The City of Madison Engineering Division will dedicate a new rain garden to the late Roger Bannerman, 9 a.m., June 16, 2021, on the corner of Fox Avenue and Sheldon Street next to the Southwest Commuter Path. City staff, WDNR staff, Roger’s wife Jane Bannerman will speak at the special ceremony. The public is welcome to attend.

The Engineering Division named its rain garden program after Roger Bannerman to honor his years of tireless work toward improving urban stormwater quality, his love of rain gardens and dedication to stormwater quality issues. Bannerman was also an invaluable resource to the City of Madison and its stormwater regulatory program.

The Roger Bannerman Rain Garden Initiative provides grant funding and technical assistance to private property owners who would like to build a rain garden in the terrace of their property associated with a street project.

Background on Bannerman
Bannerman began his career at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) in 1975. He retired from the WDNR in August 2012, after 40 years of state service. After retirement, he worked for the Wisconsin United States Geologic Survey (USGS).
During his career he worked tirelessly to incorporate science into the regulatory framework for stormwater management in Wisconsin and also used it to guide the stormwater goals in Wisconsin’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer (MS4) permit program.
Roger was involved in countless research projects for urban stormwater quality describing the pollution in urban runoff and the effectiveness of stormwater practices including street cleaning, wet detention ponds, pervious pavement, grass swales, biofilters, infiltration basins and rain gardens.

Roger has countless publications describing his research . He also authored the Wisconsin Rain Garden Manual pdf , a document in use today.

Roger was instrumental in advocating for and helping implement the Adams Street Rain Garden pilot project in 2005 that eventually became the current Engineering Rain Garden program.

Bannerman, 75, died Oct. 15, 2020.

Rain Garden Resources
DNR Guide: Build a Rain Garden at Home
Plant Dane: Choose Rain Garden Plants
Build your Rain Garden for Less than $100 pdf
Everyday Engineering Podcast Episode: Rain, Rain Go in My Garden
Help the City reach its 1K Rain Garden Goal
Map: Current map of rain gardens in Madison