County News
A natural education

Jun 24, 2008

A demonstration garden, bog, rain garden and a rainwater harvesting system will be included in a nature education center planned for Kaufman.

Work on the center, on Highway 34 just south of Highway 175, is scheduled to begin this week, Texas AgriLife Extension Agent Ralph Davis said.

Commissioners approved the project Monday at their regular meeting after Mr. Davis said he had a grant of about $30,000 to pay for the park. Construction should take about a year.

“We want to build, basically, an outdoor learning center,” he said.

The demonstration garden will include exhibits on plant selection, composting and mulching. The bog garden will contain plants that grow best in a wet environment.

The rain garden will not be a pond, but a depression where rain water can collect and then filter into the soil.

Irrigation for the center will come from a large rainwater collection tank catching runoff from an old building on the site.

The garden will have a self-guided tour naming all the plants. The pavilion will be used for classes.

The money is coming from the Texas Water Development Board and much of the center’s program will be devoted to teaching about water use and conservation.

Mr. Davis said the county has a smaller center at the Forney sub-courthouse. Eventually, he’d like a center in Mabank. “Then we’d have on in the north part of the county, the south and the center.”


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