Mat and I were back at it this afternoon, along with Jeff from New Maryland Contractors, adding shape to the berms and moving some soil back into the pit:
 


Ta da! Looks great, eh? ;)

This next photo should help explain things a little better:
 

 
We've filled in each corner of the original rectangular pit as well as thrown some soil over two of the major bedrock ridges to help create a figure-of-eight shape to the pit. This will help make the resulting wetland look a lot more 'natural' as well as provide deeper soil into which cattails can be transplanted.

The masses of soil lying within the yellow line will be raked out over the coming days to provide a soil depth at the bottom of the wetland of about 20–30cm.

The next photo provides a rough idea of what the pit will look like when filled with water:
 

 
Quite the little lake! :)

That's it for this week; next week — with help from students at the school — we'll rake out the soil on the bottom, tidy up and compress the berms a little more, and maybe even fill the pit with water if the rains don't beat us to it!

Many thanks to all of you who have contacted me so far about this project — I'm humbled that you're following along with developments and thrilled that a number of you are being inspired to try this for yourselves. It's hard work, but very rewarding, and not only personally, of course — this wetland will: help filter run-off from the adjacent road and help control flooding of the playground during heavy rains; provide important habitat for bugs, amphibians, and maybe even a bird or two; act as a rich teaching and learning resource, not only for the science disciplines, but also for language and creative arts; and provide a unique focal and meeting point for the local community, for students and their parents.

More next week!

 


Comments

Jabiz Raisdana

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:35:26

I love that you are showing the progress of this project. I think it will be very powerful for students to look back and see how something like this was built.

I will stay tuned!

 

Dave Riddell

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:46:04

Many thanks, Jabiz.

We've involved the students in every step of the outdoor classroom project so far, from the design (every student — some 400 of them — presented their vision of what the wetland and the full outdoor classroom should look like; the final design is a combo of many of these ideas), to the planting of tree nurseries and landscaping at the back of the school, and now the construction of the wetland proper.

As I'm sure you're aware, doing so helps give ownership of the project to the students, which not only helps to prevent vandalism (a concern in this part of the city) but also places much of the decision-making with the students themselves — often a rare thing in a formal, structured education environment.

The students are very excited as they see the project develop, and are already talking about where they'd like the outdoor benches located so they can all have the best view and where the best place might be to take plant and bug samples...

 

Jeannine St. Amand

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:59:28

It is wonderful to watch the progress of this project at DMS and it's great to hear that the students are getting involved with every step.

Do you know if any of the classes are blogging about their experiences in the project?

 

Dave Riddell

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:58:26

Actually, I don't, but that's a great idea. The wetland portion of the project has been 2 years in the making — this year's Grade 8s would have submitted designs as Grade 6s; it would be great to have their perspectives on recent developments.

 

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