Great Window update

By Greg Silva, Chair of the Creation Care Commission

Volunteers began work last weekend on the land north of the Great Window. Their objective? To divert water from pooling against the north side of the sanctuary by creating a desert rain garden.

Pam and Quentin Henderson, Emily Swartz, and I collected and removed a lot of the already-down branches. The three of them then also trimmed overgrown trees and bushes.

Jim Fox operated the heavy equipment to dig two basins.

We also dug channels from the four upper downspouts on the west side of the music center to direct any water coming from that roof into the new basins. After lunch Jim was joined in his efforts by his wife Laura, and sons Daniel and Jesse.

The dirt pulled from the basins was used to create berms to contain and direct the water away from the wall where the Great Window is. We also created channels to take any overflow from the upper basin to the lower basin and from the lower basin out to Campbell Avenue.

We will continue working through the summer, doing small amounts of work as weather permits. We will smooth the basins and channels to improve water flow, and trim some of the overgrowth. That will give the volunteers better access to the lower section to create additional basins and channels there.

In the fall (when the temperatures fall enough to make such work more reasonable), we will organize volunteers to help sow new plants, line the basins and channels, and create walkways. We will keep you posted as plans progress.

Thank you to everyone involved!