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Ellenberger Park
How to get there - Yahoo Map (Driving Directions)
How to get there
- Indy Parks pdf Map
Work Day Description:
Meeting Location:
Please park and meet at the parking lot located on the north end
of the property. Click on the following pdf link to find a map
of the parking and meeting location.
Ellenberger Park Meeting and Parking Location (pdf)
Participants must wear clothes appropriate for field work such as
long pants and closed-toe shoes or boots. Water, lunch, gloves, and
tools will be provided.
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Ellenberger Park Riparian Restoration Background Information
Provided by: Indy Parks and Recreation Land Stewardship Office
 Indy
Parks and Recreation and the Department of Public Works have
partnered since 2001 to restore the native plant community, while
eliminating invasive exotic plants, along the Pleasant Run Greenway
in Ellenberger Park. The riparian restoration project extends along
both sides of Pleasant Run from Ritter Avenue to Pleasant Run
Parkway South Drive and terminates at the edge of the north and
south walkways. To date, the two departments have managed for
invasive exotic species utilizing mechanical and chemical controls
and have planted containerized trees native to Indiana such as red
maple (Acer rubrum), eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), and bur oak
(Quercus macrocarpa) within the restoration site.
Native plant restoration practices administered by Indy Parks and
Recreation remove invasive exotic plant species and reestablish
native plant communities. Invasive exotic plants have devastating
effects on natural areas, slowing or stopping the regeneration of
native plants. Furthermore, exotic species diminish the native
plants that wildlife depend upon for food and shelter. In addition
to habitat degradation, invasive plants retard soil formation,
causing increased soil erosion and subsequent sedimentation of
streams.
Two combined sewer overflows (CSOs) discharge into Pleasant Run
within the Pleasant Run Greenway of Ellenberger Park. Park users now
have unrestricted access to the stream for wading and recreation
despite two CSO warning signs along the streambank. The riparian
restoration and split rail fence will create a physical and
vegetative buffer between park users and the stream, discouraging
access and recreational use. In the meantime, the Department of
Public Works will continue to implement control structures to
significantly reduce wet weather discharges such as inflatable dams.
This use of native plant restoration as part of a proactive way too
discourage public contact with CSOs’s will serve as a transferable
model to other areas of Indianapolis and other cities facing similar
sewer overflow challenges.
The restoration will also improve water quality through: 1)
improving ground water recharge by reducing stormwater runoff; 2)
filtering non-point source pollution from parking lots and grassed
areas by allowing native plants to grow to their natural height; and
3) increasing dissolved oxygen levels by shading the stream with
native trees, shrubs and other vegetative layers. This project, and
other restoration projects in public parks and greenways, will begin
to reduce nonpoint source pollution in area water bodies.
Although the woody plant species may take many years to mature, the
grasses and wildflowers will become established in as little as
three years, providing food and shelter for local and migratory
wildlife as well as an aesthetically pleasing natural landscape.
Upon maturity of the woody tree and shrub species, the restoration
site will contain a natural vegetative structure that helps restore
the ecological function of a native riparian corridor.
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Educational Note:
Reference the IUPUI
Center for Earth and Environmental Science when citing
material from this website. To learn more about citation
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Center for
Earth and Environmental Science
School of Science
Indiana University~Purdue University, Indianapolis
723 West Michigan Street, SL118
Indianapolis, IN 46202
www.cees.iupui.edu
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