A River Day 2007 project attracted about two-dozen people carrying rakes, shovels and buckets brimming with community spirit to downtown Clarkston Saturday to help with a new Watershed Group project.
The group installed a new garden, set up an informative native-plant display, and even made a few varieties of natives available to local gardeners.
River Day is an annual event coordinated by the Clinton River Watershed Council, a non-profit organization working to protect, enhance and celebrate the Clinton River, its watershed and Lake St. Clair.
Communities throughout the area plan events for the day, including fishing derbies, kids? crafts, nature hikes, park clean-ups, and other stewardship projects.
Clarkston’s new garden, located in the corner of the Washington and Main Street parking lot near the Mill Pond, now contains Wild Geranium, Blue Flag Iris, Blue Lobelia, Pennsylvania Sedge and several varieties of ferns.
All the plants are native to the area and were chosen specifically for the location.
‘It’ll have the effect of a garden, but still somewhat naturalized,? said Trish Hennig, a native plant specialist and owner of American Roots Native Plants and Wildflowers. ‘It’s a very soothing design intended to be calming, without too much going on.?
Hennig, who is a regular Watershed Group volunteer, provided all plants used Saturday.
‘We accomplished everything we set out to accomplish,? said Watershed Group co-chair Jim Brueck. ‘We got a lot done in a relatively short amount of time, and I think we had two, maybe three generations here at times.?
The group will eventually build in two additional gardens’each separated by a grassy public seating area’in the adjoining area along the pond’s perimeter.
Saturday’s project was funded by the Oakland Native Partnership Initiative’who also provided grant dollars the Depot Park rain garden installed last year.
The rain garden at also got some attention as volunteers put in a few new plants’some Cone Flowers and a flat of Golden Alexander’and spread a fresh layer of mulch.
‘We did lose a few of the plants from last year,? said group co-chair Cory Johnston. ‘So we’re going to have the soil tested and see if we can find out if there’s a problem.?
Brueck and Johnston are both members of the Clarkston City Council.
Other River Day 2007 partners, said Johnston, included the North Oakland Headwaters Land Conservancy, River of Life, Clarkston Farm and Garden Club, Landscape Architect Colleen Schmidt and the University of Michigan
The Clarkston Watershed Group is a non-profit organization, and plans to begin a larger-scale fundraising campaign soon.
To get involved with the group or make a donation, contact Jim Brueck at 248 625-7597 or email the Clarkston Watershed Group at CWG@villageofclarkston.org