Bridgewood Park

• Rain garden

• Lambert Creek

A rain garden is a specially designed planting with a bowl shape to capture and filter rainwater from surrounding hard surfaces. A curb cut rain garden means a break was created in the curb of the street to allow water runoff directly from the street to enter the rain garden. 

This 785 square foot curb cut rain garden captures and treats water that runs off hard surfaces in Bridgewood Park and its parking lot, Bridgewood Terrace, and neighboring homes. Previously this runoff drained to a wetland adjacent to the park before eventually reaching Lambert Creek. The rain garden's special features include:

• 2 concrete curb cuts with 2 pretreatment structures that collect sediment, debris, and trash before it can enter the rain garden.
• 18 inches of amended soil mix to allow water to soak in more quickly.
• A berm to help water stay in the rain garden and soak into the ground.
• Mixed rock to reduce erosion when water flows out of the rain garden ("overflows") during large rain events.
• Over 360 native plants that bloom throughout the growing season to provide pollinator habitat and filter pollutants from water runoff. 

This project was a partnership between the City of Vadnais Heights, Ramsey County Soil and Water Conservation Division, and VLAWMO. The City provided funding through local cash match and VLAWMO provided grant funding through VLAWMO's Landscape Level 2 grant program, as well as the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) Watershed Based Implementation Funding program.

This project was the start of a partnership between the City of Vadnais Heights and VLAWMO to install water quality and stormwater treatment projects in City parks during park renovation projects. The City had a planned parking lot rehabilitation project at Bridgewood Park that created an opportunity to add a rain garden during the construction process.

This area sends water to Lambert Creek, which eventually flows to East Vadnais Lake. Lambert Creek is currently impaired for E. coli. This project is one way of addressing this bacteria pollution and filtering more stormwater before it reaches the creek. 

It's estimated that each year, this rain garden captures 185,702 gallons of water, which translates to 4,643 bathtubs of water, or 1 football field 1/2 foot deep. It also annually removes about 0.5 pounds of total phosphorus and 85 pounds of total suspended solids from water runoff.

Interpretive sign