By: Hazel England, Director of Education, Outreach, and Land Stewardship
Neither rose scratches nor 100% humidity and intermittent downpours dampened the enthusiasm of our great volunteer crew earlier this week as they worked in the wet to rejuvenate one of three rain gardens at the MRC – Madison Recreation Complex!
Rain gardens are close to GSWA’s heart because they are a cost effective and wildlife friendly way to manage water from stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces. They allow it to slowly infiltrate and remove impurities before water finds its way to streams and rivers. It is a great example of green infrastructure (GI) biological rather than heavily engineered solutions to stormwater management.
GSWA staff were asked by Kathleen Caccavale, Chair of the Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee, to help identify what should stay and what should go at the three rain gardens collecting parking lot run off at the complex. These rain gardens were installed in 2011, but over time have become less effective as their entrance channels filled with sediment and planted native species were supplemented by a different type of volunteer- invasive plants such as mugwort and multiflora rose. While rain gardens are a great low-cost solution to managing excess run off, they do require periodic maintenance to remain working in tip-top condition.
Partnering with Madison Environmental Commission Green Team members, we solicited volunteers from our database of Madison residents who purchased pollinator friendly plants at our plant sale earlier this year. These volunteers, working alongside experienced weed pullers and longtime and brand new GSWA volunteers, spent several sweat-filled hours to wrest control of the rain garden back from the wild.
We identified the invasives and worked systematically to pull them, roots, and all, from the garden. Invasive bushes and trees such as mulberry and rose were cut out and stumps painted with herbicide to slow their return. Spreading herbaceous plants such as mugwort were pulled at the roots. River rock placed at the juncture between parking lot and rain garden to slow incoming runoff and trap dirt, salt and other non-point source pollutants carried along by the flowing water were also rejuvenated. Rocks were removed, excess soil was dug out and sieved away using an old gardening aid called a riddle. The rocks replaced in their original positions cleared from dirt now allows water to flow into the garden more easily.
While this makeover is not yet complete, the heavy rains this week have already been observed to be flowing away more effectively at the site. We will have another volunteer cleanup at the site on Tuesday, August 24, 5-7:30 PM – call, text, or email Hazel to participate: HazelE@GreatSwamp.org / 908-477-4578.
Thanks to all the volunteers who came out to help!
