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One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032
Contact: Nancy Heck
E-Mail: nheck@carmel.in.gov
Phone: (317) 571-2494
Nancy Heck
The
Department of Community Relations
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City of Carmel
One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032
News Release
Date:
March 19, 2008
Contact:
Nancy Heck
(317) 571-2494
Release:
Immediate
City Partnership with the Backyard
Conservation Program Provides Many Benefits to Carmel
Residents
Carmel, IN – The City is partnering with the Hamilton County
Soil and Water Conservation District’s to bring the
“Backyard Conservation Program” to Carmel. Through this
partnership, the Backyard Conservation Program helps
neighborhoods and individuals create and implement backyard
conservation plans.
Carmel’s Fairgreen Trace and Lake Forest neighborhoods have
already participated in the program as well as individual
home owner, Leigh Bangs, who is a member of the Backyard
Conservation Steering Committee and Carmel Urban Forestry
Committee. In the near future, the Backyard Conservation
Program will be creating plans for four new sites in Carmel.
The Backyard Conservation Plan for the Lake Forest
subdivision common areas included removal of more than 100
invasive plants and undesirable trees, planting over 50 new
native seedlings, restructuring the retention pond edge and
enhancing wildlife habitat. The four-acre common area is now
a peaceful greenspace, an inviting wildlife habitat, and a
great showcase of important backyard conservation practices
and better management practices (BMPs).
Members of the City’s Urban Forestry Committee and Carmel
residents gathered further insight at the “Practicing
Backyard Conservation” workshop held last month. The
workshop was sponsored by the Hamilton County Soil and Water
Conservation District’s Backyard Conservation Program and
the Hamilton County Parks and Recreation Department. It was
held at Cool Creek Park in Westfield. More than 50 Hamilton
County residents, including 12 from Carmel, attended the
event.
Amanda Smith (Hamilton Co. Parks Dept.)
gives a tour of the greenhouse.
The workshop focused on various conservation techniques for
residential landscaping using techniques such as
incorporating native plants, invasive plant control, water
conservation, and backyard pond enhancement. Attendees were
also taken on a guided tour of the newly renovated Cool
Creek Greenhouse, which has been planted with native trees,
shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, and features a small pond.
Through this workshop, attendees became familiar with the
Backyard Conservation Program and learned how small changes
on their own property can drastically improve the quality of
our environment and the air, water, soil, and wildlife
habitat it provides.
Shaena Smith, the Urban Conservationist for Hamilton County
Soil and Water Conservation District, said “I’m pleased that
the Backyard Conservation Program is being so well-received
by the community. We continue to receive requests from
concerned homeowners and homeowner’s associations who want
to do their part to join in the effort.”
Mulched trail through Lake Forest Arboretum
Native
vegetation enhances a Lake Forest retention pond
The Backyard Conservation Program offers educational,
technical, and financial assistance to homeowners and
homeowner’s associations in Hamilton County concerned with
environmental quality, stormwater runoff, soil erosion, and
wildlife habitat. To learn more about the Backyard
Conservation Program and its upcoming workshop to be held at
the Lake Forest subdivision on April 26th, please contact
Shaena Smith, Urban Conservationist, at (317) 773-2181 ext.
107 or shaena.smith@in.nacdnet.net
-end-
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