Lola Valley Park is located along the floodplain and corridor of the Rouge River. The project created and restored wetland, wet meadow, and prairie habitat over 9.6 acres of parkland. Work primarily included creating native areas by grading and planting of native wetland and prairie seed mixes and enhancing existing wetlands in the floodplain. Additionally, an access path was installed in sections for the native areas.
Funding and Parnters
This project was funded by the U. S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office through an approximately $4M Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant received by the Alliance of Rouge Communities for five projects (Lola Valley, Bell Creek, Riverview Park, Sherwood Park and Lower Rouge) Grant #GL-00E02896. The design was completed under an approximately $770,000 GLRI grant to Wayne County in 2019 (Grant # GL-00E02432) Partners in this project include the U.S. EPA, GLRI, ARC, and Wayne County Parks
Where and When
Lola Valley Park is located in Redford Township, Michigan and is a tributary of the Upper Branch of the Rouge River. Project design began in 2019 with construction starting in the summer of 2022 and was completed in 2023. Maintenance of the vegetation planted as part of the restoration occurred in 2023-2024.
Outcomes
Created or restored 9.6 acres of habitat area Created wet meadows and prairies in maintained lawn areas Emergent wetland plants were installed in the bottom depressions that were excavated along both sides of the Rouge River
Grading of wetland creation areas
Installation of culvert connecting wetland areas
Barrier logs and erosion control blanket for protetion of habitat areas
Vegetation establishment in wetlands
Vegetation establishment in wet meadow
Vegetation establishment in uplands