What some would see as just a portion of muddy lawn at City Park, Angie Flickinger saw as an opportunity to better the environment.

A couple years ago, Flickinger, who works on a part-time basis with the Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition in Juneau, conducted a community watershed assessment to determine areas that would be ideal for a rain garden in Wrangell.

Rain gardens act as natural filtration for rainwater that empties into streams and other waterbodies.

"Basically, I went around on city and borough land, so I didn't do the whole island but kind of the city area," Flickinger said. "I c...