The UI Extension and F&S Grounds have agreed upon a Memo of Understanding (MOU) for the maintenance and care of the Red Oak Rain Garden. An unsigned copy is attached here, and it will be routed for signature.
The ECIMN Advisory Board meets on the third Monday of the month from 3-5 pm. Karen Folk and Eliana Brown will present the Red Oak Rain Garden as a requested site for approval as an official volunteer location for the Master Naturalists. Once Board approval is granted, Maddy Kangas will work to complete the MOU with F&S, similar to the Idea Garden agreement.
The effort could be set up in three phases: 1. Assessment 2. Renovation 3. Maintenance.
The Allen Hall Board of Activities (AHBOA) has interest in volunteering for this project. They would like to potentially help fund a new info sign since the one that was there is gone.
"I walk by that rain garden almost every day and have been picking up trash, etc. It would be great if we could get the original plan from Dr. Tony Endress that shows what was planted. From my observations, the rocks need replenished, possibly removal of fabric underlayment, and, if we had the plan, we could do a census of surviving plants. The Native Plant sale is coming up in May and if we had a plan by then, we could buy and plant replacements. I am willing to monitor when students aren't available and work with them in whatever capacity they are anticipating.
Karen Folk"
Students at Allen Hall volunteered to help with maintenance of the Red Oak Rain Garden. They offered to take pictures of the existing garden, to document its current condition.
Community member, Karen Folk, inquired about the potential to establish the Red Oak Rain Garden as an official volunteer location for the Master Naturalists and Master Gardeners to help maintain. Eliana Brown, currently a Water Resources Outreach Specialist, asked Superintendent of Grounds, Ryan Welch. Ryan indicated that he would be willing to approve the volunteer program, and the first step is to define a Memo of Understanding (MOU) describing the volunteer work to be done. He said, "I am agreeable to this, as long as the work is done strictly by volunteers and there is a MOU for the maintenance responsibilities between F&S and the Master Gardeners."
The major goal of this report is to quantify and qualify the impacts of Campus Red Oak Rain Garden project from University of Illinois on various metrics, including environmental, economic and educational contexts and to make suggestions for plan implementations of future projects. However, due to limited quantitative information, suggested impacts analysis is primarily based on literature reviews.
Rain, rain, come this way
The campus’s first rain garden, the Red Oak Rain Garden, southwest of Allen Hall, was dedicated April 19. The rain garden collects storm water, directing it away from sidewalks into a garden planted with native plants that soak up the water and improve the quality of groundwater. Students designed and installed the sculptures and the garden, which is a Building a Lasting University Environment (BLUE) project funded by Facilities and Services in conjunction with the Environmental Council.
