Rain Gardens Imitate Nature

... To Protect Aquatic Habitats

Rain gardens add beauty, filter pollution, reduce flooding, and create ecosystems.

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Hard surfaces, like roads, roofs, parking lots, and sidewalks, channel sediments and pollutants downstream. There, runoff with oils, heavy metals, fertilizers, and pesticides harms water quality and aquatic life.

Alternatively, rain gardens act like a native forest and absorb, filter, and slowly release naturally cleaned water into the environment. Rain gardens and other landscape features at the Marine Technology Center model best practices for stormwater management to help keep Fidalgo Bay clean.

Information on this Trail Tales website was prepared under funding from the Washington State Department of Ecology’s Public Participation Grant Program. While the information was reviewed for grant consistency and accuracy of project references, this does not necessarily constitute endorsement by the Department.

Learn more about Ecology’s Anacortes Baywide Cleanup

Photo credits: Anacortes History Museum, Washington state Dept. of Ecology, Samish Indian Nation and others, as noted. Illustrations by Linda Feltner.