PROGRAM
Susan McCrary speaking about MSD’s Project Clear
Susan McCrary, Principal Engineer Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, presented MSD’s Project Clear, a stormwater management project that involves the creation of rain gardens and related features. The project’s goal is to manage stormwater as close as possible to its source. Sixteen members and two guests attended the presentation at The Heights community center of Richmond Heights.
Brian Hall summarized the Project Clear program in this blog post.
Some examples of neighborhood scale retention projects that have been installed on vacant parcels of land in the city of St. Louis include:
- Clinton Street rain garden in Old North
- Geraldine Avenue rain garden in Mark Twain
- Beacon Avenue rain garden in Walnut Park East
- North Vandeventer rain garden in JeffVanderLou
- North Sarah Street rain garden in The Ville
- Preliminary results are that these projects retain 95% of rainfall.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Sugar Creek Gardens – April 11
Betty Struckhoff will give an informal talk at Sugar Creek Gardens in Kirkwood on April 9. She asked for volunteers for April 11 from 10am to noon to help customers with native plant selections.
St. Louis Earth Day Festival in Forest Park – April 26
Seedling wrapping – April 25
Fran Glass circulated volunteer sign-up sheets to staff our educational booth at the Festival and for wrapping MDC seedlings to give away.
Spring Wildflower Market at Shaw Nature Reserve – May 9 and 10
A sign-up sheet for volunteers to help set-up, staff, and take down our native plant sale booth at the Spring Wildflower Market was circulated.
St. Louis Native Plant Garden Tour – June 20
Our chapter is partnering with St. Louis Audubon’s Bring Conservation Home program to sponsor a self-guided tour featuring ten residential native plant gardens. All of the yards are in central St. Louis County including Brentwood, Clayton, Glendale, Kirkwood and Webster Groves, and are certified by the Bring Conservation Home program.
Date: June 20, 2015 9am to 3pm
Cost: $20 per person. Register at www.stlouisaudubon.org/NPT
Two shifts of two volunteers at each site will help during the tour. Amy Redfield circulated a sign-up sheet for volunteers.
Chapter Board Meeting Report – Ed Schmidt
Ed announced that the chapter board has approved:
- $1,000 donation to the newly formed Southwest Illinois Chapter
- $1,200 donation to Shaw Nature Reserve’s Native Plant School
On October 17, the Native Plant School will host a “10 years of greener gardens” anniversary celebration in the Whitmire Garden. Alan Branhagan will be the keynote speaker. Wild Ones has been invited to host an activity booth.
Next meeting
March 11, 2015, 7 pm at The Heights community center of Richmond Heights
Speaker: Kim Young of Forrest Keeling Nursery
For directions, see our online calendar.
Recorded by: Fran Glass, Secretary
