DUWC'S Stream and Wetland Assessment Management Park (SWAMP)  

 

A RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE

Confining the restoration project to Duke University property has allowed for the development of a research and teaching field laboratory wetland.  The restored ecosystem will provide a site for research on biological diversity, hydrology, mosquito control, invasive plant species, and other environmental concerns. In addition, the site has unique instructional value as an example of a rare Piedmont wetland.  What we learn here will benefit many wetlands and watersheds nationwide.

With the completion of Phases One through Four, we have constructed a complex of boardwalks and informational signs. The Durham County Soil and Water Conservation District, with funding from the NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund's innovative stormwater projects initiative, has been a partner in this project. The signs, designed by Maura Nowalk and Randy Neighbarger with input from the entire DUWC community, tell about the SWAMP restoration project and Piedmont riparian ecology. The site is accessible as an educational resource by a wide array of public users from local K-12 students to the professional environmental restoration community. (A PDF document of the educational signs can be seen here.)

A DUWC staffer checks on the signs and overlook platform near the Phase IV/Anabranching research site.

 
The boardwalk and bird blind at the dam impoundment allows visitors to watch visiting water birds and other wildlife close-up.
 

A DUWC graduate student works on an invasive plants project at one of the SWAMP research plots

 

A class of middle school science students on a nature study field trip to the SWAMP site take a break for a group photo.

NEXT:  Current & Past Research and Grants

Intro

Rationale

Stream & Floodplain

Dam & Impoundment

Stormwater Treatment

Phase 5

Education

Research