In North Delridge: Rain gardens today, creek walk tomorrow

| Delridge | Environment | West Seattle news

Big weekend in North Delridge. Tomorrow, you’re invited on a walk along Longfellow Creek – more on that in a moment. First: A KCTS 9 TV crew was on 25th SW this morning during a neighborhood-wide work party, the final phase of the installation of 10 rain gardens:

According to North Delridge Neighborhood Council chair Karrie Kohlhaas, the crew’s working on a story about community-building. That was certainly in action as neighbors worked in the Saturday sunshine to put plants in the new rain gardens.

They’re building ten of them in connection with Stewardship Partners, which has launched a program aimed at adding 12,000 of them to neighborhoods around Puget Sound. The rain gardens are meant to keep potentially toxic runoff out of nearby Longfellow Creek – one of West Seattle’s green treasures, and the centerpiece of a walk that you can join in tomorrow: A neighbor-led walk along the creek, everyone welcome – including kids and dogs – starting at 1 pm from Greg Davis Park at 26th/Brandon (map), lasting about 45 minutes. No need to RSVP, just show up. (That’s not far from the 25th/Findlay raingarden neighborhood, if you want to take a side trip afterward and have a look!)

Karrie Kohlhaas August 13, 2011 (10:44 pm)

Planting the rain gardens on Saturday was a great experience. We all got our hands dirty, digging in our neighbors’ yards. There was something surprisingly connecting about that. The gardens look beautiful and now, as we walk the block, we can each feel a sense of pride about not only our own yards but about the yard next door and across the street too.
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To clarify, the water is filtered through the gardens from our rooftops–not the street. Our rain gutter downspouts connect to the gardens. The project as a whole beautifies the block and connects neighbors through the bonding experience of planning and planting. I think that will continue as we watch together how the gardens grow and fill out.
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We invite anyone who is interested in learning more to come to our block (25th between Brandon and Findlay) and check out the gardens. I’ll ask Holli and Amanda if we can swing by our block after the Longfellow Creek walk on Sunday. Though not intentionally planned for the same day, the two events really do go hand in hand.

Been There August 14, 2011 (9:44 am)

Jolly good job North Delridge people!

JO August 14, 2011 (10:05 am)

This is AWESOME!! So inspiring! With all the tension and crankiness in the news lately it’s so great to see what communities can do together. It’s beautiful, unifying, environmentally responsible, fun, and raises property values…kinda covers all the things we all care about! Nice Job to everyone!! (oh and thanks WSB for being there to catch the action…as always!)

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