Short Street Nature Preserve and Play Space @ Lakelands

UER is proud to announce the launch of its newest Healthy Habitats Project: the Lakelands Short Street Preserve and Nature Play Space.

This newest Eco-Functioning Space will demonstrate to hundreds of people how to combine active play in nature with ecosystem restoration and stormwater management. It will also teach residents how replicate these concepts in their own yards and community spaces. The project will deliver precious ecosystem services to Gaithersburg while exposing residents to conservation principles, water quality concerns, and nature play for health.

UER and the Lakelands Community Association (LCA) have worked for over a year to plan and build support for this project, and now the project team is ready to finish the design and installation of this new nature preserve and play space. This project will build off the success of the Butterfly Commons at Lakelands project.

Not only have residents become more interested in ways to incorporate “Healthy Habitats” in their own yards since the Butterfly Commons was installed, but the UER-LCA team has realized (through existing outreach efforts) that a larger project – one that allows people of varying ages to have a more immersive nature experience with different levels of interaction – will help more people directly see and experience the importance of this kind of landscaping. In addition, the project will transform a highly underutilized and unsafe area surrounding stone rip-rap and stormwater pipes into a safe and educational play area.

This project is made possible by generous award from the Outreach and Restoration Grant Program of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, with funding from the City of Gaithersburg. UER is grateful for the continued support of these funders.