Playing in ‘wild places’ is vital for children

Well-meaning safety concerns — as well as TV and video games — are keeping kids sedentary, indoors and away from the places their parents recall as the highlights of their own childhoods. But that may also restrict their appreciation, familiarity and enjoyment of natural environments, say University of Guelph landscape architecture researchers.

Prof. Nate Perkins, of the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, believes wild places – hedgerows, woodlots and streams, to name a few — develop children’s imaginations in ways that structured and programmed play areas never can.

“I understand why parents may be afraid of the risks occurring outside of the home. But what they don’t recognize is that wild places can have many health benefits for their children,” he said.

Perkins and former graduate student Sarah McCans are looking into how wild places can be preserved for children’s play. They’re also taking a closer look at the availability of wild places, how many children use these spaces and ways to increase parents’ awareness of the benefits such places may hold for their children.

Perkins thinks the concerns he’s heard about wild places should be put in perspective. For example, he’s found that the No. 1 safety hazard in North American schools is actually the asphalt around schools. But natural areas in communities continue to decline because of safety concerns, while asphalt remains.

Surfaces aside, Perkins believes unstructured outdoor play is crucial to a child’s physical, psychological and social development. In particular, he says the outdoors can provide inspiration for more creative thinking. Children from rural and suburban areas, who generally spend more time outdoors, have more highly developed imaginations.

“Kids know more about rainforest ecology in Brazil than what’s going on in their own backyards,” said Perkins. “They have more environmental knowledge, but they don’t experience nearby nature and consequently they may not have the deep personal connections to the natural world that their parents may have.”


  What they saw in the puddle--bubbles sailing across frothy pollen

See this related post.

From a press release, Prof. Nate Perkins, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, (519) 824-4120, Ext. 58758, perkins@uoguelph.ca, Dec. 7, 2004

Rain garden critters 2--How do they survive between rains?

If you were to examine a little wet soil from your rain garden, and put a drop on a microscope slide, you'd probably see a lot of rotifers.  Barely bigger than amoebas, they still consist of many cells.

Rotifers...  Males are "degenerate*"--how cool is that?

art by Elizabeth Buchsbaum

They vary in shape from ones attached to the bottom that look like flowers, to fat forms that float near the surface.  But all have what looks like a rotating wheel for a mouth.

What's interesting is how these aquatic creatures survive the dry spells between rains...

"Some rotifers can withstand drying" better than most microscopic critters.  "In this almost completely dried state they may live for years.  As soon as moisture appears, they swim about and feed actively.  Because of this capacity to resist drought, rotifers can live in places that are only termporarily wet, such as roof gutters, cemetery urns, rock crevices, among moss, and" in rain gardens.

"When the water evaporates, the animal contracts to a minimum volume and loses most of its water content.  Somtimes the animal itself dies but its contained eggs survive until moisture returns."

So, whether it's wet or dry, they are always ready to help break down the pollutants that wash into your garden.
                
* Degenerate means smaller and more simplified.  Why am I reminded of Homer Simpson?

Quotes from Animals Without Backbones, by Ralph Buchsbaum, 1948.

Childhood memories of our stream--by Craig Miller

Dear Mayor Cieslewicz,

Where did you like to play when you were a boy?

If you had the choice between a dirt access road and a mysterious forest with a tiny creek where you could float little boats you had made, I’m sure you would have chosen the latter. I know, because that’s where I played with my friends as a boy.

Known as “the ditch” by kids in the 1960s, today it is referred to as the Hillcrest-Upland Greenway. I was lucky enough to grow up in a house next to those wild woods. For me and my sisters and our friends from the Sunset, Westmoreland, and Hoyt neighborhoods, it was a magical realm. We played up and down its length, hopping on stepping-stones, peering into the mysterious tunnel that ran under Owen Drive, looking for bugs and toads and anything else we could find. We floated twigs, leaves, and those little boats we had made down the creek that flowed after even a short rain.

Adults may have enjoyed having patios and decks that overlooked it, but we didn’t care about that. We went down into the ditch. It fed our imaginations and, even as adults, our dreams. It was the only bit of wilderness that we knew of at that young age. And it was literally in our backyard, there for any kid who wanted to play. Not play a videogame, not play with the latest plastic toys from the mall, not play at an arranged “play date.” Just play.

One of my strongest childhood memories is of building a little red boat with my father. Together we chiseled it and sanded it and painted it red. I floated it down the creek and it got away, floating through the grate at Midvale Boulevard. I cried a long time over that boat, learning a small lesson about life and loss. I know as an adult I wouldn’t have that precious memory if neighborhood planners had done then what they’re considering now and filling in the creek bed.

