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Native Plants Improve Health of WMU's Valley Pond

Christine Lena

Throughout the summer, the ten-and-a-half acres of the Valley Pond on Western’s campus have undergone major renovations. The pond itself is being extensively cleaned with improvements to its storm water management system. There are also changes on the land surrounding the pond. For years, invasive and other non-native, plants have moved into the area. Project Manager Christopher Pyzik says they need to be removed and replaced.

Credit Christine Lena
The south side of the Valley Pond

“What they call invasive species (are) like the weedy things that come in and can actually choke out a lot of nicer, native plants that are more attractive," Pyzik says. "So we’ve worked with Landscape Services to identify what things are really the high quality varieties and which are the weedy, invasive things. And then we’ve been working to remove those within the project. Landscape Services will continue to work on that for years because it really takes a while to really develop that.” 

Pyzik says these native plants will make the entire pond a much healthier environment for wildlife. And he says the well-known swans that live at the pond will be coming back to a much nicer home. 

“All the plantings are going to enhance what’s around there now, the native Michigan plantings," Pyzik says. "Really, it’s kind of a buffer for wildlife as well for the enjoyment of people on campus. So we’ve got swans down there which have been temporarily relocated to Parkview campus, they're going to come back after completion of construction. We did hydraulic dredging, which is kind of like a big vacuum cleaner, which was less disruptive to the aquatic wildlife in the pond. So I think that was a real plus as well, as opposed to bringing in bulldozers and doing something more disruptive.”

Credit Christine Lena
Peter Strazdas, associate vice president of facilities management at Western Michigan University

Over 50 years of runoff from the Valley residence halls and parking lots had collected in the pond, according to Peter Strazdas, the university’s associate vice president of facilities management. He describes the dredging process like vacuuming the floor of the pond. 

“We vacuumed the bottom of this pond and we pushed that off to the end over here, which you’ve seen these large sacks, and those are kind of like cheese cloth. You put all this stuff to make cheese, you keep squeezing it and you’re squeezing the liquid out, and obviously what’s left is a lot of solids," Strazdas says. "So in the process of taking the combination liquid and solids through the vacuum, into these very large, semi-porous sacks, that the water was kind of oozing out of the sack but the solids were left in there.”

Credit Christine Lena
The vacuum tube used for the pond cleaning

Pyzik says all of the wildlife has been protected throughout the construction.

“The plan is to improve the water quality as a result," Pyzik says. "Also the project involved storm water management (including) bio-swales, where storm water outfalls discharge from parking lots and buildings into the pond. (Now) they’ll be filtered through natural detention areas with native plants and soils, and it’s going to, I think, really enhance the look and feel of the project and the area around the pond, which is really kind of the front door to the new dining hall.”

Strazdas says the project has involved a lot of different people. 

Credit Christine Lena
The final plans for the Valley Pond

“We’ve had lots of professionals be involved, we’ve asked students to be involved, we’ve ask faculty to be involved with this project," Strazdas says. "So it’s kind of cool that everyone has had their say on this. And we took the best ideas, relative to a more sustainable environment, an environment that will be nicer. So not only do we feel good about the, doing the right thing sustainably around the pond, and in the pond, but standing in that second floor of the dining unit, looking out that window and looking at that pond and saying ‘wow’.” 

Strazdas says renovations at the Valley Pond will not only mean cleaner water and a more attractive landscape. He says it will also improve the lives of the plants and animals that live there.

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