. As a result of the mailings and visits, 37 of the 95 residents (39%) contacted pledged to participate in the pilot. All pilot participants were contacted via email or phone with additional instructions, thanking them for their pledge and asking whether they’d prefer to receive rain event alerts via text or email. 54% of participants opted for email alerts and 46% opted to receive text alerts. Participants were also given the option to post a sign in the terrace in front of their home after alerts were issued to serve as a reminder for neighbors to remove leaves and/or report back after leaves were removed using an online “Adopt-A-Street” tool. Only 10 residents requested signs and of the 18 participants who signed up to use the Adopt-A-Street reporting tool, on average only seven used it. Rain Event Notifications During the pilot period, October 1st- November 30th, weather forecasts were monitored daily to determine when to issue rain event alerts. Weather for Middleton, Wisconsin was checked using the National Weather Service Hourly Weather Forecast web site http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=43.0972&lon=- between 7 and 9AM. If the 48-hour forecast predicted a 50% chance or greater of at least a ¼ inch of rain a rain event alert was issued to pilot participants. Whenever possible, alerts were issued 2 days in advance of a rain event to give residents ample time to remove leaves from the street. See Appendix B for samples of text and email rain event alerts. Observational Surveys FOPB volunteers conducted pre and post-observational leaf surveys before and after rain events to track the amount of street leaves in front of each home in both the test and control areas. The observational surveys served as an evaluation tool to help determine if participants were taking action and removing leaves after receiving rain event alerts. In an effort to accurately measure street leaf loads before and after the rain, volunteers tried to conduct pre-surveys as soon after a rain event alerts was issued as possible before residents took action. Similarly, post-surveys were completed as soon after the rain as possible. The pilot coordinator also coordinated city leaf pick-ups with the City of Middleton streets department to ensure that leaves were not pick-up between the time when an alert was issued and the predicted rain event. To estimate the amount of street leaves volunteers compared the quantity of leaves observed in front of each home within the two test areas and control area with a leaf photo index (Figure Depending on the amount of leaves observed in the street, volunteers assigned each home a value of 0-5 which correlated to the photo index categories. Leaf survey values were recorded on a spreadsheet before and after each rain event for every home in the test and control areas. ---PAGE BREAK--- 4 Figure 2. Leaf Photo Index Categories. The leaf photo index was developed as part of A Quick Guide to Surveying the Quantity of Leaves in the Street by Roger Bannermann. The guide was modified for this pilot, but the photo index remained same. See Appendix C for copy of the City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot Guide to Surveying Quantity of Leaves in the Street. All volunteers were trained on survey methods prior to conducting surveys. In an effort to ensure volunteers were consistent in how they surveyed leaf loads, two or more volunteers surveyed the same street in early October and compared leaf load ratings. Category 0 1 lb. Category 1 = 5 lbs. Category 2 = 14 lbs. Category 3 = 26 lbs. Category 4 = 35 lbs. Category 5 = 50 lbs. ---PAGE BREAK--- 5 Results Observational Surveys 37 residents (39%) within the test area returned commitment cards pledging to participate in the pilot. 19 participants live on Elmwood Ave./Middleton St. in Test Site 1 and 18 live on Hubbard Ave. in Test Site 2. During the pilot period seven rain event alerts were issued to participants prompting them to remove leaves from the street (Table FOPB conducted pre and post-surveys for five of the seven rain events. October 13th post-surveys were used to estimate pre- survey leaf loads for the Oct. 15th rain event due to short time between rainfalls and no surveys were completed during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Table 1. Summary of Rain Event Alerts, Rain Events, Observational Surveys and Leaf Collection Dates. As noted in Table 1 the City of Middleton streets department did not pick up leaves between the time when a rain alert was issued until after post-surveys were completed. This allowed