When compared to nearby forests and natural areas, urban areas have less vegetation and more roadways, parking lots, sidewalks, roof-tops, etc. These impervious surfaces prevent rainfall from soaking into the ground naturally. Instead, rainfall travels quickly over these impervious surfaces, picking up pollutants (automobile oil, brake dust) along the way. This stormwater runoff typically goes untreated directly into local waterways negatively impacting water quality for people, fish and wildlife.
We offer FREE Naturescaping Series & Rain Garden workshops so you can learn how to create low-maintenance, chemical-free landscapes that reduce pollution & stormwater runoff. Naturescaping is the practice of using native plants to create landscapes that conserve water, reduce pollution, and provide healthy habitat for people, fish and wildlife all while saving you time, money and energy. A rain garden is a sunken garden bed that captures runoff from rooftops, driveways and other impervious surfaces on your property and allows rain to soak into the ground naturally instead of running off directly into streams and rivers.
Help us bring our FREE Workshops to Beaumont-Wilshire Neighbors this spring: host a Workshop!
Our workshops are hosted by interested individuals, neighborhood associations, businesses and organizations. By hosting a workshop you bring neighbors, friends and interested citizens the opportunity to learn about rain gardens and naturescaping - for free! Here’s how it works:
- We (EMSWCD) partner with you, the Host to offer a free workshop in your community
- We manage registration and promotion, providing workshop presenters, fliers, and workbooks
- Hosts reserve a workshop location, help get the word out by distributing our workshops fliers, and help with day of workshop needs
We look forward to partnering with you! To learn more, contact Katie Meckes at 503.935.5368 or katie@emswcd.org.