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This retention basin was originally installed in 2013 with native emergent wetland plants along the waterline and native prairie plants along the upland slopes. Eco Logic was contracted by the City of Indianapolis Department of Public Works for the maintenance of this retention basin beginning in spring of 2018. The previous years’ lack of maintenance led to invasion by phragmites and cattails along with heavy trash accumulations. These accumulations clogged the rip rap pre-filter area, decreased its effectiveness and resulted in obvious evidence of pollutants.
During the first year of management, Eco Logic worked to eradicate large patches of the invasive Phragmites australis (common reed), Typha X glauca (non-native cattail), and Phalaris arundinacea (reed canary grass). We also cut and hauled away large amounts of overgrown woody vegetation that had established and cut back overgrown herbaceous vegetation. This first year also involved intensive removal of accumulated garbage.
Since the initial removal of invasives and overgrown vegetation, Eco Logic has been focused on restoring this retention basin to its original design as a floristically diverse CSO filtration system. To date, we have planted nearly 500 native wetland and prairie plants including Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed), Hibiscus moscheutos (swamp rose mallow), and Iris virginica shrevei (blue flag iris). Regular maintenance of this retention basin now consists of spot treatment for any remaining invasives, lighter garbage cleanup, and mowing of vegetation to reduce occurrence of annual weeds. Like all the Indianapolis Green Infrastructure sites we manage, we also perform biannual inspections to be provided to our clients upon request.