Celebrate Spring with rain gardens and join us at one of our free upcoming workshops!

Spring is here! And many of you are aching to be outside, digging around in the dirt!  We are here to help with free rain garden workshops.

What is a rain garden?

A rain garden is a unique, beautiful landscape feature designed to capture and use rain and snowmelt.

You don’t have to be a master gardener or engineer to make a rain garden, and the numerous economic and environmental benefits will last for years:

• provide habitat for wildlife such as birds and butterflies
• reduce flooding and water damage
• absorb more water than traditional lawns
• recharge ground water
• remove pollutants from storm water

Prairie Rivers Network’s Stacy James will be talking about rain gardens in two upcoming workshops. Participants will leave the workshop with enough knowledge and resources to construct their own rain gardens.

Springfield Rain Garden Workshop

Peoria Rain Garden Workshop

Past workshop as part of the Mahomet Spring Gardening Seminar:

Spring Gardening Seminar*

Traci Barkley and Robert Hirschfeld of Prairie Rivers Network sat down with the Smile Politely Radio team to discuss a number of important issues facing Illinois’ waters. The conversation covered agricultural and landscape runoff, a proposed Central Illinois coal mine, Asian carp, green infrastructure, and the effects of improperly disposed pharmaceuticals and other household chemicals.

Listen to the full podcast here.

Urban areas are dominated by hard surfaces such as streets, roofs, and parking lots. These surfaces allow very little rain and snow to penetrate into the ground underneath, and are therefore called impervious surfaces. Whereas natural land cover absorbs about 90% of precipitation, suburban neighborhoods may only soak up about 70% and downtowns are even worse at 45%. What is not absorbed by the ground flows downhill and becomes stormwater runoff.

Unfortunately, stormwater runoff is not only a nuisance but it can also be unsafe. When there is too much unabsorbed water, our buildings and streets flood to the detriment of our safety and pocketbooks. As water moves downhill, it picks up pollution that is in our streets and yards. Common stormwater pollutants include soil, oil and grease, pesticides, animal feces, and trash. {Continue Reading »}

Rain garden on Hill Street

Prairie Rivers Network completed two more rain gardens in Champaign during September. These rain gardens are part of our Reining in the Rain Campaign, funded by Illinois American Water. Our hope is that these publicly visible rain gardens will inspire neighbors to do more to keep stormwater on their properties and out of streets and streams.  To learn more about rain gardens, see our webpage and brochure.

Washington Street East rain garden

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped out, and homeowners Anna Barnes and Ramona Oswald. We also thank the following partners whose work and support made this project possible: University of Illinois (Gale Fulton), City of Champaign, West Washington Street Watershed Steering Committee, Washington Street East Watershed Steering Committee. And finally, hats off to Steve of Royal FX for making our lives easier by excavating and hauling.

by Stacy James, Water Resources Scientist

Our new Stomwater Management Guidebook informs readers of how to manage stormwater with green infrastructure. Green infrastructure involves the use of soil, vegetation, and cisterns to capture stormwater, instead of the traditional reliance on pipes and other concrete conveyances. The guidebook is specific to Illinois, and explains what green infrastructure is, how it can be used to meet permitting requirements, and where green infrastructure projects can be found across the state. Nine green infrastructure practices are featured, and proper placement, maintenance, and installation costs are discussed for each practice.

View PRN’s Prairie River Notes – Summer 2010 Newsletter (pdf) with the following articles:

• Big Wheels Keep on Rolling – Update on Traveling Science Center
• A Message from our Executive Director
• PRN Annual Dinner – October 29th
• River Steward Nominations
• Helping Champaign Homeowners Manage Stormwater Through Rain Gardens and Rain Barrels
• Illinois Contaminated by Coal Pollution
• How You Can Help Reduce Illinois’ Coal Pollution Problem
• PRN Studying Public Waterway Rights
• Ready to Unveil! Webpages for Watershed Groups
• Thank You Interns and Volunteers