Pond and Prairie Restoration Project Ground Breaking on June 5th

Sunset-Hill-FallThursday, June 5th at 9:30 a.m. a Ground Breaking Ceremony will be held at Sunset Hill Farm County Park for the Pond and Prairie Restoration Project. Park Staff, donors, partners and other key community members will be present to break ground on the project that will improve these key features of the park. The groundbreaking will be preceded by an address by Park Board President, Rich Hudson, and followed by refreshments and networking.

The project is managed by the Park Staff in partnership with Purdue University and the Indiana DNR and will be carried out by contractors Earth Source & Heartland Restoration Services of Fort Wayne.

The goals and objectives of the project are to protect, restore and preserve the native fauna and flora of the park, improve the native ecosystem and minimize the spread of non-native plants. It is also proposed that this project will significantly improve water quality of the local watershed by removing these non-native species and installing deep-rooted native plants. This project supports the mission of the Parks Department to preserve, protect and manage the natural resources within a diverse park system.

Several community partners have supported and driven the efforts for this project including Dr. Vanessa Quinn, Associate Professor of Biology at Purdue University and Derek Nimetz, Regional Ecologist, Indiana DNR. Funding for the project has been provided by Indiana DNR Lake Michigan Coastal Program, ArcelorMittal and Enbridge, Inc.

To learn more about this project please visit the “Park Projects” page at www.portercountyparks.org or call 219-465-3586.