La Crosse Area Waters celebrates Clearwater Farm as 2024 Soak it Up Award winner

La Crosse Area Waters (LAW announced this week that Clearwater Farm is the recipient of the 2024 Soak it Up Award for their innovative and sustainable stormwater best management practices. Through their commitment to creating a wetland garden, Clearwater Farm has transformed a previously unusable space into an educational oasis that demonstrates the value of effective stormwater management.

Clearwater Farm’s small apple orchard, originally a productive agricultural space, started to face challenges from increased stormwater runoff, which resulted in a shallow water table incompatible with apple tree growth. Recognizing the need for change, the farm installed a rain garden filled with water-tolerant native plants, berms, and swales that direct, capture, and absorb stormwater. This transformative project has turned a previously degraded area into a thriving educational resource, benefiting the local community and environment...