Rain gardens in downtown Lansing, Michigan

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Lansing is the capital of Michigan, and like Madison, it has a waterfront.  Lansing's state capitol building is located near where two rivers come together.

Lansing's waterfront on the Grand River.

Lansing has 55 new rain gardens located downtown (below), plus 170 conventional gardens.

Rain garden #2 at Thoreau School is growing nicely

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The garden is coming along nicely--plants are starting to grow. We survived all the storms !  We've lost only 10-20 plants.

Plants in the heavy shade are growing very slowly.  So we trimmed some branches above.  In case poor soil--where the basin was excavated--is causing the slow growth, I am adding compost around all plants.  But this is taking a lot of time.

Not much watering has been required, but weeding is continuing.

We built a spillway for gardens #1 (built last year) and #2.  During a storm, it's amazing to see how garden #1 sucks up the water--very thirsty!  But if heavy rain continues for more than 15 min, garden #1 overflows, and then #2 gets a deluge.

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The full story about this garden.

When swimming, keep Ghidorzi in mind

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Here are photos of Bernie's Beach on Monona Bay, and along the shore a bit east--taken on June 7.

Weeds, stimulated by phosphorus.... thanks to Ghidorzi Companies pollution.

The light circles are fish nests.

Pollution into the bay, weeds out

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Here's a stunning example of the harmful effects of construction site erosion.

Construction causes 19% of the phosphorus in our lakes.  Phosphorus fertilizes weeds in the lake.

Gambling with our lakes.  Madison's romantic riverboat...

Weed cutting in Monona Bay, July 23, 2013

Pollinators in the news

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Pollinators and flowers are one of the best examples of interdependence.  They show why preserving biodiversity is important.  

Flecked with gold... a fly with hairs for catching pollen, in Hartman Creek State Park, WI

How do you know it's a fly?  Just one pair of wings... bees have two pairs.

Training for "Citizen Inspectors" for erosion control

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Contractor Report conducted training of "Citizen Inspectors" for erosion control at the Ideal Body Shop construction site on Monday July 22, 5:30 pm.

Three new people came to learn the ropes.  Two are residents on the shore of Monona Bay.  Since this construction site drains to the bay only a block away, they came because they want to protect the bay.  Steve Vanko came to show where the stormwater from here empties to the bay.

Citizens picket dirty construction site in Madison

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On Monday, July 15, starting at 8:00 am, Steve Vanko and about 11 neighbors on Monona Bay, and other people concerned about Madison’s lakes, picketed for nearly two hours at 1102 South Park Street.

Mary Jo Ola of WISC-TV interviews Steve Vanko

They wanted to call attention to repeated pollution of Monona Bay, from the Ghidorzi Companies construction site, where they are picketing.  They feel that response from officials--to 13 sediment spills--has been ineffective.

Amazing regulatory failure--Monona Bay polluted 13 times by Ghidorzi

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This is a summary of the sediment spills into Monona Bay by construction at 1102 S. Park St., by the Ghidorzi Companies.

The demolition and construction progressed from May of 2012 to July of 2013. During that time, Steve Vanko and David Thompson documented--with the photos shown below--13 sediment spills to the bay, and one extreme dust incident.

These spills were the result of failure to follow many elements of the required erosion control plan, which we'll document elsewhere.

Since 1102 S. Park Street has contaminated soil,* and because soil particles carry phosphorus, muddy runoff from the site is real pollution.

Good plants for your woodland garden

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If you have a place in your yard too shady for grass to grow, consider the celandine poppy.

New rain garden at Thoreau School survives storm

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A new rain garden was just finished at Thoreau School, to reduce runoff from the roof and paved playground.  Construction was organized by Jack Nolan for his Eagle Scout project.  But Jack was out of town when the dark clouds rolled in, so I was scheduled to watch the garden.

On the evening of June 12, there were at least three episodes of heavy rain.  The fledgling garden was under siege!