A Detention Basin Becomes a Wetland

Neighbors weren't too happy when a large swath of land was cleared to make this detention basin. The developer, who had long wished there were a way to make these government-required stormwater features more attractive, was sympathetic to the homeowners' strident complaints.



With the help of the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association (ECWA), to which the developer had donated 82 acres adjoining the new subdivision, a plan came together to transform the unsightly detention basin into a wetland full of native wildflowers.

This all sounds well-intended--the sort of ambitious project that would never quite come to fruition--but in this case everyone involved followed through. ECWA provided a detailed plant list. The developer designed and installed a walkway and pergola overlooking the basin, and paid a landscaper to do the planting. Volunteers from ECWA worked with neighbors to plant additional native grasses and shrubs on the slopes, which had previously been seeded with annual grass to prevent erosion.

The last two photos show the basin in May of 2008, as it began its third growing season. The basin has in fact been transformed into a wetland, with soft rush, pickerelweed, cattails and other native plants.

The one less than ideal aspect is that the cattails will likely take over the whole basin unless controlled in some way. But having gone into the project with both enthusiasm and some skepticism about whether such a feel-good transformation, from ugly pit to verdant wetland, could actually be achieved, I'd have to say the it's been a great success.