Why does Stream Restoration matter?

Scroll down to see this week’s blog post.

But first, some news!

We are thrilled to report that we have successfully met Richard and Alice Mandel’s generous challenge. Between contributions, pledges, and the Mandel’s gift, we have now raised just over $65,000. The project itself will cost at least $120,000 and will include allocations from both school and camp operating budgets. New funds raised will allow us to undertake further enhancements, including a new bridge across the creek by the Kindergarten and additional play and learning elements. Make a gift here! Thank you to everyone who has made this possible.

We also want to share some information that we have gleaned during the early permitting process as it will impact our timeline. In working with authorities, we discovered two important environmental issues:

1) The wetland area in what we call “Monkeyland” is bigger than we anticipated and as such, no construction vehicles will be allowed in that area. The plans for the project are now being reconfigured so that construction vehicles will only be on the main part of campus.

2) Officials who visited recently have determined that the Miquon campus is a potential habitat for an endangered sedge grass. As a result, we are now required to undertake a more extensive permitting process that involves additional agencies.

Because of these two issues that are outside of our control, it is looking like we will not be able to get the necessary permits to begin the physical work of the project until at least December. It is likely that construction will not begin until Spring Break. Other elements of the project will continue and we intend to keep everyone informed of our progress throughout this endeavor.

Miquon Board Member and Landscape Architect Sarah Endriss created the following set of slides to help us all better understand the importance of Stream Restoration. Click on the images to enlarge:

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Thank you again to Richard and Alice Mandel for inspiring our community to restore the creek with a $30,000 challenge gift, and thank you to everyone who has already made a gift towards the For the Good of the Creek Campaign. You can still make a contribution to the For the Good of the Creek Campaign by clicking on the Give link to the left. Please write “Creek” in the comments box.

Good of the Creek Shirt
Show your support! Donors who make gifts of $100 or more will receive a special For the Good of the Creek t-shirt. (If you’ve given a gift of $100 or more already, your shirt should be arriving this week.) Many thanks to Mike and Nicole Batchelor for this beautiful design.

Share your memories! Do you have memories of the creek to share? Send us a note, a photo, or a 1-2 minute video. We’ll try to post as many as we can throughout the summer. Email your memories to development@miquon.org.