A-B TECH WETLAND EDUCATION PARK
ASHEVILLE, NC

The A-B Tech Wetland Education Park demonstrates how developed urban land can be transformed to better manage stormwater while creating habitat, educational opportunities, and a more engaging campus landscape.

Blue Earth Engineering led the engineering and water resources design for the project, working with project partners to transform approximately one acre of formerly developed land into an integrated system of green infrastructure. The design includes two bio-infiltration basins, a constructed wetland, permeable pavement, and other features that slow, capture, infiltrate, and treat stormwater runoff.

The project receives runoff from a substantially larger contributing watershed and is designed to demonstrate how natural hydrologic processes can be reintroduced into highly developed landscapes. Rather than moving rainfall quickly off the site, the system allows water to slow down, interact with soils and vegetation, and support a diverse wetland ecosystem.

Education was an important part of the project from the beginning. Trails, a pedestrian bridge, gathering spaces, and interpretive opportunities allow students and visitors to experience the site as a living laboratory for stormwater management, ecology, and watershed restoration.

The project reflects a central principle of Blue Earth’s work: infrastructure can do more than solve a single engineering problem. Thoughtfully designed water systems can simultaneously improve water quality, restore ecological function, create habitat, and connect people more closely with the landscapes and watersheds around them.