Historically, stormwater runoff, carrying sediment, oils, grease, trash, and other hazardous material, discharged from the Grayling city streets and parking lots directly into the Au Sable River.

The stormwater approach was to dispose of runoff in the quickest manner possible, with little regard for its subsequent impact on natural resources. Where natural vegetation and soils once intercepted runoff, impervious surfaces (such as roads, parking lots, and building) sent runoff directly to the river. The natural filtering effect of the land was lost, and the river began to show the symptoms.

Au Sable Restoration through the Grayling Stormwater Project  

What's Changed?
Controlling water from rain events and snowmelt was the key concept behind the Grayling Stormwater Project. While the stormwater runoff problem may not be unique to Grayling, the Au Sable River is!

In 2002, Grayling was selected as a pilot project site by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to demonstrate Low Impact Development techniques for reducing stormwater runoff. 

Watch the Grayling Stormwater Project Video

Low Impact Development
Low Impact Development (LID) is an innovative management approach to address the problems development can cause. For stormwater, it uses a basic principle that is modeled after nature: manage rainfall at the source using decentralized controls or multiple, small-scale treatments. Techniques are based on the premise that stormwater management should not be seen as stormwater disposal. Instead of conveying and managing / treating stormwater in large, costly end-of-pipe facilities located at the bottom of drainage areas, LID addresses stormwater through small, cost-effective landscape features located at the lot level (Low Impact Development Center, Inc.).

Natural Drainage
The basic principles behind natural drainage include:

• Maintaining natural vegetation wherever possible

• Intercepting rainfall with tree canopy

• Minimizing pavement where practical

• Disconnecting areas of impervious surfaces to increase opportunities for infiltration

• Directing water to depression areas

• Detaining water close to where it falls

The above principles are used in conjunction with one another to control stormwater at its source and thus reduce the quantity of runoff.

An example of the natural drainage approach is to direct water from the road into open swales within the road right of way. By adding vegetation to these areas between the road and sidewalk, stormwater runoff slows down and the soil and plants can filter the water. This and other Low Impact Development strategies are based on simple concepts that have been left out of most conventional developments in our rush to grow.

Grayling Rain Gardens
The rain gardens are infiltration basins: they allow stormwater to collect in them and infiltrate through the ground, mimicking the natural hydrologic flow of the landscape, rather than traveling through a storm sewer.

There are 86 rain gardens infiltrating stormwater from over 60 acres of land in a neighborhood south of the river. The gardens, constructed in the city-owned rights-of-way between the sidewalks and the streets, are many different shapes and sizes but share these common characteristics:

• Sloped sides and a bottom below street level allow water to collect

• Cuts in the curb allow water to enter

• Native shrubs and perennials filter pollution out of the stormwater

                   Before                                  After

Overall, the basins were engineered to filter at least 80% of the stormwater in the neighborhood, and all signs indicate that they are easily achieving and possibly exceeding that goal.

Some of the plants include sand coreopsis, black-eyed Susans, purple coneflower, asters, orange butterflyweed, blanketflowers, poppies, and cosmos. Learn more about Native Plants.

Adopt-a-Rain Garden
A number of gracious residents adopted 22 of the rain gardens to perform the necessary maintenance in the gardens, weeding, watering and monitoring for pests and invasive species.

To learn about how to design a rain garden, visit Rain Gardens. 

Project Links

• Watch the project video

• 2008 Update

• 2007 Update

• 2005 Update

Project Funding

Funding for the Grayling Stormwater Project was provided through a $758,000 Clean Michigan Initiative grant administered by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Other key project sponsors include:

• City of Grayling ($127,000)

• Michigan Department of Transportation ($90,000)

• Trout Bum BBQ ($59,263)

• Michigan Fly Fishing Club ($19,100)

• Paul Young Chapter of Trout Unlimited ($19,000)

• Upper Au Sable River Preservation Association ($6,000)

• Kalamazoo Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited through their Stanley Weber Projects Fund ($5,000)

• Mason Griffith Chapter of Trout Unlimited ($3,000)

• Crawford County ($3,000)

• Elliot Donnelley Chapter of Trout Unlimited ($1,750)

• Ray's Canoeing and the Fly Factory ($1,500)

• Spikes Keg of Nails ($1,196)

• William B. Mershon Chapter of Trout Unlimited ($1,000)

• Lee Wulff Chapter of Trout Unlimited ($150)

• Individual donors ($1,055)

For more information about this project, please contact Jennifer Muladore.