Vote to help the Garden win a $10,000 grant!

Hey Oregon Garden fans, we need you to help The Oregon Garden win a $10,000 grant from Rain Bird.

The project with the most votes by March 22, 2011 will win the grant for the most Intelligent Use of Water. Our grant proposal is for funding for the Wetlands at The Oregon Garden.

The wetlands at The Oregon Garden represent a unique partnership between The Garden and the nearby city of Silverton to recycle treated wastewater from the community. Treated water is piped to The Garden where it charges the wetland area and provides The Garden's irrigation water. These man-made wetlands also help replace naturally occurring wetlands that have been lost to recent development. Here at The Oregon Garden we have created almost 25 acres of new wetland area.

The most prominent wetland feature in The Garden itself is the 4 acre site consisting of 15 linked ponds. These ponds are flooded with treated wastewater from Silverton. After the wastewater goes through secondary treatment, it is pumped through 16" pipe to The Garden. Depending on the time of day and irrigation needs, between 100 and 400 gallons of water are pumped per minute.

Not only does this innovative water feature provide irrigation for The Garden and wetland mitigation for the city, it also offers educational experiences for more than 100,000 annual visitors to The Oregon Garden. Each year 6,000 5^th Grade students learn about “Amazing Aqua Life” with the wetlands as their living classroom.

Help us win this grant by voting every day! You can vote once per day per computer.

How to Vote:

1. Go to http://www.iuowawards.com/Default.aspx

2. Click on "find and vote on the project you want funded"

3. Put "Silverton" in the city/state search field

4. Click on the Thumbs Up symbol for the "Wetlands Treated Waste Water" project to cast your vote.

5. Come back every day and vote!

We'll let you know if we win the grant...Thank you for your help!