Rain Garden at Flick Park

Eagle Project Write-Up

April 2008

John Hoffman

1516 Meadow Lane

Glenview, IL 60025

BSA Troop 156 Glenview, Illinois

Potawatomi District

Northeast Illinois Council

Table of Contents

What Was the Project?

How did it benefit others? Was it of real value?

Who from the group benefited gave guidance? Contact information

Who helped carry out the project?

What Materials were used and how were they acquired?

Did you demonstrate leadership of others? Were you the project director?

Did the project follow the plan?

Total Project Hours

What Was the Project?

For my Eagle project, I planted a rain garden at Flick Park in Glenview, Illinois, located at 3600 Glenview Road.

Rainwater is currently directed from the pool and park area into a drainage ditch on the west side of the pool that guides water around the pool into a detention pond on the north side of the pool. This detention pond holds water and releases it slowly into the Glenview sewer system at a rate that helps prevent the municipal sewer system from being overwhelmed. Before I planted the garden, the system was basic and not aesthetically appealing. The rain garden improves the efficiency of the current drainage system, and also makes it more environmentally friendly by filtering and cleaning the water. The area around the drainage ditch is very popular for recreational activities, and the rain garden should draw more people to the area.

The Rain Garden was planted along a stretch of the drainage area that leads to the drainage basin. It involved preparing the area by clearing the area of existing “rip-rap” and tall grass which was present at the site of the main inlet of water for the drainage area, marking the area of the garden and then planting seeds and plants.

First, workers and I removed existing rip-rap around the main inlet pipe using shovels and our own hands. After removing the rip-rap, smaller stones were shoveled into a smaller pathway which water follows after it leaves the inlet pipe. Then, the removed rip-rap was put back.

In the main section of the garden (the 100 feet beyond the initial section of rip-rap), seeds from an already purchased “Sedge Meadow Seed Mix” from JFNew were broadcasted, and, once an area of the garden was broadcasted, an anti-erosion blanket was rolled over it. After all of the seeds were broadcasted and the anti-erosion blanket was laid out, the anti-erosion blanket was staked down with bio-degradable stakes to secure the blanket.

Approximately 500 plugs were purchased by the park district, and arrived at the site with Mr. Wexler. The area of the garden covered by the anti-erosion blanket was divided into sections every 9 feet, and marked with a straight line of spray paint. The plugs were then spread out into each corresponding section. Workers planted plugs individually by digging a small hole with a shovel, removing the plastic covering on the plug, placing the plug in the hole, and packing dirt around it. This was the most time consuming part of the project.

Also, halfway down the garden (lengthwise), a simple footpath was created for people who wanted to cross the garden, or get a better look. This was done by placing medium sized flagstones firmly into the ground.

How did it benefit others? Was it of real value?

There are multiple purposes for this rain garden.

1. This garden will improve the aesthetic nature of the area in which it is planted, which will hopefully draw more people to the area for recreational or other reasons. This aspect of the garden will directly benefit all people who attend Flick Park as well as the park district, since the rain garden has the potential to bring in revenue through attracting more people to Flick Park and its pool.

2. The Village of Glenview is giving grants to Glenview citizens to encourage people to plant rain gardens; this could serve as an example to anyone looking to plant a rain garden, and serve as a source of inspiration for them as well. This means that the rain garden will benefit not only the environment but Glenview residents who are looking to plant a rain garden as well.

3. This rain garden will function, meaning that, as a rain garden, it will alleviate some of the pressures on the municipal sewer systems by absorbing large amounts of rain water and filtering the rain water that goes through it, which lowers the level of polluted rain water in the area. This means that the rain garden will directly benefit the local environment as well as Glenview residents who may experience storm sewer backup and blockage less frequently.

Who from the group benefited gave guidance? Contact information

Ken Wexler, Landscape Architect for the Glenview Park District, supplied much of the planting advice and was responsible for obtaining the seeds and the plugs which we planted. He also stayed for the duration of the project and gave on-site advice and direction (in addition to physical labor). Fred Gullen, Superintendent of Park Services for the Glenview Park District gave me the idea for the project, and played a large role in planning the garden. He sat in on most of the planning meetings, and was responsible for many logistics of the planting day (providing the field house, getting park district workers to help out, etc.). Mike Moorman, another representative from the Park District, also played a large role in the project. He gave on-site advice and planted seeds at Community Park West to supply plugs for the project (which unfortunately did not end up working).

Who helped carry out the project?

I recruited some scouts from my troop, friends and classmates, family, and also the help of Glenview Park District employees to carry out my project. In order to recruit people I went to the scout meetings preceding the workday and had people who were interested sign up, and I called them the night before to remind them. I also spread the word through online social networking websites to my friends and classmates, and I made an announcement in many of my classes before the project.

What materials were used and how were they acquired?

