Rain garden to add beauty, functionality to Kirk Park

Lisa DuRussel discussing plantings with student. Photo by Marsha Chartrand.

by Marsha Chartrand

Manchester is very fortunate to have one of its own helping to create a new landscape close to downtown that will improve the future of the entire community. Lisa DuRussel is a landscape architect, professor, and member of the University of Michigan Ginsberg community. She is a trailblazer in the ecological and environmental spaces and is avid about getting students involved in her work.

For several years, runoff from Adrian Street, the Legion/funeral home parking lot, and the tennis and basketball courts at Kirk Park has caused mud puddles across the park that rendered that section unusable. Manchester Parks Commission members have discussed ways to remedy the situation and looked carefully into the idea of a rain garden.

Rain gardens are designed landscape sites that reduce the flow rate, total quantity, and pollutant load of runoff from impervious urban areas like roofs, driveways, walkways, parking lots, and compacted lawn areas. Rain gardens rely on plants and natural or engineered soil medium to retain stormwater and increase the lag time of infiltration, while remediating and filtering pollutants carried by urban runoff. Rain gardens provide a method to reuse and optimize any rain that falls, reducing or avoiding the need for additional irrigation.

“Over the years, the soil along the road has turned just as hard as the asphalt on the streets, parking lots, and sports courts, causing even more runoff,” Lisa explained.

And so it turned out that after much study and cooperation, DuRussel and a group of her second-year graduate students were in town last week to do the preparatory work and creation for Manchester’s own rain garden. As she looks at the landscape of her family’s hometown, she takes a sense of pride in improving the future for the land that surrounds it.

“The land touches everything, and being good stewards of our land is of paramount importance to our longevity,” DuRussel says. “I think we are only going to inspire and empower people to be stewards of their own environment if they understand it and understand its importance to their well-being and everyday life. When it comes to civic engagement, we see so many decisions being made from a top-down policy level.”

Mayor Pat Vailliencourt was visiting the site on Friday afternoon while the crew, including City Council member and long-time Parks Commissioner Pat DuRussel (who also happens to be Lisa’s dad), added their efforts to the day’s events.

“City Council and the DPW have long been discussing the water drainage issues at Kirk Park,” Vailliencourt said. “Thanks to Lisa and her class taking on this project, donating the design and labor, it became possible for this beautification project to happen.”

Even in these early days, DuRussel is seeing strong support for the project. Many residents slowed or stopped as they drove by on Friday to watch or learn about what was happening. Many offered ongoing help in years to come, a good sign to her for the future of the project.

“Unless community members are active in these conversations, (government) policies are less likely to stick,” she said. “That’s why I think working in this grassroots way is so effective.”

DPW spent hours earlier in the day excavating the ground where the rain garden would go. Photo by Marsha Chartrand.

Student overseeing hundreds of plants being added to rain garden. Photo by Marsha Chartrand.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.