GSI Visual Monitoring at Wooten Meadow Park
Visual Monitoring Data from Wooten Meadow Park
Welcome to Wooten Meadow Park!
GSI Visual Monitoring at Wooten Meadow Park
The next time you visit Wooten Meadow Park, be sure to take a photo of the Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) using Raleigh Stormwater's Visual Monitoring Station!
Installed in early 2025, the GSI Visual Monitoring Station at Wooten Meadow Park provides an opportunity for park visitors to engage with community science.
The data collected from monitoring stations such as these help the City of Raleigh leverage public interest in preserving and maintaining natural spaces that help manage stormwater runoff. The GSI at Wooten Meadow Park helps improve water quality and reduce flooding impacts.
At Wooten Meadow Park, the visual monitoring station allows visitors to document seasonal and long-term changes at one of the constructed wetlands in the park.
Constructed Wetlands are GSI
Wetlands are critical ecosystems for stormwater and groundwater systems. Their absorbent plants and soils naturally soak up stormwater, slow runoff, and filter out pollutants.
With their unique soils, pools, and plants, wetlands help filter pollutants and reduce downstream flooding impacts. These qualities make constructed wetlands excellent tools for nature-based stormwater management.
In addition to stormwater management, wetlands also provide vital habitat for native plants and wildlife.
About 70% of endangered species native to North Carolina rely on wetlands for food, habitat, or reproduction. (North Carolina Division of Water Resources, 2024)
Construction and development activities can negatively impact, or sometimes completely eliminate, these critical ecosystems.
The City of Raleigh aims to construct GSI - which include constructed wetlands - to help restore natural processes and habitats that may have been degraded or destroyed over time.
The majority of Wooten Meadow Park lies in Hare Snipe Creek's 100-year flood plain. Here, flooding is part of the natural water cycle. The wetland relies on regular flooding to keep soils healthy and support diverse plants and wildlife.
The City of Raleigh restored a stream channel and several wetlands at Wooten Meadow Park. These natural features within Hare Snipe Creek's floodplain provides unique habitat for plants and wildlife, while also providing a special space for community-nature connection, no matter the weather.
GSI Visual Monitoring Results
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Winter 2025
The first image from the visual monitoring station shows the Wooten Meadow wetlands on one of the coldest days of the year!
Most of the surrounding plants and wildlife are dormant during these cold months, but in a few weeks we should see a wetland beginning to wake up for spring.
2
Spring 2025
As the weather warms up and the days start to get longer, we can see some of our wetland plants and grasses activate and bring back some greenery.
Daylighting a Stream
In addition to the wetland restoration efforts, a major part of the project was daylighting a tributary of Hare Snipe Creek.
During urbanization, many of our natural systems or processes are altered as humans develop the landscape.
Before environmental regulations were in place, natural resources like wetlands and streams were often covered, piped, filled, or paved over. Today, these natural features have more regulatory protections but may still be altered by developmental impacts.
"Gray" stormwater infrastructure, like storm drains, pipes, and culverts, are important in combination with green stormwater infrastructure.
Together, this infrastructure can safely manage stormwater runoff in urban environments during rain events.
However, gray stormwater infrastructure alone does not help improve water quality or recharge groundwater supplies through infiltration like GSI.
Free-flowing water may be channeled through underground pipes or culverts during development.
At Wooten Meadow Park, the City has daylit a stream that was previously conveyed through an underground pipe. The stream daylighting has restored critical ecosystem services and water quality benefits provided by a stable, open stream channel.
Now, visitors of Wooten Meadow Park can see the stream as it flows throughout the park.
By bringing this stream to the surface, the park sees new life. Riverine plants can flourish, wildlife have new habitat and resources, and the surrounding community can see all of these processes in action.
Wildlife at Wooten Meadow Park
The wetland and stream restoration projects provides valuable habitat for local plants and wildlife. Visitors of Wooten Meadow Park have documented these species via community science apps such as iNaturalist.
Explore this gallery of images from iNaturalist to see some of the wildlife from Wooten Meadow Park!
See what plant and wildlife park visitors found at Wooten Meadow Park from Stormwater and the Clean Water Education Partnerships Biothon Bingo in Creek Week 2025!
Submit Your own Visual Monitoring Data
Visit Wooten Meadow Park to see participate in our ongoing data collection!
Have you already visited the Wooten Meadow Park Visual Monitoring station, or planning a visit soon? Don't forget to submit your photos here to contribute to our ongoing data collection to be featured on this StoryMap collection and contribute to our ongoing data collection!
Reach out to Raleigh Stormwater's Community Relations Analyst, Dori Rathmell (Dorothy.Rathmell@raleighnc.gov) for any questions regarding the GSI Visual Monitoring program.