My mother still lives in the house on Hillcrest I grew up in. Last summer, I took my own little daughters down into the ditch for a look around. They had heard plenty of stories about it. Back home in Minneapolis, I helped a few other parents create a rain garden at my oldest girl’s school. If we’re going to preach “save the environment” to our children, we have to be ready to walk that talk.

So for the kids that used to live near the ditch, the kids that live there now, and the kids who will live there some day, please let this little slice of wild space remain.

With hope,  Craig Miller, Minneapolis

Under the "hood" of your rain garden

If you are reading this blog, you probably know about the advantages of rain gardens:

• They absorb the runoff from your roof, sidewalk, or street.
• They recharge the soil and the groundwater.  The soil acts like a giant sponge to store and slowly recharge our lakes and streams.
• Rain gardens filter the dirty runoff.

A filter just traps things; in the case of storm water, we're talking about sediment and pollutants. But rain gardens and the soil below them are much more than filters.  So let's peep below your garden, to see what's going on.

The soil harbors millions of organisms per cubic inch.  Not only bacteria, but fungi, larger microbes like amoebas, and multicellular critters--like earthworms, insects, millipedes, centipedes, mites, spiders, and all kinds of creepy-crawlies.  No doubt you're familiar with these larger inhabitants of the soil--the ones you can see.

But in the size range smaller than visible, yet much bigger than the microbes, is a whole world of animals.  Legions of wiggling things, rooting between the tiny grains of soil.  All these, from the worms to the microbes, are eating, breaking down, and metabolizing the pollutants that sink into your rain garden.  If one critter won't eat that oil from the street, or that antifreeze, the next one will.  

At great cost to taxpayers, the sewage plant tries to recreate what's going on in the rain garden, in order to digest your sewage.  But your rain garden does it without a pipe, does it locally, and for no cost.

In a rain storm, when pollutants wash off our streets and down the storm sewer, they head straight to the lakes.  Once there, bacteria and algae try to break them down.  But it's harder to do in the lakes.  There isn't as much oxygen, and there aren't as many critters as in your rain garden .  So the lakes start to stink, and who wants to swim where pollutants are being digested?  Better to let your rain garden do it.

It used to be that most of our water pollution came from big pipes--sewage plants or factories discharging into our lakes and streams.  Once we cleaned those pipes up, it came as a surprise that our waterways were still going downhill.  The culprit turned out to be "nonpoint source pollution."  This is shorthand for pollution from a myriad of tiny sources-- your dog... your auto... your lawn.  Most of these tiny sources are spilling onto pavement, and rain gardens can trap and purify those pollutants.

There are a myriad of sources of pollution, so we need a myriad of rain gardens.  Sure, you can pick up after your dog, and use less fertilizer.  All excellent ideas.  But the rain garden is the final trap for the nasty little things that slip by our defenses.  

All those ravenous little monsters in your rain garden are just waiting for their next meal.

Friends of Hillcrest-Upland Greenway

"I'm a friend of the greenway... 'cause if you kill the stream, where can I play? And what will happen to the mud... and to the animals--if it's all concrete?"

.

In these days of tight budgets and understaffed agencies, it helps for citizens to form groups. It gives legitimacy to their voice, and officials know who to consult and where to find volunteer help. Nowadays, nearly every park of any size across the country has a "Friends of XX Park." Recently a friends group formed for the greenway, and last week held an open house to meet neighbors and show the greenway.

Kathleen McElroy and neighbors helped start the group, and now Mary Norton is Acting Coordinator (233-3860). The group is gearing up for a public meeting on the greenway, with a date to be announced. They have a facebook page:

Issue that triggered the group
The City proposed to tear up the greenspace, cut into a stand of 300 old-growth trees, replace the sewer pipes, bury the stream in a pipe, level the area with fill, and top it all with a maintenance road. Neighbors have rallied against this threat to the wildlife, leafy ravine, and natural sounds of bird and stream. Deer, fox, possums, and 28 species of bird have been sighted in the area, including a red-tailed hawk that hunts here. While there are many values to the greenway, the rare urban stream is seen as the centerpiece. They say: "Our quality of life, tucked as we are into this quiet woods with it's intermittent water flow, will be immensely altered by this project."

What the friends group wants:

• Retain the dense stand of trees
• Stabilize & repair the sanitary sewer
• Stop the erosion
• Retain the open stream
• Minimize construction damage to our property/easements
• Retain privacy & safety along a now largely inaccessible pathway
• No road through the greenway

How you can help

• Write a letter, especially to Alder Chris Schmidt & Mayor Cieslewicz
• Attend the public hearing--date to be announced
• Spread the word
• Make a "Save the Greenway" sign for your yard
• Join the Facebook page and follow this blog
• Install rain gardens and rain barrels in your yard
• Pledge to help with future maintenance of the greenway

Dave Cieslewicz, Office of the Mayor, City of Madison, Madison, WI 53703, 266-4611, mayor@cityofmadison.com
Alderman Chris Schmidt, 4210 Odana Road, Madison, WI 53711, district11@cityofmadison.com

"I'm a friend of the greenway. Why? Since they buried Willow Creek, I have to drink stale beer at the Union. And every time I cross Park Street on my way there, my tail gets shorter!"

