Built Green of Clallam County has a message: An ounce of prevention versus a pound of mitigation can balance environmental integrity with development.

Its members are sharing their experiences and expertise in the fields of sustainable building and harvesting during a full-day seminar Feb. 4.

"The idea is planning ahead and doing things right up front and avoiding some of the heartache and costs of doing mitigation work after the project is complete," said Built Green coordinator Susan Chadd.

"We’ve got a really great lineup for this workshop and the goal is to really connect the private industry with government to discuss permitting information on land development."

Built Green is an organization dedicated to encouraging sustainable development practices and has been networking developers, agricultural landowners, equipment operators, septic designers and foresters for years.

The seminar aims to clarify current and pending permitting information on land development and to explore

nonregulatory strategies that encourage careful, environmentally sensitive site planning and practices in urbanizing areas.

Speakers and topics include government employees discussing county code enforcement and land development regulations and requirements and those from private industry, giving their take on good development practices.

"Elliott Menashe, our keynote speaker, has specialized in low-impact forest and riparian management, reducing adverse effect of rural development and the restoration of degraded sites for 30 years," Chadd said.

"We really think this will be an opportunity to discuss roadblocks and recommendations for working together to achieve effective development practices and stormwater management as well."

Chadd said sustainable development can be as simple as allowing nature to take care of itself around a development.

"The less you disturb things, the more you will avoid mitigation methods and costs later on," she said. "If we work together, we can make it cheaper and more effective for everyone to build responsibly."

Built Green is hosting the workshop in cooperation with Clallam County, Clallam Conservation District, city of Sequim, city of Port Angeles, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and has been made possible through a grant from the Washington Department of Ecology.

More information on Built Green of Clallam County is available on its Web site, www.npba.info/built%20green.html, which should be getting a new face in the coming weeks.

Reach Evan McLean at

emclean@sequimgazette.com