Gold Award Spotlight: Rain Garden
Girl Scout Ambassador Paige of Troop 126 has always enjoyed living in Virginia Beach and wants to help ensure her city’s water is clean and safe for years to come. She learned that the Lynnhaven River, one of Virginia Beach’s waterways, is full of pollutants from homes, neighborhoods, and commercial sites. Urbanization of the city has resulted in less forested land and an increase in impervious surfaces, therefore increasing the amount of untreated stormwater runoff carried into the river and its tributaries. Paige took action to address this ecologic challenge by making it the focus of her Gold Award project.
She chose to work with Lynnhaven River Now, a nonprofit with a mission to restore and protect the waterways and natural areas of the Lynnhaven River. Paige created a rain garden behind Lynnhaven River Now’s office, located on Holland Road in Virginia Beach, to help address the root cause of stormwater pollution. To complete the garden, she enlisted a team of volunteers. Paige provided volunteers with an orientation, so they would understand how to create a rain garden, how they work, and the importance they play in filtering water. In addition to designing and creating the garden, using native plants, Paige and a few of the volunteers built a wooden bridge they placed in the garden and a kiosk that is used for education and information purposes. At the end of her project, she presented to members of a local garden club about the importance of rain gardens.
Paige’s rain garden was made possible with the help of funds from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and Wetland Watch Coastal Resilience and Tree Fund. It is a fully functioning garden that filters the rainwater for the surrounding neighborhood, and it is also used as a demonstration garden for prospective builders and those in the community who want to learn more about eco-gardening. Because of her efforts, stormwater runoff, the fastest-growing source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, is being addressed by this small rain garden and making an impact in a big way!
“While stormwater pollution, as a whole, is not something my project could have completely fixed, I made a difference on the issue in my community,” Paige said. “These gardens help the environment in many ways such as controlling erosion, providing a habitat for wildlife, and creating an aesthetically pleasing addition to a yard.”
Congratulations, Paige!
