Durham, NC - Contracted work on Duke University Road across from Hart House is finishing its latest phase as part of an effort to restore a wetland site impacted by storm water runoff.

The project, which is led by the Duke University Wetland Center, started in April and is expected to complete its current phase of construction in about two weeks, said Curtis J. Richardson, director of the center and professor of resource ecology at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

Richardson said that due to heavy storm water runoff, a portion of Duke University Road started to collapse and needed stabilization. Once the project is completed, the site will feature seven species of native trees and more than two dozen species of non-invasive native grasses, shrubs and perennials, including swamp iris, swamp hibiscus, sweet flag, and more.

"Right now, people driving by the work site only see a big ugly hole, but when it's done this will be an attractive, fully planted wetland and streambed complex that will provide a natural habitat for wildlife and protect downstream water quality," Richardson said.

The site across Hart House is in Duke Forest, and is part of the Duke Stormwater Wetland Assessment and Management Park (SWAMP), a long-term research and teaching facility where Richardson and colleagues from numerous local schools and universities are testing best management practices for wetland and stream restoration and for treating urban runoff.

The restoration project is funded with a $370,000 grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, and is being administered by Eddie Culberson, director of the Durham County Soil & Water Conservation District. Work over the next two weeks will consist of contouring the landscape, stabilizing slopes and putting berms around the wetland - a raised bank of earth used to affect the flow of water. Richardson said that after about two more weeks construction equipment will be gone and replanting and seeding will begin for the wetland site.

"In the past, people just let water run into nearby Sandy Creek, but it has to be treated," Richardson said. "Long-term, this will improve the water quality going into the Jordan Lake reservoir."

The restored site, which will include a half-acre treatment wetland, a half-acre of riparian wetlands and a re-contoured streambed will take about a year to fully complete.

Learn more about the project at the Duke University Wetland Center website.