MONONA -- IN THE NEWS!
Monona Conducts Bioregional Assessment
On March 15 Trees Forever’s field coordinator Emily Swihart led Monona’s Community Visioning team through an exercise in bioregional mapping that helped make connections between how the landscape was, how the community developed, and what factors may contribute to how the community moves forward. Bioregional maps were compared in three general groups to help make information synthesis more focused but throughout the conversation committee members continued to make observations and references to other maps. The general categories were as follows with observations pulled from the conversation:
Watershed and Depth to Ground Water:
Historic Vegetation, Present Day Land Cover, and Present Day Vegetation Maps:
Historic Settlement Patterns and Elevation Map:
On March 31 at 2 p.m. at the Community Center the committee will revisit this information during an Inventory Review meeting prior to goal setting. Monona’s street superintendent Randy Evanson will join the Community Visioning group’s discussions, as will members of DOT, Trees Forever, and ISU’s landscape design team. This meeting will compare data from each inventory process (Transportation Assets and Barriers, Bioregional Assessment and Transportation meeting) as an exercise in synthesizing the set of data as an entire unit. If you would like to have a digital version of the bioregional maps earlier discussed, please provide your email to Rogeta Halvorson at MononaChamber@neitel.net or call Monona Chamber at (563) 539-8340.
Watershed and Depth to Ground Water:
- Monona is located at the highest point in Clayton County, as such has four watersheds that it contributes to
- Being high in the watershed is fortunate from a flooding potential but also means there is a responsibility to start the water treatment train at the top to protect communities lower in the watershed
- Monona has started the process of developing a stormwater management ordinance and permeable paving is being used in new construction areas
- Monona has recently been recognized for stormwater management practices including a 2015 Stormwater Conference award for a permeable parking lot
- East Iowa Street is illustrated as having a depth to ground water of 6+ feet, the committee raised concerns that this is inaccurate as homes in that area experience flooded basements during a rain event
Historic Vegetation, Present Day Land Cover, and Present Day Vegetation Maps:
- Being high in the watershed, historic vegetation was predominately prairie
- Community development has led to the introduction of a more varied land use pattern that was originally on site
- The downtown area is heavy with structures and roads/impermeable surfaces- very little vegetation is present- look for opportunities to add more vegetation
- Short root grasses are used in roadsides leading to erosion- committee was extremely interested in learning more about the use of native grasses and forbs in the roadways and how to work with roadside managers to accomplish such a planting.
Historic Settlement Patterns and Elevation Map:
- Early settlers’ names were recognized, with some families still being settled today in this area
- Settlement patterns followed ridgetops and avoided drainage ways
On March 31 at 2 p.m. at the Community Center the committee will revisit this information during an Inventory Review meeting prior to goal setting. Monona’s street superintendent Randy Evanson will join the Community Visioning group’s discussions, as will members of DOT, Trees Forever, and ISU’s landscape design team. This meeting will compare data from each inventory process (Transportation Assets and Barriers, Bioregional Assessment and Transportation meeting) as an exercise in synthesizing the set of data as an entire unit. If you would like to have a digital version of the bioregional maps earlier discussed, please provide your email to Rogeta Halvorson at MononaChamber@neitel.net or call Monona Chamber at (563) 539-8340.
