The Pylypow constructed wetland and stormwater management facility is located at the East end of Roper Road, right as it comes up to 34th street. Roper Road doesn’t connect through to 34th street, so plan your route accordingly! There is parking access on 34th street, on-street parking on Roper Road. The trail is reasonably short (about 2km), and is mixed paved and gravel.
The Pylypow constructed wetland is part of the regional stormwater system, and works in conjunction with the Fulton Creek further to the southeast, which has been designated as an environmental reserve.
Beginning in 1994, the city identified the need to mitigate existing flooding risk by controlling runoff from existing and future developments in the Fulton Creek basin. It was identified that both 17th street and 34th street could be at risk of flooding during major storm events, In 2004, the city purchased land that would address the flood mitigation objectives - the Pylypow Regional Facility, planned as an off-stream storage treatment facility for the Fulton Creek basin.
The objectives of the project were to:
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Provide storage and control peak flows into the Argyll Tunnel
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Reduce flooding of the Aryll Tunnel and Mill Creek
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Reduce flooding along Fulton Creek and adjacent lands
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Control flows from industrial areas that were previously developed without stormwater management
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Improve the quality of runoff from lands within the Fulton Creek Basin
The constructed wetland is designed to provide approximately 150,000 m3 of stormwater storage, improve creek water quality and provide wetland habitat. Construction in and around the creek would take place to direct the flow of water into the storage pool, create multiple ponds to allow sediments to settle out, provide wetland habitat for a variety of wildlife, and enable controlled release of water back into the creek.
While there is plenty of avian wildlife in the area (depending on the time of day), you won’t find any fish: The Fulton Creek is incapable of supporting fish on a continuous basis, as a result of the outfall structure at the Mill Creek which is impassible to fish.
The full details of the project can be found on the City of Edmonton’s websites:
To log this cache, take a walk around the trails and answer a few questions:
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About how many birdhouses do you see?
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How much nitrogen and phosphorus can be removed from the water in constructed wetlands?
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Name a few of the birds, mammals, insects and underwater critters can you find here?
Please send your answers to the CO and log your find - no spoilers please! Any logs without corresponding answers may be removed.
Don’t forget to check out the other caches around the wetland!