volunteers to accurately measure the amount of leaves in front of homes on the streets before and after the rain event helping to determine if residents removed street leaves during that time. Volunteers were each assigned an area to survey (Test Site 1- Elmwood, Test Site 2- Hubbard and the Hubbard Control Site) for the duration of the pilot. Whenever possible the same volunteer conducted all surveys in their assigned area; however there were occasions when volunteers were unable to conduct surveys for their designated area and other trained volunteers filled in. Survey results did not reveal a significant difference in the amount of post-storm street leaves observed in front of homes belonging to the participant group and the non-participant group within the test area (Figures 3 and Similarly, it was difficult to identify a significant difference in the reduction of street leaves between the pre and post storm surveys when comparing the participant group to the non-participant group. Volunteers did see evidence of residents removing leaves after rain even alerts were issued. They reported observing residents out raking leaves from the streets while conducting pre-storm surveys and saw small piles of leaves on terraces. Normally, larger leaf piles were present if yards were raked onto the terrace for pick up. Volunteers also reported that street leaves blew easily and likely moved between the 2-3 day period when pre and post-storm surveys were completed often piling up at storm drain inlets Alert Sent Date Rain Event Date Pre-survey Date Post-survey Date City Leaf Collection Date 10/4 - 8:31 AM 10/6 10/4-Hubbard 10/4-Elmwood 10/4-Control 10/7-Hubbard 10/6- Elmwood 10/7-Control NONE 10/10 - 10:45 AM 10/12 10/11-Hubbard 10/10- Elmwood 10/11-Control 10/13-Hubbard 10/13- Elmwood 10/13-Control 10/10 8AM 10/14 - 10:16 AM 10/15 No survey used 10/13 data 10/16-Hubbard 10/16- Elmwood 10/16-Control 10/17 8AM 10/23 – 8:27 AM 10/25-27 10/24-Hubbard 10/23-Elmwood 10/24-Control 10/27-Hubbard 10/27-Elmwood 10/27-Control 10/28 8AM 10/31 – 8:12 AM 11/2 11/1-Hubbard 10/31-Elmwood 10/31-Control 11/3- Hubbard 11/3-Elmwood 11/3-Control 11/4 8AM 11/21 – 7:10 AM 11/22-23 None None NONE-Thanksgiving 11/26 – 4:07 PM 11/27-28 11/27-Hubbard 11/27-Elmwood 11/27-Control 11/29-Hubbard 11/28-Elmwood 11/28-Control 11/30 8AM ---PAGE BREAK--- 6 following the rain. It’s likely some pilot participants removed leaves from the streets beyond their property boundaries and other non-participants may have occasionally removed street leaves even though they didn’t officially sign up for the pilot. These factors made it difficult to accurately measure changes in street leaf loads from one home to the next. A comparison of post-storm street leaves between the test area and the control area as a whole told a different story (Figure The percentage of homes with a 0 post-storm leaf rating (none or very few leaves present) is about 25% higher in the test area where about 40% of residents actively participated in the pilot compared to the control area. Similarly, the test area has a lower percentage of 1, 2, and 3 post-storm leaf ratings than the control area indicating less leaves were present in the streets overall in the test area. Mean street leaf ratings for each rain event were also lower in the test area compared with the control area (Figure 6) suggesting that residents in the test area were actively removing street leaves. Volunteers did not record any 4 or 5 leaf ratings likely due to the fact that there was a dry period between mid and late November when a significant amount of leaves fell, but no alerts were issued or observational surveys completed . Complete pre and post-storm observational survey results for pilot and control area are available in Appendix D. Participant Survey All pilot participants in the test area (37) were mailed a 15 question survey (Appendix F) in December 2016 following the completion of the pilot on November 30th. 24 (65%) of pilot participants completed and returned the online or paper 76% 18% 5% 0% 67% 27% 7% 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 0 1 2 3 % of homes with 0-3 rating Street Leaves Rating (0-3) Elmwood Participants Elmwood Non- Participants 76% 16% 7% 1% 76% 17% 5% 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 0 1 2 3 % of homes with 0-3 rating Street Leaves Rating (0-3) Hubbard Participants Hubbard Non- Participants 76% 17% 6% 0% 71% 24% 6% 0% 48% 29% 16% 7% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 0 1 2 3 % of homes with 0-3 rating Street Leaves Rating (0-3) All Hubbard- Pilot All