Ecological restoration and resiliency planning meets future urban development needs.

Todd’s Creek is at the western edge of Purdue University, and in the heart of Purdue Research Foundation’s $1 billion Discovery Park District development. The relocation of Todd’s Creek positioned the waterway as a central element within Purdue University’s Horticulture Park while improving ecological value and storm water conveyance and storage.

Prior to its realignment and restoration, Todd’s Creek was a channelized ditch, unable to accommodate storm water draining from the upstream developments of Purdue University and West Lafayette. During major storm events, the stream banks would overflow and flood State Street. This inhibited further development along the corridor. Moreover, the degradation of the channelized ditch provided no ecological value.

The reimagined stream is a best practice for ecological restoration and resiliency planning: handling stormwater and future urban development through a diverse collection of native ecologies. The relocation of the stream through Purdue University’s Horticulture Park re-activates this once-popular destination through the lenses of habitat, biodiversity, and community health and wellness. Trails, bridges, boardwalks, and overlooks invite the public to this new natural feature. Signage and bird and bat houses tell interesting, important stories about the restoration and society’s interaction with nature.

The meandering, natural form creek includes a twelve-foot wide, shallow, constant-flow channel within a 70-feet wide riparian corridor. Earthen shelves within the corridor provide for additional conveyance and storage to solve flooding issues and provide for new development opportunity within Purdue Research Foundation’s Discovery Park District.

The immersive landscape feels and looks natural but is contrived to employ eight distinctive native emergent plant communities set within distinctly different meadow and forested environments. MKSK paid special attention to removing invasive species, selectively clearing declining forest areas, carefully positioning the creek and contouring to preserve important existing trees, and maintaining horticultural properties of existing topsoil for future plant establishment. MKSK led on-site walks with university faculty, buildings and grounds staff, arborists, and others to gain input and knowledge of unique conditions. Through feedback gained during these sessions, MKSK and the team of civil and hydraulic engineers, Schneider Geomatics and Christopher Burke Engineering, collaborated on this multi-disciplinary solution.