Photo Copyright 2009 by Ambience Photography

"I'm a friend of the greenway. I commute along the greenway--and if they bury the stream, I'll have to take the bus!"

Read more about the menace of hitchhiking animals!

Which bank reinforcement for our stream?

I've looked into several kinds of bank reinforcement for our stream. Reinforcement is needed to stop erosion that could damage the sewer, threaten landscaping in the ravine or nearby properties, and pollute the lakes. Below I've listed several kinds of bank reinforcement--my first impressions, and certainly not the last word on the subject:

Riprap
A loose jumble of large stones. While riprap is commonly used in Madison because it's inexpensive, it has numerous disadvantages:

• Not aesthetic--looks very disordered
• Not entirely permanent--stones can shift or wash downstream
• Too thick for vegetation to grow through
• Bulky for use in tight places
• Dangerous for children--who can trip or twist ankles

This riprap along the SW Bikeway is an eyesore

Poured-in-place concrete

More costly than riprap, and commonly used in Madison. It can be very permanent, but under some circumstances can shift or crack from freeze-thaw, or from water pressure behind it.

Poured concrete looks like a gutter.

Articulated concrete blocks

Some blocks can be laid by hand, and remain in place because they have interlocking parts. Other systems use blocks linked into large mats by cables. I don't know whether they make small mats, but large mats are laid by cranes--out of the question here. Articulated blocks are inexpensive, and resist cracking and shifting. Some blocks have holes through which vegetation can grow. In photos like this one, usually the vegetation looks ratty.

Natural stone with masonry

Tim Kessenich, owner of a property through which the stream flows, has used this technique. It looks beautiful, but requires some maintenance--for example, when a growing root causes a block to shift. Obviously the labor involved makes this an expensive option. But I think we should get an estimate.

Root wads

A technique recently employed along Pheasant Branch Creek in Middleton (Wis. State J. 8/9/09). The masses of tangled roots from a dead tree are salvaged and moved to the bank that needs reinforcement. I'll investigate this--but it looks bulky and not very aesthetic--and you need a source of roots nearby.

Existing trees

There are a few trees in the ravine growing in the stream bed or very close to it. Trees are nature's way of controlling erosion. So why not leave them, and combine them with other kinds of bank protection? Trees could be damaged during construction, and will eventually die, requiring the gaps to be filled. But leaving them for now could save some construction and landscaping costs.

Which method is best?
In choosing, we have to consider:

• Cost
• Future maintenance of stream bed and sewer
• Aesthetics & landscaping (natural stream curves, vegetation, surface appearance)
• Damage during construction to existing contours & trees
• Safety for children

It may be a mistake to limit ourselves to one technique. Let's instead consider a combination. For example, for the stream bed and places where erosion is severe, use articulated blocks. Other problem spots might employ low walls of concrete, or concrete blocks, or masonry--set back as terraces. In much of the ravine not threatened by rushing water, we could plant ostrich ferns donated by neighbors, and irrigate them during dry times with soaker hoses from rain barrels. All these techniques could work around the few trees--close to the stream--which are left in place.

This combination of masonry, concrete, and curves looks good.

I've heard talk of using techniques--like articulated blocks--that allow vegetation to grow through. But photos I've seen usually show ratty-looking vegetation. Remember, our ravine is shady, so not many plants will grow there. We'll have to do some careful landscaping with good soil. Don't just assume that plants are going to look at concrete blocks with holes in them filled with gravel, and say "whoopee!"

For more information on articulated blocks Photo of a crane laying a mat of blocks: www.flickr.com/photos/40020160@N03/3712980141/

Websites: www.ncmaetek.org/Use/acb.html ; http://www.shoretec.com/

Which tool for the job?

Replace the sewer--or just place a new lining inside?
Bury the stream--or leave an open channel? What kind of channel?
What kind of bank reinforcement is suitable to stop erosion?

With so many questions, it's been difficult to decide on the best way to repair our greenway.

I believe that the best way to proceed with our greenway is to ask:

"Which tools are most appropriate for the job?"

Excavator photo thanks to Hellagood

A brain surgeon doesn't use a chain saw. The surgeon chooses tools that will ensure a good outcome--she doesn't just grab whatever is lying on top of the tool bench.

