EPA Region 7 News and Events
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Tree Planting Project Helps Restore English Landing Park in Parkville, Mo.
In an early celebration of Earth Day and Arbor Day, residents and city officials of Parkville, Mo., along with local Girl Scouts and EPA Region 7 staff, participated in a tree planting project recently at the city’s English Landing Park, as well as a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The park lost about 100 trees during last year's flooding along the Missouri River. EPA supported the replanting of trees because of the many benefits trees provide, such as helping to prevent erosion by anchoring soils and keeping excess sediment out of the river. In addition to trees, EPA staff planted wetland species such as native sedges, rushes, grasses and broadleaf plants in swales at the park, which also stabilize soils and reduce river sediment. Left photo: New trees are unloaded from a flatbed truck. Left center photo: Joining in the ribbon cutting are (from left) Pauline Latta, Parkville resident; Alan Moore, Main Street Parkville Association; Gerry Richardson, Mayor of Parkville; and Frank Muehlbach, Lions Club. Right center photo: Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks (second from left) joins the EPA tree-planting team of (from left) Kris Lancaster, Parke Stevens and Gayle Hubert. Right photo: Steve Kovac, wetlands branch chief, carefully plants wetland vegetation. More information
Green Solutions in Kansas City, Mo., Monitored in Extensive EPA Stormwater Research Project
In one of the largest research efforts of its kind in the nation, installation of eight monitoring stations began at recently completed rain gardens that are part of Kansas City, Missouri's Green Solutions Project to revitalize the Marlborough Neighborhood. The city (KCMO) constructed stormwater control measures under an agreement with EPA to reduce combined sewer overflows. Prior to building rain gardens, KCMO relined sewers and installed new curbs and driveway extensions along with permeable pavement sidewalks. EPA is researching the effectiveness of the green practices to help KCMO determine the best ones to use in other locations, and to provide valuable data for a rapidly advancing science. Laboratories at EPA Region 7, the University of Missouri-Kansas City's (UMKC) School of Engineering, and the University of Alabama will share in completing the analytical work. Left and center photos: a monitoring station is installed by experts from UMKC, and EPA and KCMO contractors. Right photo: the completed station, a steel box that houses samplers and other instruments to collect water quality and quantity data during rains in summer and fall.
