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ENVE 560 Class Project

A Hole in the Ground

During the Spring Semester of 2009, the students of the graduate level ENVE 560 class undertook a service learning project. Using the six-step Earth Force model and democratic classroom style, Dr. Terry Wilson, professor for this course, introduced us to several issues that we could research and work together to implement an action plan. The issue we chose to pursue is a collapsing sinkhole that is located near Jones-Jaggers Hall on WKU's campus. A picture of this sinkhole is located to the right of the screen. Our goal was to make this area safer for anyone who would like to visit the sinkhole and to provide educational opportunities about karst and how that relates to what is happening here.

Typically, the Earth Force program is targeted toward youth and encourages young people to serve as active citizens who improve the environment and their communities now and in the future. Through Earth Force, young people get hands-on, real-world opportunities to practice civic skills, acquire and understand environmental knowledge, and develop the skills and motivation to become life-long leaders in addressing environmental issues. The developers of this program know that little can be accomplished by working alone, so the materials are designed to be used in a group setting. Teamwork and collaboration are key to successful implementation of any project. For more information about Earth Force, visit their website at http://www.earthforce.org/.

Listed below are explanations of how each group did their part to make this project a success.

Sinkhole during rain event.

Sinkhole during a rain event. To see movie, click here

After viewing the sinkhole as a class, we decided to work in groups to implement the following:

Design an educational sign describing karst landscape, the purpose of the injection well and how sinkholes are formed
Establish a grassway for water management to help slow down the erosion process
Create a webpage explaining the process of the project implementation
Collect educational materials related to karst, water management, and sinkholes
Design a rain garden to saturate water that flows towards the sinkhole
Research fencing materials and receive estimates from professionals in the fencing industry

The class examines the sink hole and discusses what to do for a service learning project.

Sign Design

Stephanie Biggs, Peggy Lamont, Tiphanie Merriam and Lewis Priddy were in charge of designing a sign for educational purposes. This group conducted research on the development of signs (ex. Adults spend an average of 30 seconds to read a sign). They created a model that was not only aesthetic but educational as well. The sign they designed describes karst landscape, the purpose of the injection well and how sinkholes are formed.

The "sign design" group discuss what language to use on their sign for the sinkhole.
L-R: Stephanie Biggs, Peggy Lamont,
Tiphanie Merriam and Lewis Priddy

Here is a sample poster of what our sign will look like.

Grassway

Jerry Smith, Carrie Robin Menapace and Caleb Wells are in charge of getting rid of the rip-rap and installing a grassway for water management. The rip-rap that is currently in use has eroded around the edge which allows the water to go around the rip-rap instead of through it. This group has plans to grade the area to and lay down a fescue sod which work best to slow down the water that comes through this area. More information about Best Management Practices for water runoff can be found at the following website http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps/index.cfm.

The rip-rap has been removed and the area is being prepared for the grassway.

This is a picture of the process of removing the rip-rap.

This is a picture of the completed grassway for water management now that the rip-rap has been removed.

Above is a picture of the completed grassway for water management.

Three students discuss how the rip-rap needs to be removed in order to provide a space for the grass waterway.

L-R: Jerry Smith, Carrie Robin Menapace and Caleb Wells discuss how the rip-rap needs to be removed in order to provide a space for the grass waterway. Two students from the class measure the width of the proposed grassway.

Jerry and Caleb measure the width of the proposed grassway.

Educational Resources

This group collected educational materials to karst, water managment and sinkholes. These links are available for P-12 educators to use as resources in the classroom. Enjoy! Click here to view the karst related educational materials:

The educational resources team works together to develop a wide array of resources for the website.

Clockwise: Kandy Fear, Stacey Duvall,
Kathy Riggs, Shane Davis and Deb Sherfey

These educators are in the process of compiling educational resources related to our project.

Rain Garden

Alicia Cannon, Amy Porter and Rachael Jones were responsible for designing a rain garden. A rain garden is a garden with a shallow depression that captures runoff from impervious surfaces, such as rooftops, patios, driveways, and parking lots, before it enters the storm water system. Rain gardens can be customized and are limited only by the resources and time you want to put into them. They use natural processes to improve water quality by filtering pollutants and reducing the amount of storm water runoff. The water easily infiltrates into the soil because of the deep roots of the native plants and recharges the groundwater supply. An example of what is wanted to be achieved can be seen at http://bluegrassraingardenalliance.org.

During the week of May 11-15, 2009, WKU's gardening crew created the rain garden that Amy, Alicia and Rachael designed. Below are pictures of the progress. A special thanks to Greg Fear, Manager of Campus Services, for agreeing to help establish our rain garden by providing free labor by his facilities management team members.

The backhoe is beginning to dig the area for the rain garden. Another picture of the backhoe digging the area for the rain garden.

The area has been smoothed and the side of the rain garden closest to the sinkhole is being packed down. Here is a different angle of the space for the rain garden before the plants have been put into place.

The garden crew continues the process of planting. The garden crew is planting the water-loving plants for the rain garden.

A different angle of the planting process.

Here is a picture of the finished rain garden. The thick grass serves as an additional buffer for the water flow.

It may be difficult to tell from these photos, but there is an extra layer of sod between the rain garden and the sinkhole to serve as an additional buffer.

Three students measure the area we will use for our rain garden.

L-R: Alicia Cannon, Amy Porter and Rachael Jones

After some discussion, the group decided that this area would be the best location for the rain garden they designed.

Fencing

Michael Peake was in charge of researching fencing materials and receiving estimates from fencing professionals. His goal was to find a fence made out of recycled materials. Michael’s primary concern was to find a cost efficient fence that was reliable, safe, and environmentally friendly. Michael found out that 90 – 100% of steel comes from recycled materials. The following website shows the metal recycling rates for 2007; courtesy of EnviroMetal. http://www.recycle-steel.org/pdfs/2007Graphs.pdf

This type of fencing is what Michael found to be the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

This webpage was created by Teresa Robertson and Robin Hume.