Visitor Center Parking Lot: Paving the Way to a Cleaner Environment

The Arboretum's parking lot catches and recharges water that ends up in Meadow Lake. This filtration system safeguards the lake's ecosystem (plants, fish, birds, and amphibians) by keeping the water quality as high as possible.

The Arboretum's parking lot features an environmentally progressive design. The lot uses interlocking, permeable paving blocks with gaps at the corners filled with fine gravel. The permeable blocks and gravel act as a filtration system for rainwater and melting snow so that pollutants can be removed or broken down before runoff reaches other water sources.

For more information about the design of the Visitor Center parking lot download Main Parking Lot: Paving the Way to a Cleaner Environment. (PDF)

The Meadow Lake restoration project and the Main Parking Lot project at The Morton Arboretum has become one of eight pilot projects newly certified by the Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) for its sustainable site design, construction, and maintenance. They join three other projects that received certification in January 2012.