Watershed for Gardens
at Waters East
These photos were all taken in
June of this year along a part of the 1000 mile Ice Age Trail in Forestville.
A beautiful day for an afternoon hike. This trail is part of the “Watershed” of Gardens at Waters East. I only know a few of these plants - maybe you know others. Let me know!
The easy definition of a
watershed is: the area of land where all the water that is under it or drains off of
it goes to a shared destination.
In the case of Gardens at Waters
East. Lake Michigan is that destination.
All gardens exist within a
watershed. And, all gardeners know
the vital importance of watershed areas.
If the watershed is healthy, all life there stays a little more healthy. What is done on the surface in our
gardens and surrounding areas can impact what ends up being in that final
watershed destination. Gardeners
know the importance of good stewardship
for the patch of land where they live.
They know too that what they do on their land will effect the health and
well being of all who depend on the quality of the area’s watershed.
Gardens at Waters East is located in the state of Wisconsin where
there exist more than 12,600 rivers and streams that travel a total of 44,000
miles. More than 32,000 of those
miles are perennial streams. There
are 2,700 trout streams covering 10,370 miles. There are more than 15,000 lakes, 5.3 million acres of wetlands,
1.2 guadrillion gallons of groundwater.
All this forms two different watersheds which drain either into the
Great Lakes (and for Gardens at Waters
East specifically Lake Michigan), or the Mississippi River which itself eventually
drains into the Gulf of Mexico.
Wisconsin is blessed with such an abundance of water as a natural
resource. The best of gardeners
realize the responsibilities they have to care for the health and well being of
the watershed where they live.
The photos in this posting are of
some of the very near rivers and creeks that are part of the immediate watershed
environment of Gardens at Waters East. The two large rivers ( The Kewaunee
River and The Ahnapee River) and the two creeks (Three Mile Creek and Mashek
Creek) are within walking distance of Gardens
at Waters East. These all flow
directly into Lake Michigan which itself is one of the five Great Lakes which
together contained 20% of all the fresh water on Earth. Many past and future postings often showed
and will continue to show Lake Michigan as a “backdrop” to garden
pictures. This is done to remind
all visitors to the gardens not only of the beauty here, but also of the
importance that Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes have for all life in this
area.
As they say - - “Come
on in the water is fine”
recent sunrise at Gardens at Waters East
Reference Note: For a
complete list of the ten (10) Principles
of Design plus the special “Golden
Principle of Design” used throughout Gardens
at Waters East, check out the archive postings for November 14 – 24, 2010
and May 2, 2011.
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