At a Glance
By identifying and planning for the protection of the natural resources on its campus, the Burgundy Farm Country Day School is poised for sustainable, responsible growth.
Project Description
Founded in 1946 on the site of a former dairy farm, the Burgundy Farm Country Day School strives to foster “…responsibility for self, for others, and for the natural world.” Recognizing that the campus landscape is imbedded in its core identity, the school contracted Biohabitats to perform an ecological assessment of the campus and develop recommendations for its sustainable use and conservation.
Biohabitats began by reviewing spatial data related to the landscape and characterizing field conditions. The landscape was broken down and mapped into nine separate ecological zones, with each eco-zone reflecting a variation in the dominant plant community, ecological processes, and relative ecological integrity.
Biohabitats then developed a series of zone-specific strategies to address challenges and enhance the overall landscape sustainability. These strategies included: reducing impermeable surface area to less than 10% of the total acreage; implementing deer exclusion to foster forest regeneration; reducing sedimentation and nutrient loading in the campus pond; limiting new construction to areas of low ecological integrity; expanding of the campus tree canopy; and converting lawn areas to naturalized meadow. The school enthusiastically embraced these recommendations and has integrated the ecological assessment into its larger campus master plan.