In addition to having aesthetic value, open spaces play an important role in maintaining the health of our natural environments, especially the quality of our water. When land has not been paved over, it has the capacity to absorb, store and filter rainwater before returning the water to the underground water table.

In areas that are developed with malls, parking lots, and highways, rainwater quickly enters our lakes and streams in the form of "runoff" instead of being slowly absorbed into the ground and filtered. Runoff is a contaminated mixture of rainwater and residual pollutants from our roadways and parking lots (including gasoline, chemicals, oil).

For more information about the importance of natural areas and open space to clean water, visit Audubon Naturalist Society.

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