Storm water runoff from the parking areas of the Visitor Center of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge will no longer degrade the water quality of wetlands in the Minnesota River Valley.  Natural treatment systems known as rainwater gardens will be constructed this summer in areas now serving as islands within the parking lots around the Refuge Visitor Center.  Grant funding from the Metropolitan Council, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Hennepin County Soil and Water Conservation District, Lower Minnesota Watershed District and the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service will fund the retrofit of the existing storm water conveyance system. The Friends of the Minnesota Valley will provide in-kind services to coordinate and administer the project.

Rain water gardens consist of depressions that receive runoff when it rains that remove  undesirable heavy metals and other contaminants via the establishment of native plants including wild flowers.  The areas resemble flower gardens but include a variety of native plants that assist in breaking down and/or storing contaminants and promotes infiltration through the soil which assists in recharging ground water supplies.

The area will also serve as a demonstration of a retrofit of conventional stormwater conveyances systems as well as an educational site for the environmental education and interpretation programs at the Refuge.