Cleaning the bays with conservation landscaping

Group for the East Ends Missy Weiss prepares soil with Victoria Witczak, 9, of Cutchogue, and her sister Julianna, 3, last weekend at Downs Farm Preserve in Cutchogue.

Build a rain garden, help the environment, get a reward.

Its a simple as that.

The federal Peconic Estuary Program, which was created 20 years ago to improve water quality in the Peconics, will offer rewards of up to $500 to residents in Southolds Hashamomuck Pond watershed area and the Reeves Bay watershed in Flanders who work to combat groundwater pollution by installing rain gardens, rain barrels or other forms of conservation landscaping on their properties.

This summer, the Peconic Estuary Program plans to install rain garden demonstration projects near Hashamomuck Pond and at one of the buildings at Big Duck Park in Flanders to draw attention to the program.

So, your first question is probably Whats a rain garden? And thats likely followed by Whats a rain barrel?

The nonprofit environmental organization Group for the South Fork teamed up with local Girl Scouts Saturday to provide answers at Downs Farm Preserve in Cutchogue, on the grounds of the old Ford Corchaug Indian archeological sites.

A rain garden is a very specific garden, said Missy Weiss, an environmental educator for Group for the South Fork and program manager at the preserve. Its not something you would plant in your backyard if its a flat area, Ms. Weiss said. A rain garden would be used if you had a slight slope in your lawn, so that stormwater runoff naturally will flow into the ground and be filtered by a collection of native plants.

Experts say native plants like these New England asters are preferred for rain gardens. (Credit: Katharine Schroeder)

Stormwater runoff is often cited as a major source of surface and groundwater pollution because it carries pollutants like fuel and animal waste from streets and into the water.

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Cleaning the bays with conservation landscaping