Bayfield Xeriscape Ed Final Report

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~ Narrative of installation procedures March of 1992 the Bayfield Xeriscape Education Project was granted partial funding approval. This approval allowed the Bayfield Elementary School staff to begin planning for construction on a nature trail on the School's property. The first installment of money was received in October 1992 but actual construction could not begin due to lack of available manpower and to the potential disruption of the school playground area. However, the underground drip irrigation system materials and other supplies and equipment were ordered. During the fall of 1992, volunteers were solicited from the school and community to assist in building a trail and installing the underground drip system. ~ Installation of the drip system began in June 1993. The previously mentioned volunteers that were to help with construction did not materialize due to time and scheduling conflicts. Obtaining assistance from others was more of a problem than was originally thought. What was done was to acquire the services of six older students through a local, state supported job training program. These six students were supervised by one of the school district's teachers. Work progressed with trail construction and drip irrigation system installation. This work was very labor intensive and took the months of June, July, and August of 1993 to complete as these were the only months that students were not on campus and was the only time that work could be done on the construction phase of the project. ~ During Spring of 1994 it was time to plant the trees and shrubs along the trail according to the three different life zones. Help was solicited from teachers and students. Four classrooms of fourth and fifth grade students volunteered to do the planting and with the supervision of their classroom teachers did a super job. There was some plant mortality, this was attributed to the drip system rather than the planting process. The underground drip system was selected because of the reduction in evaporative water loss from what it would be in conventional surface watering schemes and the hoped for extension of plant roots to a lower level than what might otherwise occur. This drip system is probably not going to be as successful as we had hoped for the following reasons: the gallonage is predetermined by the emitter size and spacing of the emitters which is not changeable, and the fact that we are trying to use the schools irrigation ditch water which is not very clean. The water was run through a series of filters but the filters would become plugged within a short period of time and would need to be cleaned. This cleaning became so frequent that eventually the filters were bypassed entirely and the irrigation water sent directly to the emitters. This unfiltered water will reduce the lifespan of the emitters but it is hoped that the emitters will last long enough to get the plants well established, and in future years when additional