VALPARAISO – Save the Dunes has received funding to naturalize the Thorgren detention basin in Valparaiso. The effort will improve local streams and provide wildlife habitat.
The $607,000 grant was awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and will be matched by $126,100 of in-kind service from the City of Valparaiso.
The Thorgren project will involve removing concrete and replacing it with a natural meandering stream. Existing turf grass will be replaced with native plantings in wetland and prairie planting zones.
The basin temporarily stores stormwater from 530 acres of residential and commercial land.
