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Cougar Canyon Elementary School 
Rain Garden Project

Hot off the press: 
LAWRENCE AND THE RAIN GARDEN

Read all about the Cougar Canyon Elementary School Rain Garden Project in ...

Published by Cougar Creek Streamkeepers in association with The Nature Trust of British Columbia, Lawrence and the Rain Garden tells all, from the viewpoint of the charming canine rain gardener Lawrence.

This 112-page book for the young and young-at-heart features delightful and informative colour photos of the rain garden project from start to finish -- though as Lawrence says, the story of a garden is never finished, because a garden is always growing and changing.

A great gift for dog lovers, gardeners and budding environmentalists! Available for $20 (plus postage if mailed).

To order, email inielsen@dccnet.com, or telephone 604 596-3967

Background : stormwater runoff woes ... 

As with most urban and suburban creeks, one of the most devastating problems for Cougar Creek is stormwater runoff.

Whenever it rains, a flash flood of stormwater runoff enters the creek via catch basins and culverts (engineering lingo for drains and pipes) -- carrying with it tailpipe toxins, road salt and grit, excess fertilizers and pesticides, garbage, and whatever else can be swept along by flowing water.

Oily runoff enters storm drain and goes directly into Cougar Creek. Here, the stormwater outfall at Nicholson Road -- an erosive torrent of polluted water

The pollutants in stormwater harm fish health, the sediments suffocate spawning gravels where salmon have laid their eggs, and the sheer volume of water can erode streambanks and destabilize trees. [See Salmonid Enhancement Group / Hatchery for more on this.]

By contrast, when it doesn't rain, water levels fall dangerously low and water temperatures become dangerously high, threatening fish survival.

The solution is to get more rainwater infiltrating into the ground, as nature intended, so as to restore a steady seepage of cool, soil-filtered water into the creek. One way to accomplish this is to create "rain gardens" -- sunken gardens that absorb rainwater runoff from hard surfaces such as roofs, driveways, parking lots and streets.

The Rain Garden Project

In 2006, Cougar Creek Streamkeepers, in cooperation with the Corporation of Delta, the Delta School District, and Stream of Dreams, applied for and received a $12,300 grant from the Pacific Salmon Foundation to install a demonstration rain garden at Cougar Canyon Elementary School, 11664 Lyon Road, North Delta, just across the street from the creek. The purpose of the rain garden is to absorb rainwater runoff and snowmelt from the school parking lot, and perhaps eventually from the street as well.

In late summer of 2006, Delta Engineering decommissioned two storm drains in the parking lot, replaced the solid curb with wheel stops, and excavated a sunken garden along the full length of the lot. They then installed drain rock, highly absorbent soils and boulders, and planted a dozen larger trees.

Solid curb and storm drain .... replaced by wheel stops and natural infiltration drainage.

Delta Engineering Operations crew installs a shore pine in the Cougar Canyon Elementary School Rain Garden.

The remaining 600 rain garden shrubs and ground covers were planted by students themselves (Seaquam Secondary's Volunteer Club, plus every one of Cougar Canyon's nearly 500 K-7 students), under the supervision of the Streamkeepers. Lawrence, a well-known and popular canine streamkeeper, served as Project Manager!

Seaquam Volunteers Club members planted nearly 100 shrubs in less than an hour! Note Project Manager Lawrence, in the arms of one of 3 streamkeepers on right

Lawrence with some of his Cougar Canyon Elementary School student crew.

More student rain gardeners, with a streamkeeper.

Now we just wait for rain and sunshine to work their magic on the plants

Stream of Dreams

In conjunction with the rain garden planting, Joan Carne of Stream of Dreams presented her highly informative and entertaining program on watershed health and stormwater management, to every class at Cougar Canyon Elementary. Thanks to Joan's efforts, students are well-informed, enthusiastic and also respectful of the new rain garden. (For example, several neighbours have commented on the remarkable absence of litter from the garden.)

Multi-tasking student pets Lawrence while learning about watersheds from Joan Carne.

Off to a good start ...

Shortly after the garden was installed, heavy rains and winds arrived, followed by heavy snow. We're happy to report that the rain garden performed perfectly, absorbing virtually all of the rainwater and snowmelt. Grit, salt and other pollutants from the parking lot have been filtered out by the garden, whereas before they would have gone down the drain and directly into the creek. As plants mature, the rain garden should perform even better, so we're excited about the future of the project.

Rain garden under blanket of snow, December 2006.

Rain garden traps sand, salt, automobile oil residues, and garbage from a mountain 
of melting snow in the school parking lot.

Interested in creating your own rain garden?

Rain gardens are a simple and effective tool that homeowners, businesses, schools and religious institutions can use to reduce the volume and improve the quality of stormwater runoff from their own properties. They are also very economical for taxpayers, compared with installing culverts (pipes) large enough to handle our increasingly extreme rain events.

While the environmental benefit of a single rain garden is negligible, the combined benefits of many such gardens could make the difference between salmon survival and salmon extinction in Cougar Creek -- not to mention that rain gardens can also provide added beauty and songbird habitat in our neighbourhoods.

Example of a rain garden in North Delta, which you can read more about in A Tale of Three Ditches, a Microsoft Word document, 912kb.

North Delta residents should contact Delta Engineering to find out if your property, boulevard or ditch is suitable for creating your own rain garden. Contact us for free advice on techniques and plants to suit everyone from purple thumbs to master gardeners. 

There are many styles of rain garden:

Cutaway curb allows parking lot runoff to flow into sunken plantings

Websites with rain garden information 

For more information about rain gardens, see

Brooklyn Botanic Garden article
http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/design/2004sp_raingardens1.html

CMHC pamphlet - Rain gardens : improve stormwater management in your yard 
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/maho/la/la_005.cfm

Rain Gardens of West Michigan
http://www.raingardens.org

Seattle Public Utilities - Natural Drainage Systems:
Street Edge Alternatives / Broadview Green Grid / Pinehurst Green Grid
http://www.seattle.gov/util/About_SPU/Drainage_&
_Sewer_System/Natural_Drainage_Systems/index.asp

Soils for Salmon
http://www.soilsforsalmon.org/

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