Name Description/Purpose Quantity How will it be obtained?

Garden Shovels/Spades

For digging small holes to plant the plugs or seeds

10 Supplied by workers

Work Gloves To protect workers' hands while working

15 pairs Supplied by workers

Cooler and Ice To keep refreshments cool 1 Cooler Supplied by my parents

Water To keep the workers hydrated 98 bottles Supplied by my parents

Name Time, in minutes

John HoffmanJo

340Mrs. Barnas 330Mr. Moorman 370Mr. Wexler 275Mr. Joel Hoffman 340Mr. Grinnis 210Carlton Olson 215Caron Hoffman 250Jeff Richards 235Kelsey Gorman 132Amy Greulich 132Jacob Metrick 35Jonathon Anderson 120Park District Workers (2) 95+95Joseph (Scout) 57Josh Raebel 90Morgan Sendor 86Rachel Lewandowski 86Ally Brown 86Peter Hughes 60

TOTAL TIME IN MINUTES: 3820TOTAL TIME IN HOURS: 63.67

and cool

Pizza For lunch both days 5 pizzas Donated by my parents

First Aid Kit Comprehensive 1 Troop First Aid Kit

SeedsTo plant in lieu of "plugs" (Sedge Meadow Mix from JFNew Catalogue)

Quantity to broadcast over 1500

sq. ft

Supplied by Park District

"Plugs" Actual plants ~500

Donated by various nurseries and obtained from planting seeds at Community Park West

"Rip Rap" rocks

To serve as a small pathway that cuts through the width of the garden, and to airate the water that flows through there

Onsite (~100)

Provided by the Park District

Anti-Erosion Blanket

To prevent erosion of the seeds and of the general garden

10ft by 100 ft

Provided by Park District

Bio-degradable Staples

To secure the anti-erosion blanket 20

Provided by Park District

Spray Paint To mark garden area 1 bottle Provided by Park District

Card Table, Pens, Pencils, Clipboard, etc.

Set-up, recording sign-in and sign-out information, etc. N/A Provided by Myself

Flat Paving Stones

To build a pathway halfway down the garden

10 Provided by Park District

Tape Measure (100 feet long)

To measure lengths 1 Supplied by workers

Knife To cut erosion blanket 1 Supplied by myself

Old Towels To clean tools after project 10 Supplied by myself

Cell Phone For emergencies 3 Supplied by workers

All equipment, food, seeds, plants and other services were supplied either by the Park District or fellow workers. No purchasing of materials was necessary for me.

Did you demonstrate leadership of others? Were you the project director?

During the developmental stages of my Eagle Project I demonstrated leadership by developing the idea with the Glenview Park District, setting up meetings, calling people to find information and writing up the proposal. During the actual workday I led all of my workers by directing them to specific tasks, discussing with the Park District Representatives the progress of the garden and the next step to take throughout the workday, and keeping the project organized and on schedule. I was a worker myself, but I always maintained control of the situation and was always aware of the progress of the project around me.

Did the project follow the plan?

There were many major changes to the project plan from my original project proposal.

1) There was no roto-tilling process: The garden area already had an anti-erosion mat, which made roto-tilling impossible.

2) There was no mulching process: There was not enough room in the budget for mulch, and, since the weather forecasted rain, most of the mulch would have been washed away. Also, the workday itself was quite wet since it had rained the night before, and, even with a water pump diverting most of the flow of the water, it would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, to install mulch on that day.

3) There was only one workday as opposed to three: The first workday was initially cancelled because, without the roto-tilling process, it was unnecessary. The project progressed much quicker than anticipated, and without the mulching process and with more workers than planned, the project was finished completely on the first day.

4) There was no need to maintain the garden thus far: The weather has brought so much rain after the garden was planted that the maintenance part of the project has become unnecessary as well.

5) The planned color palette and layout design for the rain garden was not followed: Instead, the easiest and more practical method of simply dividing the rain garden every 9 feet and placing different types of plugs in each section worked better. The seed that was scattered before the planting of the plugs will provide for variety.

Those were the major changes to the original project plan. None of these changes were detrimental to the project.

Who from the group benefited may be contacted to verify the value of the project?

Fred Gullen, Superintendent of Park Services for the Glenview Park District, or Ken Wexler, Landscape Architect for the Glenview Park District. Fred Gullen’s e-mail address is

fred.gullen@glenviewparks.org, and his office phone number is (847) 657-3219. Ken Wexler’s e-mail address is ken.wexler@glenviewparks.org, and his office phone number is (847) 832-9670.

Total Project Hours

Category Hours

Concept Development 4

Writing Proposal 24.2

Communication: Meetings, Phone Calls and E-mails

6.5

Recruiting 3

Project Execution 63.67

Project Evaluation and Writeup 3

TOTAL: 104.37

After Pictures (May 22, 2008)