Washington Conservation Corps Rain Garden and the Rain Garden Mentor Program

In November 2011, the WCC contacted WSU Beach Watchers to arrange a tour of the downtown Port Townsend Rain Gardens.  They were investigating the idea of installing a rain garden as a Martin Luther King Holiday project and wanted to know more. 

When it rains, water rushes over roads and parking lots, roofs and sidewalks creating torrents rushing downhill and into Puget Sound. As the water runs over these surfaces, it picks up and carries with it a toxic mix of PCBs, copper (from brake linings and bottom paint), zinc, bacteria and more ------ a lethal cocktail for the marine life dwelling in the Sound.  75% of the toxins entering Puget Sound come from polluted stormwater runoff, not cargo ships or factories.

These invisible toxins accumulate in the tissue of fish, shellfish, seals, whales – throughout the food chain.  Polluted stormwater is the #1 cause of pollution in Puget Sound!

Rain Gardens are one tool in a host of Low Impact Development (LID) techniques.  Rain Gardens handle both the volume of stormwater and treat the pollution.  They can add beauty to the urban environment as well.

A Rain Garden acts just like a wetland or pond – trapping water then slowly allowing it to infiltrate into the soil.  The soil breaks down excess nutrients, harmful chemicals and heavy metals.

The WCC Port Hadlock crew set themselves to finding a site for their rain garden.  They wanted it to be in a location that would capture stormwater and be easily accessible for educational purposes.  After considering several sites, the crew chose to install their rain garden at the Chimacum Schools.  Look for it when you are in the area.

WSU Beach Watchers are expanding their efforts of Rain Garden Education to include a Rain Garden Mentors Program.  Mentors are trained to help community members:
* select the right location:  you need to test your soil (similar to the perk test for septic) to determine the best location.  Some places, such as right next to your house or on a bluff are not good. 
* design the garden:  size the garden correctly for the amount of runoff you are treating.
* learn the steps of installing the garden:  excavate 18”-30” of soil, create an entry for the water and an overflow area, level the bottom, add new soil mix  (soil mix is very important)
* build a plant list:  select plants that can tolerate wet to drier conditions.
* learn how to maintain your garden.

WSU has set a goal of 12,000 Rain Gardens by 2016 in Washington State– this would filter 160 million gallons of polluted runoff each year.  Rain Gardens can be a cost effective and efficient way to deal with polluted stormwater run-off.  If you would like to be a Rain Garden Mentor, contact the Extension office.

Rain Garden Tours

WSU Jefferson County Beach Watchers are offering informative tours of Rain Gardens in downtown Port Townsend. Here we are, offering our first tour. Beach Watcher Matt Berberich is guiding the tour. In the picture above he's showing the traditional way stormwater is treated. Down the drain and untreated - into the water in the background.

And here is the new way! The Rain Garden is in front of the Maritime Center -- capturing and treating stormwater from the street - before it goes into the bay in the background.

Stormwater runoff is the leading source of toxins in Puget Sound. The main sources of these toxic chemicals are the everyday activities of people using pesticides, fertilizing lawns and gardens, and operating vehicles on our roadways. The tours feature the newly installed Rain Gardens in downtown Port Townsend Rain Gardens are a very important element in Low Impact Development. WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center is conducting extensive research on Rain Gardens. For more information click here.

Interpretive signs, funded by the Jefferson County Master Gardener Foundation, have been installed in four rain gardens on Upper Sims Way and downtown. They provide an excellent opportunity to see how Rain Gardens function in different environments and with different varieties of plants.

The tours last about 30 minutes and we walk about 2 blocks during that time. Tours are limited to 15 people. Please call or email today 360/379-5610 x230 or darcym@wsu.edu for more information or to schedule a tour.

Thanks to the WSU Master Gardener Foundation, the Jefferson Marine Resources Committee and the City of Port Townsend for their support for this project. Also thanks to Stewardship Partners (www.StewardshipPartners.org) for the great signs.

LID (and fish) in Puyallup

A wonderful mix of people from Jefferson County piled in to vans and cars and headed south to visit to the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center in October. The group of over 30 included WSU Beach Watchers and Master Gardeners, WSU staff, County & City staff, Marine Resources Committee members, Shore Stewards and staff from the Jefferson Conservation District.

We went to Puyallup to learn about Low Impact Development (LID). LID is a word used to describe a new way to manage stormwater using landscaping, engineering methods, and new products that mimic nature to treat and control runoff. Stormwater runoff is the main source of pollutants in Puget Sound.

The city of Puyallup, in partnership with WSU, was awarded a $1 million grant to retrofit the WSU Puyallup campus with LID structures and then monitor their performance. The structures include porous pavements, rain gardens, and rain water harvesting systems. Scientists plan to study the effectiveness of the structures and answer questions such as what how to best maintain previous pavement, which pollutants plants take up, and which soils work best to filter stormwater.

Before touring the LID developments, Dr. John Stark, Director of the Puyallup campus and the keynote speaker at our WSU Watershed Day last year, took us to the Salmon Lab on campus. Dr. Stark told us that pesticides, even in the very, very small concentrations found in stormwater, can harm fish. Furthermore, some chemicals, when combined with others can become even more potent. Research in the Salmon Lab has revealed that fish can lose their sense of smell after exposure to very low concentrations of common herbicides. They need their sense of smell, not only to find their way to their home stream, but also to avoid predation. When attacked by a predator, fish emit a pheromone that warns other fish. Fish in the area smell the pheromone and drop to the bottom of the stream to avoid being eaten. Dr. Stark and his team have proven that fish exposed to certain common chemicals do not react to the pheromones, making them easy targets for predators. Yikes!

Okay, so now that we knew why treating stormwater is important, the next step was a tour of the LID projects from WSU's own Curtis Hinmann. Sixteen raingardens all in a row - that is what we saw. Each identical in size and each bristling with monitoring equipment. They are all slightly different with different soils and plants in each.

There are huge tubs of various soils being tested separately and a giant vat that will allow scientists to “dose” the different plots with concoctions.

Then there is the parking lot with several types of concrete and asphalt along with monitoring equipment to test each parking stall. Curtis tells us that nobody has tested LID products in real time with real cars in the real world. Ground breaking stuff!

So bottom line what did we learn?

+ Use natural products around our gardens and homes

+ If using chemicals, read and follow the directions (it's the law!)

+ Make sure nothing but rain goes down the storm drains.

And we learned that we should stay tuned to find out what WSU researchers learn over the coming years. Many thanks to John and Curtis for the tour. Keep up the great work!

Want to learn more? http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/stormwater/