Thursday, September 9, 2010

Three Bioswales in Three Communities

In 2008-09, a group of local citizens in The Ford Family Foundation's Ford Institute for Community Building leadership program chose as their "class project" to build three demonstration bioswales in three communities in North Curry County on Oregon's scenic south coast: Langlois, Port Orford, and Gold Beach.

The group scouted for spots, researched, designed and engineered the swales, consulted with experts, figured out what native plants would work, raised money, and organized fellow citizens and students to help with planting in the fall of 2009.

Now, the bioswales provide attractive gardens in our public spaces. They also serve the purpose of filtering runoff from parking lots and helping others to learn how best to manage stormwater runoff.

Click on links above to check out our three bioswales, and check out posts on the right to learn how you can build rain gardens and bioswales in your own yard or community.