Register Your Garden

Why is it important to register my garden? 

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, a rain garden infiltrates up to 30% more water into the ground than a conventional lawn (1). This means less runoff reaches nearby storm drains, our rivers become a little cleaner, and less water contributes to flooding events.

Keeping track of how many rain gardens exist in an area is the first step in determining how much of an impact they have on communities as a whole. A 30% reduction in storm water for one home is meaningful, and even more meaningful for multiple homes in a city.  This data may also used in determining whether more green infrastructure must be built to meet state stormwater requirements.

You just finished planting a beautiful rain garden: what do you do next?

Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network‘s Rain Garden Initiative, in partnership with UW-Extension, is focused on helping others build and maintain rain gardens. Since 2008, Root-Pike WIN has funded 88 different rain gardens in Southeastern Wisconsin to both private and public grant applicants. This is a great place to start if you are planning on building a garden, as well as a place to sign up for a workshop or register your garden once it is finished! To visit the site, click HERE.

The H2O Capture program through Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is a great place to go next to calculate the benefits of your green infrastructure project and register it in the same place. To visit the site, click HERE.

Networked Neighborhoods for Eco-Conservation is another organization where you are able to register your rain garden or other Green Practices. You can also view other registered Green Practices in your neighborhood and even create reports on it to help visualize the data. To visit the site, click HERE.

REFERENCES

(1) Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (LINK)