This Natural Drainage System will help restore the Local Ecosystem

This project will include "day-lighting" portions of the drains central channel - making that area appear like an intermittent stream that will often be dry - and planting more than 5,000 trees and bushes in the drain property.

The project is expected to help filter out 3,400 pounds of nitrogen, 616 pounds of phosphorous and 233 pounds of sediment that would have otherwise entered the Red Run Drain and traveled out to Lake St. Clair.

As part of the final landscaping of the project, MCPWO will plant a mixture of milkweed and other pollinating plants that are attractive to monarch butterflies. The plant mix will run the length of the project and create a monarch butterfly breeding area and potentially a butterfly flyway.

According to the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources, the population of Eastern Monarchs, the type of the butterfly commonly found in Michigan, has declined by 90 percent in recent decades, due to the use of pesticides and the loss of milkweed plants. The butterfly helps to pollinate flowers and other plants that support additional species of birds and butterflies.