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Green infrastructure uses vegetation, soils, landscape features, and often simple technologies to provide environmental services within a community. It is a way of building nature into your town that will dress up or eliminate barren areas of asphalt, concrete, and drainpipes while serving important ecological functions.
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Benefits of Green Infrastructure
- Effective stormwater drainage
- Cleaner air
- Erosion prevention
- Reduction of heat associated with concrete and asphalt
- Financial savings
- Higher property values
- More trails and outdoor recreation opportunities
- Habitat for local and migratory birds and other wildlife
Examples of Green Infrastructure
- Vegetation on the roofs of buildings to absorb rainwater and provide insulation
- Permeable pavement designed to drain water
- Strips of vegetation planted in key locations to absorb runoff, filter pollutants, and reduce erosion
- Trees planted along streets and parking lots to provide shade and reduce urban heat
- Wetlands constructed as part of a wastewater management system
Incorporating green infrastructure may be easier than you think. Contact your local MDC office for more information.
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Bioswales provide drainage and also add beauty.
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Rain garden at the Cortex Innovation Community campus, St. Louis, Missouri
Credit
Tara Morton
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Bioretention pond, Webster University, Webster Groves, Missouri
Credit
Tara Morton
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George Owens Nature Park, Independence, Missouri. Park building with roof designed to retain water and release it slowly into the swale in front of the building. The swale contains native plants. In the spring frogs lay eggs and hatch in the swale.
Credit
Linda Callahan
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Landscaping at the Vicia, St. Louis, Missouri
Credit
Tara Morton
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Garden at Utah Station, St. Louis, Missouri
Credit
Tara Morton
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Butterfly garden in downtown Hannibal, Missouri
Credit
George Wisdom
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Additional Resources
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This booklet from the Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition provides numerous photos that will help you visualize how different types of green infrastructure might work in your community.
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This website by the EPA provides a full overview of green infrastructure and how to start building it into your community.
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The Mid-America Regional Council provides an outline of strategies for two green infrastructure projects in the Kansas City Metro.
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This publication from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources provides an overview of how to use green infrastructure as a sustainable development strategy.