Why do some ponding basins have grass and trees and others don ?
The District has a longstanding partnership with Tree Fresno to plant trees in ponding basins in the Fresno/Clovis area. The volunteer coordination and planting expertise are provided by Tree Fresno and the trees, site grading, irrigation system, and turf are put in by the District. The most recent plantings occurred at basins located at Peach and Ashlan, Nielsen and Teilman, and Chestnut and Shepherd. The results speak for themselves. Improvements the District provides are funded out of accounts specific to each of the more than 160 drainage areas within the District boundaries. The money comes from property taxes collected within the drainage area and from fees assessed on development that occurs in the drainage area. The top priority for spending that money is installation of needed curb inlets, storm drain pipeline, and excavation of the basin to which the pipeline drains, in order to provide protection from localized flooding. When there are enough funds in a drainage area’s accou
