Greenwood Park Discovery Wetland Project

Greenwood Park is a six acre open park featuring a large pond in the city of Des Moines. When park officials announced plans to dredge, the Des Moines Founders Garden Club initiated a conservation project to create a native Iowa wetlands model in the park. The wetlands, bordered by a woodland wildflower walk and small prairie, became a replica of Iowa’s botanical heritage.

The 1994 Founders Fund Award allowed for the landscape plan to be made and plant material purchased and planted. The Des Moines Founders Garden Club in collaboration with Des Moines Department of Parks and Recreation weeded, maintained and controlled invasive species. Support was also given to environmental artist Mary Miss’ mixed media installation Greenwood Pond: Double Site, an art project where each visitor is able to trace an intimate view of the pond and park while putting together a new understanding of how it operates visually and physically. Additionally, the makeup and processes of a Midwestern wetlands become clearer as one understands their role in the immediate environment.

In 2014, Greenwood Pond: Double Site was put on The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s list of threatened landscape art pieces. The wooden boardwalk’s life expectancy exceeded its 15 years. Plans have been developed to revitalize the installation. And the Des Moines Founders Garden Club is working to bring new life to the pond which has been polluted with fertilization run off from nearby lawns and rainwater which carries large amounts of silt into the pond.