Elmwood- Pilot Control 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mean leaf rating Rain event (Oct 7-Nov 28, 2016) Hubbard pilot Elmwood pilot Control Figure 3. Comparison of post-storm street leaves- Elmwood Ave Pilot Area (Oct. 6th- Nov. 29th) Figure 4. Comparison of post-storm street leaves- Hubbard Ave Pilot Area (Oct. 6th- Nov. 29th) Figure 5. Comparison of post-storm street leaves- Pilot vs. Control Areas (Oct. 6th- Nov. 29th) Figure 6. Mean street leaf rating by rain event ---PAGE BREAK--- 7 (15) version of the survey. The purpose of the survey was to measure past and future actions taken by participants, motivators and barriers to street leaf removal and overall thoughts about the pilot experience. Highlights from the survey are presented in the figures below (Figures 7-14). See Appendix E for a copy of the participant survey mailing and complete survey results. 57% 4% 8% 31% Improve quality of water into lakes/streams Reduce street flooding Keep streets clean Like to help projects that benefit my community 30% 9% 39% 22% Yes, better understanding of pilot after they visited and signed up as a result Yes, it served as a reminder to sign up. No, I had already returned the card No, I was already planning on signing up regardless of their visit. 26% 48% 17% 9% Never Sometimes Most of the time All the time 0% 4% 33% 50% 13% none 1 or 2 3 or 4 5 or 6 all 7 0% 37% 63% Not useful somewhat useful very useful 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% too much time leaves blow back into street parked cars physically unable more leaves fall to quickly to keep up Percent 1-no problem 2- little bit 3-problem some times 4- most of the time 5-huge problem Figure 7. Participant Survey Question 3 What was the main reason you signed up to participate in pilot? Figure 8. Participant Survey Question 4 Did the Friends of Pheasant Branch play a role in your decision to sign up for the pilot? Figure 9. Participant Survey Question 5 Before the pilot, did your actively remove leaves from your street in the fall? Figure 10. Participant Survey Question 8 For how many of the rain events for which action alerts were issues did you attempt to remove leaves from the street? Figure 11. Participant Survey Question 9 How useful were the rain event alerts in helping you to take action and remove leaves from the streets? Figure 12. Participant Survey Question 11 Barriers to removing leaves prior to a rain event ---PAGE BREAK--- 8 Control Survey Residents (56) in the control area were mailed an 11 question survey in December 2016. 20 (36%) of residents in the control area completed and returned the online or paper (18) version of the survey. The control survey was used to determine baseline knowledge on the impacts of leaves on water quality, identify current actions residents may be taking and compare future leaf management efforts between pilot participants and those not involved in the pilot. Highlights from the survey are presented in the figures below (Figures 15-19). See Appendix F for a copy of the control survey mailing and complete survey results. 4% 44% 52% Not Likely Somewhat Likely Very Likely 26% 17% 57% Not Likely Somewhat Likely Very Likely 35% 30% 15% 20% Never Sometimes Most of the time All the time 35% 65% Yes No Figure 13. Participant Survey Question 13 How likely are you to continue to remove leaves from the street before a rain event next fall? Figure 14. Participant Survey Question 14 How likely are you to sign up to continue to receive rain event alerts, if given the opportunity? Figure 15. Control Survey Question 4 Did you actively remove leaves from the street this fall? Figure 16. Control Survey Question 5 Before receiving this mailing did you know street leaves were a main source of phosphorus from the urban environment to our waters? ---PAGE BREAK--- 9 Observations and Conclusions 1. Targeted mailings coupled with door to door visits by local environmental or neighborhood groups appear to be effective in engaging residents in street leaf removal efforts. 2. Rain event alerts can serve as useful tool to engage residents in street leaf removal efforts. 3. Engaging residents in a pilot project is an effective approach to getting residents to continue leaf removal efforts. 4. Residents become frustrated when terrace leaves are not picked up often enough and grass under piles dies. 5. Areas with heavy street parking make it difficult for city crews to pick up leaves in a timely manner causing residents who do remove street leaves to get discouraged. 