NICC to receive Iowa Living Roadways project funding

The Northeast Iowa Community College Foundation has received a nearly $20,000 grant from the Iowa Living Roadways Project Program to support construction of a bioswale conservation improvement at the Calmar campus.  Bioswales are landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water.

The NICC Calmar Landscaping Committee, in partnership with the NICC Foundation, the City of Calmar and the Winneshiek County Soil and Water Conservation District, will construct the bioswale in a 9,000 square foot area behind the Industrial Technologies building on the Calmar campus.

The funding will allow NICC and its grant partners to complete site excavation for the bioswale and install native Iowa plant species that will serve practical, environmental and aesthetic purposes. The completed bioswale will capture a portion of the estimated 423,000 gallons of water run-off in the area annually and allow the water to percolate into the ground to reduce flooding, recharge underground aquifers and mitigate the college's environmental impact on the property.

Previous grant funding through the Iowa Living Roadways Project Program helped NICC to integrate native wetland, savannah and prairie plants, as well as sedges and grasses, for the college's public garden, butterfly garden, shelterbelt, oak savanna and native prairie areas as part of the college's master sustainability plan.
 
The Iowa Living Roadways Project Program provides funding for landscape enhancement projects along transportation corridors, particularly for small communities and rural counties. Since the Iowa's Living Roadways Program began in 1996, Iowa volunteers have planted nearly 39,000 trees and shrubs, over 109,000 native perennials and nearly 34,000 pounds of native prairie seed.