Our Services
Watershed Planning
Stacy provides expert services in community-wide collaboration to facilitate strategic planning efforts where numerous stakeholders are involved to cultivate partnerships in communities and watersheds to improve living conditions and water quality at the same time. Whether you are looking for someone to take the lead on facilitating a HUC 12 319 (Section 319 of the Clean Water Act) nonpoint source (NPS) nine element (9E) watershed management plan or an addition to the stormwater master plan team in your community, our Founder, Facilitator, and Watershed Planner, Stacy Arnold, will optimize your efforts.
Measures of Success
Stacy is co-facilitating 319 NPS 9E Lower Meramec Hamilton Creek Subwatershed Planning efforts with Open Space STL to build on East-West Gateway Council of Governments foundational framework from previous Lower Meramec Watershed planning efforts. Learn more about this planning project here. Stacy is also the primary author of the current 319 NPS 9E Deer Creek Watershed Management Plan which was accepted by Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in February 2023, which built on Karla Wilson’s foundational framework of the 2011 Deer Creek Watershed Management Plan. There is now only one current EPA accepted 319 NPS 9E Watershed Management Plan in the St. Louis area and only nine in the state of Missouri. View and download the 2023 Deer Creek Watershed Plan as a combined document or by section here. These two HUC 12’s combined cover over 58,500 acres, span across two counties, and encompass all or part of twenty-eight municipalities or communities. Therefore, there is a lot of ground to cover and stakeholders to engage to get this kind of work done, which is Stacy’s specialty as she knows how to connect to people from diverse audiences to collaborate and bring people together!
View Stacy’s 2024 East-West Gateway Council of Governments BMP Summit video interview here.
Photo of Brentwood Wetland Project Site Courtesy of City of Brentwood
Stacy Assessing an Urban Stream’s Health
A Flooded Residential Urban Area
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ (MoDNR’s) Environmental Emergency Response (EER) staff are the department’s front line of defense against hazardous substance releases, natural or man-made disasters and threats to homeland security. You can call MoDNRs’ 24-hour EER Spill Line at (573) 634-2436, or the National Response Center at (800) 424-8802, to report hazardous substances releases. MoDNRs’ spill line provides a single answering point for local and state agencies to request state-level assistance for emergencies, serious accidents or incidents, or for reporting hazardous materials and petroleum spills. Learn more about assistance MoDNR offers here dnr.mo.gov/waste-recycling/investigations-cleanups/environmental-emergency-response.
If you believe you have observed a potentially Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB), please report the bloom through one of the methods below.
Fill out the Harmful Algal Bloom Reporting Form
Call the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Environmental Response Spill Line at (573) 634-2436
Call the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services' Public Health Emergency Hotline at (800) 392-0272
If you or your animals are experiencing any symptoms related to exposure, seek medical attention. Learn more here dnr.mo.gov/reporting/report-algal-bloom.
If you witness a situation that does not pose an immediate threat to public health or the environment, but still may threaten public health or the environment, such as a permit violation, trash dump or discarded waste tires in a stream, you can report your environmental concern either over the phone to the MoDNR regional office in your area or online using MoDNRs’ Report an Environmental Concern or Submit a Question form. An environmental emergency is a situation you observed that you believe poses an immediate threat to public health or the well-being of the environment. Examples of environmental emergencies include:
Oil and chemical leaks or spills
Radiological and biological discharges
Accidents causing releases of pollutants
Hazardous material incidents
Imminent dam failure
If you are involved in or witness an environmental emergency, please call the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Environmental Response Spill Line at (573) 634-2436.
Project Management
Stacy provides expert services to manage complex projects to bring numerous partners around the table to collectively solve problems and secure the funds needed to implement solutions. Pictured right are representatives from partnering organizations, including Stacy, on the 6-acre Brentwood Wetland Arboretum Restoration Project which she currently manages and has been heavily involved with since 2017 to bring this project to fruition. In addition to this project and more, Stacy currently manages the 2-acre Holton Family Wetland Prairie Project in Ladue, where Lotsie and Rick Holton acquired the property adjacent to their home in 2020 to install a prairie wetland project to voluntarily manage stormwater at the entrance to St. Louis Country Club.