6. Leaves often blow around and are washed down the street by the rain making it difficult to accurately quantify changes in volume of street leaves in front of specific homes before and after a rain event. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Request from city to clear street leaves email alerts belief your actions protect waters belief that actions are helping to reduce street flooding personal request from neighbors neighbors raking leaves out of street desire to keep streets clean belief that you are helping your community data showing connection between leaves and phos to waters yard sign reminders Percent Motivators 1-Not at all 2 - A little 3-Some 4- More 5-A lot 34% 33% 33% Not likely Somewhat likely Very likely 42% 26% 32% Not likely Somewhat likely Very likely Figure 17. Control Survey Question 8-Motivators to remove leaves from streets next fall Figure 18. Control Survey Question 9- After learning about this pilot and the impact leaves in the street during a rain event can have on our waters, how likely are you to remove leaves from the street before a rain event next fall? Figure 19. Control Survey Question 10 Given the opportunity how likely would you be to sign up to receive rain event action alerts reminding you when to remove street leaves next fall? ---PAGE BREAK--- 10 Recommendations 1. Partner with a local environmental or neighborhood group on outreach efforts aimed at getting residents to remove street leaves before the rain. 2. Clearly communicate the impact street leaves can have on surface waters and provide data as part of outreach efforts. 3. Create an automated county-wide rain event alert tool residents can sign up for to remind them when to remove leaves from the streets. 4. Focus resident street leaf removal efforts in densely populated urban areas with large deciduous terrace trees. 5. Consider more frequent municipal leaf pick-ups in areas where resident leaf removal campaigns are targeted as an incentive for participation. 6. Partner with municipalities to create alternate side parking plans in areas where street parking is common to allow time for municipal street crews to pick up leaf piles on terrace in a timely manner. 7. Consider options to recognize residents who are actively removing street leaves in a way that is visible to neighbors. Thank you to the City of Middleton and the Friends of Pheasant Branch volunteers for all their help with this pilot project. For more information on the City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot contact Christal Campbell, Dane County Land and Water Resources Dept./Madison Area Municipal Stormwater Partnership [EMAIL REDACTED], (608) 224-3746. ---PAGE BREAK--- 11 Appendix A- Pilot Mailing Informational Letter ---PAGE BREAK--- 12 Frequently Asked Questions Flyer ---PAGE BREAK--- 13 Commitment Postcard ---PAGE BREAK--- 14 Appendix B- Rain Event Alerts Sample Text Alert Sample Email Alert ---PAGE BREAK--- 15 Appendix C – City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot Guide to Surveying Quantity of Leaves in Street A Quick Guide to Surveying the Quantity of Leaves in the Street City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot Background Rain water running through leaves in our streets is an important source of phosphorus to our lakes. Phosphorus leached from leaves in the fall can contribute as much as 60 percent of the annual phosphorus load from our cities residential areas. Keeping the leaves out of the streets in the fall has the potential of helping our cities meet their phosphorus reduction goals. An important step in earning credit for selected leaf management programs is to demonstrate their ability to reduce the phosphorus loads from the streets in the fall. Purpose The purpose of surveying the quantity of leaves in the streets is to compare the ability of different leaf management programs to keep the leaves out of the streets in the fall. Approach The survey is based on a visual survey of the amount of leaves in the street in front of each house. A separate calibration process has divided the amount of leaves in the street into six categories. Each category represents a different weight of leaves ranging from zero pounds to over 40 pounds. For example, a category 2 curb and street just has leaves filling the curb and none in the street (Appendix The person doing the survey has to select the appropriate category based on the inspection of the amount of leaves in the curb and street. A post-rain street survey should be conducted as soon as possible after an actionable rain event takes place from October 1st through November 30th. If possible, a