Listen to New Bedford Conservation Agent Chance Perks tell us about these improvements in a video here.

New Bedford Conservation Agent Chance Perks at Buttonwood Park Zoo

Buttonwood Brook is a unique landscape feature to a popular urban park and zoo, both of which share its name. The brook is also the region’s most negatively impacted urban stream flowing through one of the Bay’s most disadvantaged communities.

Buttonwood-to-Bay is a five-year EPA-funded project, including the towns of Dartmouth and New Bedford, the Friends of Buttonwood Park, and the Buzzards Bay Coalition, designed to bring together local communities, non-profits, and municipalities to tackle longstanding issues that impact local water quality and community resilience.

Now in its final year, Buttonwood-to-Bay is in its last stages of construction. Last year, you may have read about investments in green infrastructure and ecological restoration that directly benefitted the health of the brook.

Lately, you may have noticed some work along Brownell Avenue by the Buttonwood Park. Department of Public Works crews have redesigned and have nearly finished brick laying at this stretch of parking between Berkley and Gaywood streets. For years, this stretch of parking was difficult to maintain and was victim to the elements. Now a basin to catch storm run-off from Brownell has been constructed under a top layer of attractive pavers. This will keep storm runoff from going directly into the brook.

The work within the zoo is centered around the best way to keep animal waste out of the parts of the brook that flow directly through the zoo. The exhibit that houses the buffalo that will construct some terracing at the water’s edge to minimize storm runoff flowing into the brook while keeping the animal’s safety and well-being in mind.

Similar tactics will be used in the domestic livestock area and the paved area by the manure storage.