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Briar Bush Nature Center is located in Abington, Pennsylvania, a
northern suburb of Philadelphia. The center is a private non-profit
organization and an environmental education resource for the local
community. Briar Bush Nature Center is situated on 12 acres of woodland
that has experienced an influx of stormwater in recent decades due to
increased urbanization in surrounding areas.
In 2007, Briar Bush implemented improvements to the main entrance and
aging parking lot which comprises roughly 36,000 square feet of the
center’s property. Working with a limited budget, the organization was
able to meet several goals it had developed for this project, including:
increase the number of parking spaces without allowing asphalt to
dominate the landscape; manage the increased stormwater runoff due to
local development and the parking lot expansion; and create an
attractive landscape habitat of native plants to absorb storm water and
absorb pollutants. An important design goal was to link the existing
living systems to the proposed improvements and the existing
surroundings. A comprehensive plan was prepared which conserved and
minimized impact on the adjacent critical habitat while restoring and
enhancing ecological processes.
Throughout the site, a series of five rain gardens are located along the
downward slope of the site to gather storm water runoff from impervious
surfaces. Water is allowed to percolate into the ground and improve
water quality. The large basin near the entrance of the center collects
water from the asphalt parking stalls near the road as well as some of
the runoff from the actual roadway. Further into the center are two more
rain gardens that are connected via underground piping to another basin
that will receive overflow runoff in the event of severe weather and
flooding. A final water quality basin receives water from a large
portion of the expanded parking lot. Overall, peak flow has been
controlled and captured over the portion of the site that received
improvements. Overflow and flooding that previously occurred in low
lying areas of the center have been eliminated, as well as erosion
issues that had existed prior to the construction of the aforementioned
stormwater improvements.
The new parking lot and entrance have become an interactive experience,
as paths allow visitors to meander through areas planted with a colorful
array of native plants, rock slab bridges that cross over shallow
wetland areas. Reclaimed Pennsylvania field stone boulders create
intriguing borders along paths and parking lot edges and are also
natural playscape features for children to climb and sit on. In keeping
with the mission of the Nature Center, the small ecosystem created by
this new design is used as a teaching site and serves as a model for
conservation landscaping in a developed setting. As visitors and
employees walk from their cars to the nature center they are able to
interpret the landscape and develop an understanding of the site’s
hydrology.
Some of the
native herbaceous species planted in the rain gardens include: Ostrich
Fern, Sensitive Fern, Cardinal Flower, Monarda, Iris, Joe Pye Weed,
Echinacea, Turtlehead, and Wild Bergamot. Trees and shrubs planted on
the site include River Birch, Sweetbay Magnolia, Swamp White Oak and
Buttonbush. These native plants are able to absorb a considerable amount
of storm water as well as filter pollutants from runoff before it finds
its way to local waterways or recharges the groundwater supply.
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