pre-rain street survey should be conducted on the same date as an action alert is issued to residents in the study area. Field Methods A spread sheet has been prepared with a line for each house number and a column for entering the category for each house (Appendix The spread sheet should be saved on a laptop for use during surveys. One person fills out the spread sheet as another person slowly drives a car up and down each side of the street. A separate column is available for each survey date. It is not expected that there is perfect category for every amount of leaves observed in front of a house. The person filling out the spread sheet will have to make his or her best judgement using the photographs provided in Appendix 1. Appendix 1 Category 0 = < 1 lb. Category 1 = 5lbs. ---PAGE BREAK--- 16 Category 2 = 14 lbs. Category 3 = 26 lbs. Category 4 = 35 lbs. Category 5 = 50 lbs. Appendix 2 City of Middleton Leaf Pilot Survey Sheet Address Event 1 (DATE) Pre-Storm Survey- Leaf Load (0-5) Event 1 (DATE) Post-Storm Survey- Leaf Load (0-5) ---PAGE BREAK--- 17 Appendix D- Pre and Post-Storm Observational Leaf Survey Results ---PAGE BREAK--- 18 ---PAGE BREAK--- 19 ---PAGE BREAK--- 20 ---PAGE BREAK--- 21 ---PAGE BREAK--- 22 ---PAGE BREAK--- 23 Appendix E- Participant Survey Mailing and Results ---PAGE BREAK--- 24 City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot- Participant Follow-up Survey Please complete the survey and return it to the City of Middleton using the stamped envelope provided. Thank you again for your time. 1. Gender: (circle) Female Male 2. Age: (circle) <30 31-50 51-69 70+ 3. What was the main reason you signed up to participate in the City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot? Fill in one circle. o I wanted to improve the quality of the water entering our lakes and streams. o I wanted to reduce street flooding. o I wanted to keep the streets clean. o I like to help with projects that benefit my community. Other: 4. Did the visit by the Friends of Pheasant Branch Creek or packet of information they dropped off play a role in your decision to return your postcard and sign up to participate in the leaf pilot? Fill in one circle. o Yes, I had a better understanding of the pilot after their visit and signed up as a result. o Yes, It served as a reminder to sign up. o No, I had already returned by commitment postcard to sign up. o No. I was already planning on signing up regardless of their visit. Comment: 5. Before participating in the Neighborhood Leaf Pilot did you actively remove leaves from your streets in the fall? Fill in one circle. o Never o Sometimes o Most of the time o All the time Comment: 6. Did you opt for email or text rain event alerts? (circle) email text Comment: ---PAGE BREAK--- 25 7. Did you or the person whose email/cell phone number you provided on the commitment postcard receive an email or text alert for each of the seven rain event alerts issued between Oct. 1st and Nov. 30th? Fill in one circle. o I didn’t receive any alerts. o I received 1-2 alerts. o I received 3-4 alerts. o I received 5-6 alerts. o I received all 7 alerts. Comment: 8. Rain event action alerts were issued seven times (10/4, 10/10, 10/14, 10/23, 10/31, 11/21, and 11/26) over the course of the pilot period between Oct. 1st and Nov. 30th. For how many of the events were you or someone else able to remove leaves from the streets between when the alert was issues and prior to the rain falling? Fill in one circle o I didn’t remove leaves from the street in front of my home after receiving any of the rain event alerts. o I attempted to remove leaves from the street in front of my home before 1-2 of the rain events I received action alerts for. o I attempted to remove leaves from the street in front of my home before 3-4 of the rain events I received action alerts for. o I attempted to remove leaves from the street in front of my home before 5-6 of the rain events I received action alerts for. o I attempted to remove leaves from the street in front of my home before ALL 7 of the rain events I received action alerts for. Comment: 9. How useful were the rain event action alerts in helping you to take action and remove leaves from the streets before a rain event? (circle) Not useful at all Somewhat useful Very useful Comment: 10. Were the yard signs placed (photo below) in the pilot area helpful reminders to remove leaves from the street before the rain? (circle) Yes No Comment: ---PAGE BREAK--- 26 11. Please review the list of barriers below and indicate to what extent (1-no problem.....5-huge problem) they impacted your ability to remove leaves from the street prior to a rain event. Fill in one circle per barrier listed. 