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CA and Wilde Lake High School partner to build a rain garden
The Columbia Association, along with the University of Maryland Sea Grant Extension Service (UMSGES), has formed a partnership with the Wilde Lake High School (WLHS) Environmental Club to design and create a rain garden behind WLHS. A rain garden is a garden in a small, shallow bowl that is designed to catch water runoff and infiltrate it into the ground.
When the club expressed interested in starting this project, Maryland State Delegate Liz Bobo put the club’s leaders in touch with John McCoy, CA’s watershed manager, and Amanda Rockler, the regional watershed restoration specialist for the UMSGES. The project was funded through a grant from the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays 2010 Trust Fund, which is also being used for demonstration rain gardens at the Columbia Athletic Club and Kahler Hall, a bioretention facility at the Athletic Club and rain gardens in Wilde Lake.
At the beginning of the project, McCoy and Rockler worked with the students to develop a design plan for the rain garden. Once the design was finalized, Susheela Varma, WLHS science teacher and the leader of the environmental club, contacted the Board of Education for approval and arranged for the Dorsey Hall Garden Club to help with the maintenance of the garden during the summer when the students are out of school. Students and volunteers constructed the garden on Saturday, November 19.
If you have any questions about this rain garden project or any of CA’s other watershed projects, visit ColumbiaWatershed.org or contact John McCoy at John.McCoy@ColumbiaAssociation.com.
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