Grant Writing and Securing Funds
Stacy has truly mastered the art of grant writing and collaboration. She prepares and manages budgets for a number of multi-million dollar projects and has raised millions in funding from a variety of donors to implement hundreds of projects in Missouri.
Impact Analysis
Stacy provides expert services to assess, improve, and limit human impacts from the built environment to other humans living downhill and downstream and to streams and water resources. From analyzing water quality and stream health, to providing consultations with resources and recommendations for stormwater solutions, Stacy has you covered. With her vast knowledge and experience in water quality monitoring and watershed dynamics, as well as rainscaping solutions, she can provide you with a more informed direction forward and resources available to assist.
New Residential Services
In addition to these services, she is newly adding consultations for new home buyers before buying a home. The current national regulations still allow for building and buying in floodplains. Streams naturally flood and should be allowed the room to do so to avoid big problems for homeowners down the road.
Stacy’s motto is KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY, so you don’t end up buying a big problem with your hard earned money! Please reach out if you plan on purchasing a home and are unsure if it is located in a floodplain. Some of Stacy’s expert tips include:
Choose a community to live in that has a stormwater master plan or is taking the steps to develop one.
Choose a community to live in that has a stormwater committee or erosion control task force as these are communities who take managing stormwater for their residents seriously.
Choose a community to live in that takes care of its residents and streams too. Actions speak louder than words!
DO NOT BUY A HOME IN THE 100-500 YR FLOODPLAIN or any floodplain for that matter!!! With the rise of catastrophic 500+ year flood events, with at least nine in the past five years in the St. Louis area, buying a home too close to a stream will most likely end in that stream running right through your living room or flooding and damaging your home and investment in some way! Don’t let your American dream turn into a nightmare by only trusting the builder and floodplain management of the community you are considering moving into! Contact Stacy to help make an informed decision!
Resources for Stormwater Issues in the St. Louis Area and Statewide throughout Missouri
Like any other part of their property, streamside landowners are responsible for any stormwater related issues or maintenance of the stream running through their property. That’s A LOT of RESPONSIBILITY to take on and you should manage your expectations carefully! In the St. Louis area, neither the municipality nor the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) are responsible for erosion issues or maintenance of creeks. MSD will investigate a suspected water quality problem, spill, or sewage overflow within their service area, as well as a blocked creek or other stormwater related issue if you call the 24-hour Customer Service line at (314) 768-6260. However, MSD will only remove debris that is deemed a flooding threat. The property owner is responsible for removing typical debris and branches to keep the creek clean and clear of obstructions just as you would remove them from other parts of your lawn.
Please call MSD right away if you have an emergency and notice any of the following:
Sewage backs up into your home or building through a floor drain.
You smell sewage outside your home.
A manhole cover is missing or out of place.
Your stormwater inlet is blocked.
The storm sewers along your street need to be cleaned or repaired.
A cave-in or ground settlement develops in your yard or street near a sanitary or storm sewer.
Learn more about assistance MSD offers here msdprojectclear.org/customers/problems-tips/report-issue.
Stacy’s Current Volunteer Services across Missouri include:
Almost 20 years of volunteering with the Missouri Stream Team Program in every capacity listed and beyond to assist individual communities and watersheds as needed!
Volunteering with Stream Teams United on efforts and events hosted by this organization across the state as a former Board member
Providing insight and meeting facilitation skills to assist stakeholders and MoDNR with 319 NPS 9E watershed planning efforts to address water quality impairments in the Peruque Creek and Lake St. Louis Watershed
Engaging with stakeholders and EPA to assist with remediation efforts on superfund sites on Coldwater Creek and the Big River (pictured) in Missouri