1-No problem 2 3-problem some 4 5-huge problem of the time Takes too much time Leaves blow back into street after clearing them Parked cars in the way Physically unable to remove leaves from the street More leaves fall quickly after removing them to keep up Comment: 12. What did you do with the leaves after you removed them from the street? Fill in one circle for primary method used. o Placed them neatly in piles on the grass terrace between the sidewalk and street. o Placed the leaves on my driveway in a pile. o Used leaves as mulch on my property. o Composted the leaves. o Hauled them to a yard waste or municipal collection site. o I did not remove leaves from the street. o Other: 13. How likely are you to continue to remove leaves before a rain event next fall? (circle) Not Likely Somewhat Likely Very Likely Comment: 14. If given the opportunity, how likely are you to sign up to continue to receive rain event action alerts reminding you when to remove street leaves next fall? (circle) Not Likely Somewhat Likely Very Likely Comment: 15. Suggestions on how we might increase participation in future efforts to make neighborhood streets and storm drains leaf-free before rain events. Thank you! ---PAGE BREAK--- 27 ---PAGE BREAK--- 28 ---PAGE BREAK--- 29 Appendix G – Control Survey Mailing and Results ---PAGE BREAK--- 30 City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot- Control Area Survey Please complete the survey and return it to the City of Middleton using the stamped envelope provided. Thank you again for your time. 1. Gender: (circle) Female Male 2. Age: (circle) <30 31-50 51-69 70+ 3. Please indicate what you currently do to manage leaves that fall on your property. Select all that apply. o I don't do anything with the leaves on my property. o I rake them and pile them on the terrace between the street and sidewalk. o I rake them and place them on the driveway. o I rake them and place them in the street. o I compost my leaves. o I mow over my leaves. o I collect my leaves and take them off site. o I have a service provider collect them and take them off site. o Other: 4. Did you actively remove leaves from your street in front of your home this past fall? Select one answer. o Never o Sometimes (Please indicate how often in the comment section) o Most of the time (Please indicate how often in the comment section) o All the time (Please indicate how often in the comment section) Comment: 5. Before receiving this mailing did you know that street leaves were a main source of phosphorus from the urban environment to area waters? Yes No Comment: 6. Were you aware of the City of Middleton Neighborhood Leaf Pilot study prior to receiving this mailing? If yes, please explain how you heard about it in the comments section. (circle) Yes No Comment: 7. Did you notice yard signs placed in the terrace in front of some homes within the pilot area? (circle) Yes No Comment: ---PAGE BREAK--- 31 8. Please indicate how much each of the following factors might motivate you to remove leaves from the street before a rain event next fall. 1-Not at all 2 3-Some 4 5-A lot Request from city to clear street leaves. Email or text alerts reminding you when a storm is coming. Belief that your actions are helping to protect our lakes and streams. Belief that your actions are helping to reduce street flooding. Personal request from neighbors. Neighbors removing leaves from the street. Desire to keep streets clean and tidy. Belief that your efforts area helping your community. Data showing connection between street leaves and phosphorus to our waters. Yard signs reminding you when rain is coming and to take action. Comment: 9. After learning about this pilot and impact leaves left on the street during a rain event can have on our waters, how likely are you to remove leaves from the street before a rain event next fall? (circle) Not Likely Somewhat Likely Very Likely Comment: 10. If given the opportunity, how likely would you be to sign up to receive rain event action alerts (text or email) reminding you when to remove street leaves next fall? (circle) Not Likely Somewhat Likely Very Likely Comment: 11. Please offer suggestions on how we might encourage residents to remove leaves from streets and storm drains before rain events to reduced phosphorus to our waters. OPTIONAL: If you’d like to receive a copy of the final report via email please provide your email address below Email Thank you! ---PAGE BREAK--- 32 ---PAGE BREAK--- 33