Page 21 - Sonoma County Gazette July 2017

Santa Rosa’s Sustainable Education Garden
The Sustainable Education Garden, located at Santa Rosa’s City Hall, will celebrate its grand opening June 20th from 10:00 11:30 am. Join us for the ribbon cutting ceremony, refreshments, and a tour to highlight the innovative features built into this beautiful garden. Attendance is free, but please RSVP to watersmart@srcity.org.
Funding from the State:
The City of Santa Rosa received $806,174 in grant funds from the State Water Resources Control Board to create an educational garden that demonstrates on-site stormwater capture and treatment, and low wateruse landscaping.
To create the nal design, City sta , design professionals, and community members participated in open design sessions and a 30-day public comment period, with the project’s landscape architect. City engineering sta completed the civil design work
Improving Water Ef ciency:
This project converted 34,000 square feet of lawn and ivy into drought tolerant, low water-use landscaping. Upgrades include replacing the old ine cient overhead spray irrigation system with a high-e ciency drip system, and installation of a new weather-based irrigation controller that will apply water only when the plants need it, preventing waste and supporting plant health. This smart controller also uses ow-sensing technology to detect
leaks or breaks and will alert sta to issues. The landscape and irrigation improvements from this project reduced site water requirements by 54 percent.
Harnessing Stormwater:
As I write this, we are facing our rst truly hot weekend – it’s expected to hit at least 101 degrees Fahrenheit today and 104 tomorrow – and that’s with me ignoring another weather service saying the high could be 107. Here at Isis Oasis Sanctuary we’ve put in special hot weather
Stormwater runo from the City Hall area ows directly into Santa Rosa Creek, which subsequently ows into the Laguna de Santa Rosa. Untreated stormwater runo typically carries pollutants from parking lots and hardscapes to local waterways. Sediment, nutrients, bacteria, higher water temperatures and decreased dissolved oxygen from urban stormwater runo can negatively impact water quality and aquatic habitat. Capturing, cleaning and in ltrating stormwater runo before it has a chance to leave a site improves water quality, and protects wildlife habitat in our local waterways.
Trentadue Winery has begun “Happy Hour Thursdays” at the winery. This free event happens every Thursday throughout the summer and o ers $2 wines by the glass, accompanied by a live band. Families and dogs are welcome - we love that part! Various food trucks will also be present each week so you can purchase a snack, throw down a blanket, grab a glass of wine and listen to the night’s band. It all happens between 5pm and 7pm every Thursday, making it the perfect spot to enjoy the lush summer evenings in a beautiful environment. They are located at 19170 Geyserville Avenue. Questions? Call their tasting room at (707) 433-3104.
Pedroncelli Winery here in Geyserville is celebrating their 90th anniversary making wine in Geyserville and they are also one of six local Dry Creek Valley wineries participating in a Winemaker’s Cruise to the Danube this November 8th-15th. Destinations include Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Dürnstein,
“Foodie” Moment of the Month
Virginia Dare’s Werowocomoco restaurant is now open for dinner, with some special events such as an open-air salmon grill night on the way. The cool patio is the also a great place to ride out some of this heat. Also, this
is admittedly just a rumor since I just made it up, but if you carefully say Werowocomoco slowly, ten times a day, you’ll either never get wrinkles around your mouth or you will start erasing the ones you have. Ware-row- woe-co-mo-co. See? It’s easy! More information at virginiadarewinery.com/ en/visit-us/restaurant or call (707) 735-3575. They are located at 22281 Chianti Road just o of Canyon Road.
Have more about Geyserville to share? Let me know at the email above.
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The City Hall Sustainable Education Garden includes carefully designed swales and bioretention features that will slow and capture stormwater runo to naturally clean and improve water quality onsite. The diagram below shows how the new Low Impact Development (LID) features can remove pollutants before the stormwater in ltrates and recharges ground water: porous concrete rings installed around existing storm drain inlets capture stormwater runo (1) and direct it into lined permeable rock trenches (2) and structural soil (3), where the plants in the bioretention planters (4) can then collect, absorb, and begin to treat stormwater.
Melk, Linz, Passau, and Vilshofen, all on the river cruise ship the AmaStella, launched in 2016.If you’d like to explore another international wine region in the company of winey (but hopefully not whine-y) “folks from back home” this could be the trip for you. More information is available at their website. pedroncelli.com/tasting/events/passport-to-the-danube/.
Additional features include 4,100 square feet of permeable concrete paving throughout the garden and a 2,100-gallon cistern that will collect and reuse rainwater from the City Hall roof. This rainwater harvesting system provides a stormwater LID function by storing rainwater for slow release into the swale, e ectively mimicking the pre-development conditions.
Parking Lot Bioretention
The design of the Sustainab:le Education Garden invites the public to enjoy the City Hall campus in new ways. Visit the open-air classroom that features seating for formal workshops or informal gatherings, or take a selfguided tour using the educational signs around the garden, which explain the bene ts of Low Impact Development and Russian River-Friendly landscaping practices. To learn more about the project, please visit srcity.org/1177/Sustainable- Education-Garden
This article was authored by the City of Santa Rosa’s Water Use Efficiency Team,
on behalf of RRWA. RRWA (www.rrwatershed.org) is an association of local public agencies in the Russian River Watershed that have come together to coordinate regional programs for clean water, habitat restoration, and watershed enhancement.
protocols, providing extra water for our birds and animals and using our misters to keep things cool – or cool-isa – as the mercury rises. Fortunately, our Great Tree does a great job of providing shade and our circle of chairs at its base will be a very popular gathering spot while we ride out this heat wave. Stop by and enjoy the shade
Driving toward Healdsburg, I’m delighted by the vast sea of green grapevines on the east side of the highway. From certain angles it looks like
a huge expanse of green grass, like a very squared-o golf course. The rich grasses on the median and along the edges of the highway have been chopped back by Caltrans maintenance and I love the mix of pale browns and beiges. It looks soft enough to roll on – but I know that’s also an illusion and one which would leave me with all sorts of velcro-like seeds sticking to me if I acted on that impulse. On the opposite side from all that green is the old Salvation Army site, now belonging to the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians. From being a hub of activity, the property is radiating quietness. The couple dozen head of black cattle are wandering the golden elds and there’s a more peaceful aura about the place. It’s unclear what the tribe’s ultimate plans for the area are, but for now, I’m appreciating that feeling of openness and calm though I used to love shopping at the bustling thrift village.
Happy Hour Thursdays at Trentadue
Wine Cruise to the Danube