East Rockford Middle School plants community “rainscaping” garden

Students from the East Rockford Middle School work on the native garden they established on city property this spring.

By Jamie Vaughn

East Rockford Middle School is dedicated to managing stormwater runoff in the Rogue River watershed. In the past they have applied low-impact development practices to reduce runoff on their campus.

This year, the sixth grade “Earth Keepers” magnet wanted to extend their stewardship outside of their school property and into the greater Rockford community and Rogue River watershed. Through Groundswell, an education program that connects students, communities and nature, the students partnered with Trout Unlimited’s Rogue River Home Rivers Initiative and planned a native garden in downtown Rockford.

Native gardens look like any attractive garden, but are composed of deep-rooted native plants that can withstand extremes of moisture and concentrations of nutrients that are typical in runoff. The polluted water gets filtered by the plants and then it recharges the groundwater. Native plants also provide habitat for beautiful native birds and butterflies.

On May 29th, 50 students planted 3,600 native Michigan wildflowers, sedges, grasses and shrubs from Wildtype and Calvin College, right next to the Rogue River and White Pine Trail near the parking lot of the Rogue Valley Towers senior living facility. The garden will capture more than 55,000 gallons of stormwater each year.

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Proud students pose after a busy day of working on their native garden project.

The students hope that the gardens will not only beautify and protect the local environment but also educate the community about the threat of stormwater runoff pollution and how to control it at home. East Rockford and Trout Unlimited plan to continue their successful partnership and install a new rainscaping project every year.

The school received grants from the Rockford Education Foundation, Groundswell and the Wildflower Association of Michigan, along with support from the City of Rockford.

The Rogue River Home Rivers Initiative Project is funded by the Frey Foundation, the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, the Wege Foundation, the Wolverine World Wide Foundation, and the Schrems West Michigan Trout Unlimited.

Jamie Vaughn is Trout Unlimited's Rogue River Home Rivers Initiative project coordinator.