 The 142 acres here have been set aside for
wildlife since citizens saved the former burrow pit from development.
Now the foundation has added a series of innovative practices that teach
visitors how to be greener at home, and at work.
A small education lab and pavilion at the
Churchland area location on Lake Ballard are solar powered, with two
large cisterns recycling stormwater for hand-washing and watering
plants. Staff and VIPs travel the grounds by electric golf cart. A
“living shoreline” addresses erosion with seven coconut fiber logs and
wetlandgrasses. The parking lot demonstrates “gravelpave” as a pervious
surface to absorb runoff at a rate of 35" per hour. Three schools raise
6,000 oysters annually for a sanctuary reef on the Western Branch,
Elizabeth River. And a current project addresses the invasive Common
Reed (phragmites australis) growing around Lake Ballard. |
