Restoration Project
Inkster Park Restoration
As water quality in the Rouge River continues to improve, this project will build on past efforts to restore some of the damage done during the last century. Tributaries of the Rouge River have suffered from loss and impairment of aquatic habitat and increased frequency and magnitude of flood flows, primarily due to increasing urbanization within the watershed. The flat river slope and the meandering channel cannot pass the large flows associated with rain events. Upstream urbanization continues to exacerbate this problem as runoff from increased amounts of impervious surfaces culminates in flooding within the river system, bank erosion, and continued habitat degradation.
Most of Inkster Park is routinely mowed and used for active recreation but is low and routinely floods. The project plan proposes to create 2-acres wetland/wet meadow area. The emergent wetland will contain a diversity of water depths and wetland plants, providing habitat for birds, amphibians, reptiles, and insects. The project will convert 2 acres of maintained lawn to habitat by planting native trees and shrubs and seeded with an understory seed mix. It will also stabilize a bank section of the river that runs through the intended habitat area to prevent loss of habitat and erosion to the river.
