Emerson Drive neighbors help College Creek
By: Laura Millsaps, Ames Tribune 07/18/2008

Emerson Drive neighbors are using native plants and prairie grasses to
manage storm water run-off into College Creek, which runs literally
through the back yards of this west Ames neighborhood.

Their efforts, part of a multi-agency project funded by the Iowa
Department of Natural Resources, were on display at an open house
Thursday afternoon. About 40 people attended, mostly representatives of
city government, Iowa State University, Story County and the Iowa
Department of Natural Resources.

Mimi Wagner, associate professor of landscape architecture at ISU,
thanked the Emerson Drive neighbors for their willing participation in
the project, though none were able to attend the open house.

"I have to thank the homeowners - they had to consent to this. They
didn't know me, and I came with students and started moving dirt."

Bill Ehm, from Iowa Department of Natural Resources Watershed
Improvement, also congratulated the community on the participation level.

"I'm not sure we ever see a 75 percent participation rate," he said.
"The fact you got that level is huge."

The storm water gardens are designed with specially excavated beds and
native plants with long root systems, in order for the soil to absorb as
much rain water as possible. It is entirely different from the
traditional approach of downspouts designed to channel water directly to
storm drains.

These projects tie in to larger stream edge plantings on city property
adjacent to the creek. Trees, shrubs, native grasses and wildflowers
were planted by volunteers, homeowners, ISU students and project staff.
Wagner said the native prairie and flowers were seeded by the Story
County Conservation Board.

The storm water management project is the first phase of rehabilitating
the ailing College Creek, which suffers from collapsing stream beds and
sediment pollution.

The creek has received a $304,335 grant from the Iowa Watershed
Improvement Review Board, and will receive matching funds from the city
of Ames. Iowa State University's Department of Landscape Architecture
will lend technical assistance to that project as well, scheduled to
begin in the fall. That project will reconstruct and stabilize the
stream bed channel of the creek.

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