Posted in stormwater wetlands, tagged children in nature, Exploration Green, native plants, parks, stormwater wetlands, volunteers, water quality, wetlands on July 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Creating a wetland from what looks like a construction site has been a lot of fun. We began with the planting of water lilies, and there were some full-body immersions as we planted in 3’-4’ feet of cool groundwater on a hot day.
Danny indicates the depth where he is planting water lilies. Photo: Jerry Hamby
Posted in children in nature, native plants, stormwater wetlands, tagged children in nature, floating wetlands, Pearland, seedballs, stormwater wetlands on March 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Families enjoy planting the floating wetlands. Photo by Marissa Sipocz
The Pearland Wetland Awareness event was a success! We planted 1200 plants on the 20 floating wetlands, and made about 400 plant balls to set in the deeper water around the islands. We also made thousands of seedballs for future use on the slopes of the site. There were 17 species of native coastal prairie wildflowers and grasses in the seedball mix. Over ninety people joined us on Saturday.
Those were the numbers. Now if you take a look at the photos from the Pearland Parks and Recreation Department’s Facebook page, you will see how enjoyable it was to take part! See Planting the wetlands on Saturday and launching the floating wetlands on the following Tuesday.
These wetlands set the stage for improved wildlife habitat on the site of the future Pearland Nature Center, and demonstrate water quality improvement techniques for stormwater runoff. Stay tuned for Phase 2 of the wetland planting!
Volunteers make “plant balls” to weigh down and protect wetland plants that tolerate deeperconditions. Photos by Marissa Sipocz
These seedballs containing a mix of locally collected prairie species will be scattered on the banks of the pond at a future date. Photo by Marissa Sipocz
Posted in Bay-friendly, children in nature, Galveston Bay, native plants, science, stormwater, stormwater wetlands, tagged children in nature, Clear Creek ISD, Dickinson Bayou, floating wetlands, native plants, schools, stormwater wetlands, students, volunteers on November 5, 2014| 1 Comment »
Two of the many stormwater wetland program events in September and October involved our partners at Clear Creek ISD and the University of Houston Clear Lake’s EIH. I can tell you a little about each one, but photos say it best! Check them out at the Flickr links below.
Replanting the Floating Wetlands
To make up for the damage caused by the nutria invasion last year, we replanted the floating wetlands as an experiment to see which species nutria would avoid. We also planted test plots of these species along the shore, including some species we know they do eat, as experimental controls. Sixty nine students and community members came out to work on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, October 12.
See all the photos and upload your own to the Flickr photo pool.
Habitat Garden Day at Ed White Elementary
Much pruning, planting and raking was done to spruce up the garden after a long summer, and best of all for the stormwater wetland program, plants were collected from the overgrown ponds. The plants are being propagated in the wetland nursery at Exploration Green, and can be reused on school and community wetland projects.
See all the photos and upload your own to the Flickr photo pool.
Thanks to all who showed up to help and made these events fun!
Posted in Bay-friendly, children in nature, Galveston Bay, native plants, runoff pollution, stormwater, stormwater wetlands, tagged children in nature, Dickinson Bayou, floating wetlands, native plants, runoff, stormwater wetlands, texas master naturalist, video, volunteers, water quality, wetlands on April 11, 2014| 1 Comment »
We’ve got a second video on the floating wetlands project, just released by the Communications Department at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.
All our projects should get such great media coverage! Enjoy.
Posted in Bay-friendly, children in nature, Galveston Bay, native plants, runoff pollution, stormwater, stormwater wetlands, wetland restoration, tagged children in nature, Dickinson Bayou, floating wetlands, native plants, runoff, stormwater wetlands, texas master naturalist, video, volunteers, water quality, Wetland Restoration Team on February 10, 2014| 1 Comment »
A video about the floating wetlands project at Clear Creek I.S.D’s Education Village in League City arrived today! See it now.
It shows very well what enthusiasm the students, teachers, and volunteers have for developing a natural environment on campus, especially if it means trying something really new–like floating wetlands. The video was created by Kirk Swann, Janice Scott, and the folks in the CCISD Office of Communications. Thanks ya’ll!
John Jacob
Steven Mikulencak
Charriss York
Watershed Texas 