The students of the W.E.T. Club noticed that the stormwater
runoff from the band field, road, and newly constructed
school building was creating an increasingly eroding gully
around the band field. Cacapon Institute (CI) worked with
the W.E.T. Club to create a special Rain Garden Leadership
Committee of twelve Potomac Headwaters Leaders of Watersheds
to plan, design, and manage the installation of a rain
garden. |
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The rain garden leaders took measurements and analyzed the
soil in the problem area. |
They decided they wanted to install three rain gardens in
succession of each other to manage runoff. |
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The committee realized that the soil was mostly clay and
would have to be amended with more permeable sand. With the
help of CI, they determined the materials needed to amend
the soil using geometry and additional mathematic
calculations. These students designed the area and picked
the native plants that would do best in the rain gardens
while attracting wildlife. The leaders reached out to the
community to get involved in the project and donate
support. Berkley County businesses donated $500 and
Domino's Pizza donated lunch for the day. The Girl Scout
Council of the Nation’s Capital was also supportive as they
have been in past projects. |
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One of the most dedicated leaders, Victor Faircloth, came
with his dad and both donated their time to prep the area
over spring break. |
They then sculpted three rain gardens with precision and
mixed existing soil, topsoil, compost, and sand to increase
infiltration. |
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The work Victor and his dad did with the Bobcat already
started to manage much of the rainwater before the rest of
the W.E.T. Club even planted the area. |
Victor and his father had several tons of cobblestone
donated and used them to make check dams between rain
gardens to reduce erosion along the interconnecting drainage
ditch. |
The rain garden committee worked hard to prepare for the
April 20th planting day. To keep the day
organized, the committee arrived at 6:30am the morning of
the event. They set out all the materials and prepared for
the remaining 50 volunteers to arrive. Head of Event
Management and Coordination, Robert Hogan, Robert Storm, and
Taylor Hamlin manned the registration table and facilitated
the event as a whole. Club members signed in, received
wrist bands, and were broken into teams. The students and
CI staff gave each club member special instructions on the
day’s activities and continued to educate the other members
about the projects’ importance. This event required
particular oversight because the W.E.T. Club was also
planting 70 trees with WV Chesapeake Bay Forester Herb
Peddicord on the other side of the band field. As Tree
Planting Co-chairs, students Justin Myers and Ervin Barnes
led the planting activity with half of the W.E.T. Club
members. Michael Butts, Austin Quaglio, Scott Clark and
Kayla Greene led over thirty students in the rain garden
project. |
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Austin Quaglio engaged local businesses in the community to
deliver soil and mulch at little or no cost. Top soil was
added to the three rain gardens. |
Each section of the rain garden had a team and a team leader
that sculpted the shape of the garden. They graded each
garden to make a lower area that would temporarily pool
water and a berm in front of each check dam. |
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Kristin Mielcarek of Canaan Valley Institute generously
picked up the plants from Environmental Concern Nursery and
delivered them to Musselman High School. Before being
planted, the plants were placed out in the areas where they
would be planted. The W.E.T. Club had already flagged the
location to plant each species the day before based on shade
tolerance, moisture preference, height, spread, and bloom
time. |
The rain garden committee then led over 30 volunteers in the
planting of over 170 wildflowers and shrubs in the gardens.
Kayla Green (right) led her team in planting the second
section of rain garden. W.E.T. Club students showed great
leadership skills as they led and managed the entire event.
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(Journal photo by Samantha Cronk) Musselman High School
W.E.T. Club leaders were interviewed by local newspaper
reporter Samantha Cronk as they led the planting
activities. They explained in a journal article (link to
http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/578477/Plenty-of-Green.html?nav=5006)
that adding plant life to the school’s rain garden will help
control the standing water that accumulates on the school’s
property. |
Based on assessments of previous projects and deer
monitoring projects the students had executed that year, it
was clear that all native plants need to be protected from
white tailed deer browse and deer rub for there to be any
hope of the plants’ survival. |
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The W.E.T. Club installed welded woven wire fencing around
each section of rain garden as the last of the plants were
mulched. |
The fence was installed and secured to the ground via posts
and rebar with zip ties. Gates were installed to allow
future maintenance. Areas with gaps near the ground were
covered by chicken wire. |
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Cacapon Institute would like to thank Kristin Mielcarek of
the Canaan Valley Institute for assisting in the rain garden
construction. Canaan Valley’s support and Kristin’s
generous plant delivery made the project the large success
that it was. |
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Near the rain garden, a large area of yard had been eroded
from vehicles driving over it. The W.E.T. Club used the turf
removed from the rain garden area to fix this pollution hot
spot. The rest of the bare depression was filled with left
over topsoil and reseeded. The maintenance staff at the
school fenced off the area to prevent further vehicle
traffic. By May 2012, the area was green, growing and more
aesthetically pleasing. This small extra project not only
found a use for the extra soil material and turf, but also
improved the water quality of the Mill Creek watershed.
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After the first large rain, it was clear that the rain
gardens were accepting and managing a large amount of
stormwater runoff. Some routine maintenance will be
required, especially after large storm events. |
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Thanks to the hard work and leadership of the W.E.T. Club,
this three tiered rain garden project was a huge success.
The ever deepening gully near the band field is now a
beautiful stormwater management demonstration project that
will educate students and clean our water for years to come. |