PROJECTS
Local Community College Incorporates Ecology In Facilities Master Plan
According to a report by the National Center for Education Statistics, 35 percent of all postsecondary students were enrolled in community colleges. By many accounts, community colleges are in the midst of an enrollment boom. We are delighted to be working with Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland as it plans for future growth. Located halfway between Washington, DC and Baltimore, the College is situated in the headwaters of the Symphony Stream. The stream flows through Symphony Woods, the site of Merriweather Post Pavilion, a prominent cultural and social space in Columbia. Working alongside architectural and planning firm Ayers/Saint/Gross on the College’s facilities master plan, we are examining ecological conditions on the campus and identifying opportunities to enhance and incorporate green infrastructure into its future growth. We applaud Howard Community College’s commitment to protect and enhance its natural resources and meet sustainability objectives.
Stormwater Solutions For A New Campus Building
The University of Delaware’s planned Interdisciplinary Engineering & Science Building will be a 150,000-square-foot facility that will house science and engineering laboratories and the Delaware Environmental Institute. Located within the drainage area of White Clay Creek, one of the nation’s designated Wild and Scenic Rivers, the site presents an excellent opportunity to demonstrate innovative stormwater management solutions to the campus community and beyond. Working with architectural and planning firm Ayers/Saint/Gross, we are currently developing schematic designs for techniques to capture, treat and manage stormwater. Concepts include green roofs, rainwater harvesting and constructed wetlands.
Greenway Has Green Light For Design
The Floyds Fork Greenway, a planned system of interconnected parks and trails along a 27-mile stretch of Floyds Fork, will provide for the recreation and open space needs of the City of Louisville’s expanding population. As a member of the multi-firm consultant team that worked on the Master Plan for the Greenway, we’re particularly thrilled to be involved with the first phase of design for the project. Working with the lead firm Wallace Roberts & Todd, we are developing a Landscape Conservation and Restoration Management Plan, which will serve as a blueprint for prescriptive measures for the Greenway’s unique ecosystems. We are also developing ecological restoration and mitigation designs, assisting with permitting, and providing details and consulting on the design of the various environmental, bioengineered and ecological features of the park. The Floyds Fork Greenway is the result of Louisville’s visionary thinkers and city leaders, particularly the non-profit organization 21st Century Parks. We’re honored to further their efforts by beginning to bring this project to life.
Analyzing Landscape & Development Capability In Alaska
Recognizing the inherent value of green infrastructure, the Fairbanks Northstar Borough in Alaska recently initiated a thorough review of its existing land resources. The review represents a critical step toward the development of a new comprehensive plan land use map to help proactively steer growth within the fairly undeveloped, 7,444-square-mile Borough.
Biohabitats was chosen to collect and review the rich geospatial data available and create base maps depicting soil suitability, wildlife habitat and migration corridors, wetland, riparian and river health, mining and forestry potential, and alternative energy potential. The base maps along with some alternative futures analysis will be used by the Borough to inform the municipality’s growth and greenspace planning.
PLACES
Earlier this month, Biohabitats Great Lakes Bioregion leader Ivette Bolender took participants in this year’s Great Lakes Restoration Conference on a tour of Hog Island near Superior, Wisconsin. If you weren’t able to attend this field trip, take a virtual tour.
Biohabitats San Francisco Bay Bioregion leader Allegra Bukojemsky is in Cleveland September 22 to present a lunch n’ learn session on “The Sustainable Sites Initiative, Guidelines for Landscape Sustainability.” Co-sponsored by the GreenCityBlueLakes Institute and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the lunchtime presentation will provide an overview of this effort to provide a basis for measuring and recognizing sustainability in landscape design, construction, and maintenance.
On September 29, Biohabitats environmental scientist Paul Kovalcik will tell participants at the State of Lake Michigan Conference about his experience developing a master plan to restore resiliency and diversity to a US EPA-designated “Area of Concern” around Muskegon Lake in Michigan.
PEOPLE
As a nature-loving kid growing up in Austin, Minnesota, a meat-packing town heralded as the birthplace of SPAM, Adam Ganser’s earliest ambitions were to a) leave Austin and b) become a rock star. Though his second aspiration remains unrealized, Adam made his way to Minneapolis, working as a landscape construction foreman, and ultimately landed in San Francisco, where he earned his B.A. in environmental planning. After working for a couple years as a GIS technician, Adam went on to earn his M.L.A. from Cornell University.
We are pleased to welcome Adam, now a Landscape Architect/GIS Technician, to the Biohabitats team. Drawn to Biohabitats by our interdisciplinary collaborative environment, where design is driven by science (he really said that!), Adam looks forward to applying his passion for ecological design and his background in innovative stormwater management to our projects. An adroit problem solver, Adam possesses an impressive array of skills that extends from and 3D modeling to construction documentation and implementation.
We’re pleased Adam decided not to pursue his childhood dream and instead chose a career in ecological design. We still think he rocks.