Surfrider DC's David Stemper Memorial Rain Garden
Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Gardens Program has evolved in many interesting and stimulating ways as it has spread out across the country. In Washington, D.C. the local Surfrider chapter sponsored the creation of the David Stemper Memorial Rain Garden in a commercial parking lot that is part of the Anacostia River watershed.
This Ocean Friendly “Sponge” Garden was funded in part by a grant by REI and installed with volunteer labor. While the installation is temporary (awaiting the decision of the developer to begin construction on the property, with proposed commencement one or two years out), the bioswales already have filled in with little grasses and forbes. An echinacea, some other unknown little asteraceae, carex, and juncus have sprung up from the native seed mix used to cover the mounds (formed from the excavation of the swales) and the bioswales themselves.
Surfrider OFG in Washington DC
The entire property sheet drains to one side, and there the swales fill with water, while slowly allowing the rain to percolate back into the ground. The river birch trees (betula nigra) have been planted on the mounds and will be removed and transplanted elsewhere before they become too established.
Julie, Justin and Paul Examine The Bioswales
Sufrider’s OFG Coordinator, Paul Herzog, and G3’s Pamela Berstler were given the grand tour by Julie Lawson, Surfrider DC’s Rain Garden Manager, and Justin Thorn, the licensed landscape architect (recently transplanted to D.C. from California!) and ecological solutions expert Surfrider member who designed the garden.
The “temporary” rain garden or sponge garden (as we call it here at G3) is a great idea for building green infrastructure awareness. By greening small lots and forgotten corners, ordinary citizens come in direct contact with the principles of OFG right in their own neighborhoods. When more comprehensive and permanent green infrastructure programs are then on the slate, the community already has an awareness of the benefits and beauty of these gardens and can more easily provide support for the projects. Now that’s a CAPITAL idea for our nation’s CAPITOL – Green Infrastructure for the masses!
