48 StormWater Specialist Trained and Ready to Take on Rain Garden Maintenance Work

2024 was a significant year for the StormWater Specialist Training program. Throughout the season, Friends of the Rouge and Sierra Club taught three groups of participants about green infrastructure and rain garden maintenance. This resulted in 48 StormWater Specialists trained and ready to take on contracts to maintain rain gardens around the Detroit area.

The StormWater Specialist Training (SWST) was first started in 2019 by Friends of the Rouge and Sierra Club to meet the growing need for a workforce who understands how green infrastructure works and how to properly maintain it. Over the course of six weeks and twelve classes, participants learned about the increasing shift towards developing green infrastructure, the different types of green infrastructure, the tasks involved in maintaining rain gardens, what plants are typically included in rain gardens, and information on how to establish maintenance contracts if they decide to start their own business.

Upon completing the program, graduates became eligible to begin taking on maintenance contracts facilitated through the St. Suzanne Cody Rouge Resource Center. These contracts include tasks such as weeding, mulching, edging, and planting in various rain gardens throughout the Detroit area.

An initiative has also started by SWST graduates to collaborate and form a co-op focused on native plant landscaping as well as rain garden installation and maintenance. If you would like to work with the SWST co-op for any upcoming rain garden installations or maintenance needs, please contact Amethyst Crawford at amethystcrawford15@gmail.com.

When asked about how the program has impacted them, a small group of graduates responded that it has increased their awareness of the solutions to the flooding their communities experience, while also giving them the opportunity to build relationships with other like-minded people as they engage in work that heals the land.

“The SWST program has impacted me and my fellow participants of the program in a fully integral manner. I’ve personally witnessed and experienced the joy and excitement to work side by side with both experienced and knowledgeable individuals and staff in the program…. My favorite part of the program is being able to come home after a long day and having experiences worth more than gold.”

  – Obi Adjuman, SWST Grad, Summer ‘24

Looking ahead to 2025, Friends of the Rouge and Sierra Club plan to teach three more cohorts of the SWST program at St. Suzanne Cody Rouge Resource Center. The current planned dates for these cohorts are the following:

• Cohort 1: April 15- May 22, 2025, 
• Cohort 2: June 3 – July 17, 2025 (excluding the week of July 4th)
• Cohort 3: July 21 – August 28, 2025

For any information about the SWST program, please contact Matt Connors at mconnors@therouge.org.