LARE grant funds construction of rain garden at Crooked Lake
(Talk of the Town file photo by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Crooked Lake, below, with the help of volunteers, will soon have a rain garden installed to help protect the lake's excellent water quality.
By Jennifer Zartman Romano 
The Crooked Lake Association recently received a LARE grant enabling them to build a rain garden near the lake.
Crooked Lake Association member and Master Gardener Jan Barkley is spearheading the project. The purpose of the garden will be to slow the speed of water moving into Little Crooked Lake.
A work day to build the garden has been set for Saturday, September 11 at 9 a.m. near the confluence of Crooked Lake and Little Crooked Lake.
"We have 13 flats of plants to put in the ground at the rain garden and the swale across the street," Barkley said.
Barkley is now asking for volunteers to help with the project -- not only those who live at Crooked Lake or Little Crooked Lake, but anyone with an interest in preserving the quality of local lakes.
LARE grants are awarded by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources' Lake & River Enhancement program. Funded projects are those that insure the viability of public waters throughout the state -- particularly those that reduce non-point sediment and reduce pollution so that water meets or exceeds state water quality standards. A rain garden, as it is planned for Crooked Lake, would reduce the speed of water into the lake, provide a filtering effect and potentially reduce less pure water from entering the lake.
Crooked Lake is among the cleanest lakes and is the second deepest lake in Indiana.
If you are interested in helping to build the rain garden or need an exact location for the project, contact Jan Barkley via email at jbarkley@imagingoffice.com.