The following information is from an email Elaina Brown sent to inform the Red Oak Rain Garden "neighbors" about the upcoming changes to the Red Oak Rain Garden. The full email is attached below.

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There will be some prep work near the garden and Dorner Drive Retention Pond. Vegetation will be treated to remove invasive/non-native species to make way for high-quality native plants.

Starting Sep 13 volunteers will install more than a thousand plants west of the garden. Additionally, F&S Grounds will treat the pond's banks to prepare for prairie/woodland restoration but leave some areas as mowed grass for students to relax and gather in the future as they do now. Finally, at the end of the month, Country Arbors will plant new trees in the area between the garden and McKinley's parking lot.

In time, these new landscapes will provide pollinator habitat, water quality benefits, and serve as a model for future restorations on campus and throughout the state. You can expect that by spring 2022, your experience of walking through this part of campus will be even better than it is now!

Layne Knoche, Red Oak Rain Garden’s designer, worked with F&S Campus Landscape Architect Brent Lewis on the attached plans (see the attached images below).

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