Saving the Environment One Small Step at a Time

by Charles McGuigan 06.2022

Small things can make a big difference. And a combination of these tiny actions can actually have a dramatic environmental impact, improving, among other things, water quality and increased biodiversity.Take for instance that little trickle of a creek that runs between two parking lots at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Called the Glen Stream, its course runs about 550 feet before leaving the Garden.  

On May 20, under a baking sun, folks from the Garden, along with a few of its partners, celebrated the restoration of Glen Stream with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

Several years back, the Virginia Environmental Endowment awarded a grant of $315,000 to help the Garden with its restoration project. Additional funding came from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Dominion Energy, and an anonymous donor.

Before the restoration project, Glen Stream was subjected, during intense rainstorms, to pollution runoff from neighboring residential properties and paved surfaces such as parking lots and sidewalks. The small stream was also choked with invasive species such as porcelain berry and English ivy, making the quality of life for organisms that inhabited this micro-ecosystem marginal at best.

Through a remarkable engineering feat, the Glen Stream has been transformed. The project actually altered the geography of the stream, creating a creekbed that meandered, which in turn slowed the flow of water and allowed stormwater run-off to be filtered by plants and soil before moving downstream. 

By restructuring the course of the stream itself, erosion has been greatly reduced, water quality downstream has improved, and groundwater recharge has significantly increased. 

And just as importantly, this tiny ecosystem has become a much more inhabitable place for a variety of native flora and fauna. As Catherine McGuigan, a gardener at LGBG, noted in a Garden blog last fall:  “We will be restoring the stream by removing the overgrown invasive plants and replanting them with native plants. Natives provide better living space and food for pollinators, ranging from birds to bees and more.”

Riparian plantings have already begun with a host of native plants, including blazing star, meadow anemone, beardtongue, swamp milkweed and Allegheny monkey flower. Native trees have also been planted on the banks of this stream, everything from American hornbeam to common witch hazel and dogwood. 

The results of this project are palpable. There is now a thriving ecosystem that attracts beneficial wildlife, and water that leaves the Garden is much purer than it was when it entered. And that means improved water quality downstream, all the way to our beloved Chesapeake Bay.