By John Hazlett
The fall colors are peaking and we’ve rolled up our sleeves to implement unique projects and workshops for the residents of Marion County that benefit Fall Creek, one of our favorite local waterways! This past week saw the completion of our Oaks Academy Rain Garden and Stream Steward Workshop held at Millersville. Read on to learn more about these exciting initiatives.
The Oaks Academy Rain Garden is funded through NuGenesis, a Mooresville, IN based company, via an agreement between the district and Reconnecting to Our Waterways (ROW). The 288 square foot rain garden accepts runoff from the surrounding playground area, and site engineering and City drainage permitting were completed by LandWorx Engineering. Heath Outdoor completed the excavation, grading, and site restoration. The project culminated with planting of the garden with the help of eight volunteers, including Oaks Academy parents, district and ROW staff, local neighborhood residents, and a participant in our recent Rainscaping program. Despite the dry conditions, the volunteers rolled up their sleeves and planted 178 native plugs grown locally at Indy Urban Acres. Species planted included Prairie Dropseed, Palm Sedge, Penstemon, Golden Alexanders, Heath Aster, and Mountain Mint. The district will assist Oaks Academy staff with future maintenance, and this project is a great collaboration of non-traditional partners!
We also recently held the first of four Stream Stewards workshops in partnership with Friends of the White River and funded by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. The workshop was attended by 10 residents and was held in the Millersville stretch of Fall Creek off the Fall Creek Greenway Trail between the E. 56th St and Emerson Way bridges. Topics included stream morphology, erosion control strategies and native and invasive plant identification and the workshop featured a project presentation of the recently completed Millersville Overlook by our local Millersville resident and project partner Matt Benson. Look for three more workshops coming over the next year and make sure to check out our Stream Steward Guide.