I've heard residents say that the ravine is a treasured resource, and that they want it left much as it is now. Therefore, the central issue in assuring this outcome is choosing the size of equipment that will do the construction work without collateral damage. If the equipment is going to drive down the stream, then it ought to be no wider than the stream.

When the stream in Westmorland Park was buried two years ago, the power shovel was so large they first had to build a gravel road to support it. More trees had to be cut. Remaining gravel makes it harder to re vegetate the scar. In this case, the tail wagged the dog.

So I believe that limiting the size of equipment is the first step in planning. If the job can't be done with small equipment, then redesign the job so it can be done.

On Spaight Street, street reconstruction led the the destruction of many trees. This fiasco raised the question--how can the city request bids in a way that that penalizes contractors when they cause unnecessary damage to the environment? Defining the width of the construction corridor is an obvious solution.

This tiny power shovel (a John Deer 35D) sitting on Midvale Blvd makes tracks only 5'9" wide. That's about the average width of the stream in the greenway. Add a foot to allow the shovel to turn shallow corners, so the stream can be curved. Then require the contractor to construct a path only 6'9" wide. Build penalties into the contract to discourage the contractor from making the path any wider.

If present city regulations don't allow for this kind of bid request, then let's wait until better bidding rules are in place. After all, there's no emergency here.

Let's be creative. There are ways to move construction supplies around that don't require building gravel roads. For example, the photo below shows a simple motorized monorail used by farmers in Italy to move grapes out of vinyards on steep hillsides. It's not rocket science.

Photo thanks to Tom Ayres

Poll Results--Most Favor a Natural, Open Stream

When asked "What solution do you favor to problems of the Hillcrest-Upland Greenway," 14 of 27 people chose "Save open stream, as natural as possible, but upgrade sewage." Only one person supported the original City plan to bury the stream.

When asked "Which landscaping plan do you favor, assuming the stream is left open and the sewer fixed," 14 of 15 people chose "Leave stream as is but reinforce with stone and mortar."

You can see full details in the right sidebar, further down.

Exploring Downstream

Recently, Mary Norton and I decided to find out where our stream goes after it leaves the ravine. Its route underground is mysterious--Chris Schmidt says that it flows in pipes under Midvale Blvd. But just north of the corner of Merlham Dr. and Hillcrest Dr., we found another branch of the creek our stream feeds into. This branch flows, channelized by concrete, through backyards just W of Midvale Blvd.

View east from Merlham Dr. The curve looks very natural.

.

Mary and I climbed down, and ventured into the unknown. Ahead, we saw a Cooper's Hawk drinking from the stream. The surroundings were surprisingly pretty, despite the concrete walls and channel, which soon became straight as an arrow. We emerged after what seemed a long journey onto Midvale Blvd next to a bright red house. We were surprised to realize that we had gone only a block.

.

Headed north, or downstream. Less than an inch of water.

.

What we realized was that forgotten waterways are beautiful resources for the neighborhood, and habitat for wildlife. They could be a better resource if they were made more accessible. For example, steps are needed so people can get down. A bench or two for people to sit while watching the wildlife. Large, flat "stepping stones" would keep feet dry if the channel is wet.

What does it take to turn the Titanic?

On September 23, I noticed some new construction in my neighborhood, at the corner of Keating Ter. and Caromar Dr. It turns out workers were installing a new storm sewer of the old-fashioned variety--underground pipes.


But this particular project has an interesting story. Queen of Peace Church, with extensive roofs and a huge parking lot, is just a block upstream. More than half of the runoff for the new storm sewer comes from church property.

When there's heavy rain, you can see a torrent running out of the church's parking lot and down the street. I heard that one or more neighbors downstream complained that their properties were threatened by the runoff. The new storm sewer project is clearly planned to intercept and deal with this runoff.

But, imagine if instead, rain gardens had been built to deal with this problem. A small corner of the Queen of Peace parking lot could have been remodeled to create a large rain garden. It would be a wonderful project for the children in the school there, providing an example of good stewardship of neighborhood water resources. In addition, several more small rain gardens would be required to handle the runoff from the streets downstream from Queen of Peace.

What did the new storm sewer cost? I'm guessing maybe $10,000. Imagine what could have been done to create rain gardens with some of that money! Rain gardens would cost less than the new storm sewer. Our lakes and streams would benefit as well.

So why weren't rain gardens part of the solution? It seems like changing from the old way of thinking about storm water is like steering the Titanic. It doesn't turn on a dime.

It's too late to save the money--but it's not too late to build the rain gardens. Benefits: Improved water quality in the lakes, improved streamflow, beautiful gardens, and a project for children at Queen of Peace school.