Small spaces have a big impact on lakes and wildlife in the Yahara Watershed
When rain gardens are added to our local landscape, they help manage stormwater, improve water quality, support biodiversity, and beautify outdoor spaces. You can create a rain garden — a shallow depression filled with native plants that capture runoff — relatively easily at your home or business. They don’t need to be located directly beside a lake to be beneficial to our waters. What happens on the lands surrounding the lakes can have a big impact on the lakes, too!
Improved water quality
Rain gardens are made up of native plants with long root structures. The long roots can penetrate deep into the ground, and act as natural water filters. As stormwater passes through the garden, excess phosphorus and other pollutants are filtered out through the long root systems. This improves the quality of the water that eventually makes its way into our groundwater and local waterways.
Stormwater management & erosion control
Rain gardens absorb as much as 30% more water than a regular turf lawn. The native plant roots act as sponges by loosening the soil and helping water infiltrate into the ground. These plantings also help stabilize soil and prevent erosion. Rain gardens allow rain to infiltrate into the ground where it lands instead of rushing quickly over hard, nonporous surfaces toward the lakes. This can help keep soil and phosphorus from washing into our waters. Just one pound of phosphorus can generate up to 500 pounds of algae in our waterways.
Biodiversity
Rain gardens can attract and support valuable habitat for a variety of wildlife. Filling your rain garden with native wildflowers that bloom at different times is an easy, low-cost, and colorful way to attract pollinators, butterflies, and birds to your home’s outdoor spaces.
Discovering local rain gardens
The Greater Madison area is home to a growing number of rain gardens. This article highlights just a few public sites to visit in the Yahara Watershed.
This article first appeared in the 2025 Greater Madison Lake Guide. Read more from the publication.
