Judy’s Cressless Rivulet: In Memory of Rick Coppens ‘85

For all who have made the journey from the Moore House down the Lake Road to the lower part of campus, the sound of falling water at the base of the hill is ingrained in your memory. Students have enjoyed a peaceful moment of respite there since the founding of the School. 

Judy’s Cressless Rivulet, located on the north side of the Lake Road, is an integral part of the fabric of the La Lumiere landscape, and one that needed a helping hand to restore it to its former glory. As part of our larger efforts to promote place-based learning at La Lumiere, a group of four students worked with Brian Tonino ’12 and Mrs. Judy Smith to take the first step in the restoration process over the course of the past two weekends.

In partnership with Paul Vicari of Great Lakes Ecology and Land Resource Management Group, a plan was formed to restore the creek. The first step was manually removing a decade’s worth of overgrowth and all of the river rock boulders from the bed of the rivulet, allowing the thalweg creek to breath and flow more freely. The next step will involve a hydrology and hydraulics experiment to study the flow characteristics around and within the creek to determine how to most effectively use boulders and natural resources to create an idyllic and effective water supply for our lake.

In restoring Judy’s Cressless Rivulet—named that because of the personal care and attention Judy Smith used to devote to pulling watercress from the bed of the rivulet as it grew up—we have an additional unique ecological habitat for our students to study and learn from. Once complete, we will shift our focus to the south end of the creek leading back up to the Moore House and the spring from which it originates. This effort will include addressing storm water run-off from the top part of campus and repurposing the retention basin near the Cressless Rivulet to create an area for students to gather near the water.

For more information about Judy’s Cressless Rivulet, future plans, or ways you can get involved, please contact Brian Tonino ’12 at btonino@lalumiere.org.