RAIN GARDENS

The Cedar River Watershed District took the lead on constructing a Rain Garden Demonstration Site at the JC Hormel Nature Center. This Rain Garden site will collect, store and filter the runoff from the parking lot at the Nature Center. Presently the runoff flows into a ravine which then outlets into Dobbins Creek.

What is a Rain Garden? A Rain Garden is a colorful, perennial planting designed to capture and filters rain water that otherwise runoff. It is a garden in a shallow depression. A rain garden holds and filters the runoff for a few hours or a day at the most.

Dan Regner, President of the Watershed District, planned and engineered this project and organized several partners that volunteered their time and equipment.

-Austin Park & Rec - Site Prep work
-Super Fresh – Plants & Plant Selection
-Lee Hanson Excavating - Backhoe and Operator
-Bustad Dozing and Excavating - Skid steer and Operator
-Mower County - Tile, Topsoil and Sand
-City of Austin – Mulch, Leaf Compost, Rock and Rip Rap
-Friends of the Nature Center – Funding for Native Plants
-Board of Managers, Mower SWCD and NRCS, Nature Center Staff- Planting & Mulching Rain Garden

Construction of the rain garden took place in May & June of 2008.

Raingarden 1 Raingarden 1_2
Raingarden 2 Raingarden 2-2
Raingarden 3 Raingarden 3_2