A Rain Garden's Ripple Effect: An Introduction to Green Stormwater Infrastructure and Why it Matters

CSO, or Combined Sewer Overflow dumps excess waste water into a nearby water body, posing a serious hazard to the health of the environment and people in the area.  [1] 

Water that falls on built surfaces, such as parking lots or roofs, usually finds its way into a storm drain and those drains either empty directly into a natural water body or into a larger sewer system. When the larger sewer system is overloaded during heavy rains it will dump its untreated excess water into the environment. If the system is a combined sewer overflow it will expel a mixture of runoff water, human waste water, and (sometimes) industrial waste water, directly into natural water sources, such as local lakes, rivers, and streams.

Riparian zone schematic typical of the Florida Everglades. [2]

Water that falls across a paved surface generally collects salt, petrochemicals, and other pollutants directly from asphalt and whatever has leaked out of on-site features, such as automobiles. Having this hazardous waste-water dumped directly into a natural water source poses a serious threat to the aquatic ecosystem as well as to residents and farmers that encounter the water body. Riparian zones, the area near the banks of waterways, often serve as habitat and migratory pathways for numerous threatened and endangered species. It is important to approach landscape planning and design with sensitivity to the consequences of point-source pollution to these areas, caused by adding water volume and pollution runoff into a sewer system.

Another consequence of directing water into storm drains is that the water that would normally be falling on the earth’s surface as rain and locally and being absorbed into the watertable is running off an area and being redirected directly into water bodies. When green stormwater infrastructure is installed the ecosystem’s natural hydrological processes remain more intact due to offset of rapid water input to waterbodies during rainstorms (which also means decrease in flooding, especially on downstream properties).

  A bioretention system, or rain garden, in Oregon, US, decreases runoff.*

An example of green stormwater infrastucture is an infiltration basin. These are created simply by grading the landscape’s topography towards an area where the water can collect and sink into the ground. The intercepted water no longer goes straight to a natural water source. The plants included in one of these intercepting depressions can be phytoremediators--meaning they remediate the soil from many of the harmful chemicals now being directed into the storm water catchment area.

The primary result of the addition of green stormwater infrastructure to a landscape is that water is slowed, it sinks and recharges the water table, and the toxic chemicals in it are filtered or remediated before it reaches an aquatic ecosystem.

Because of green stormwater infrastructure, the delicate aquatic ecosystem is no longer bombarded with dirty water from the property during heavy rains.  The pipe from drain to output area may become almost negligible to maintain in price. This can save tens of thousands of dollars in the long run, and this saving adds up quickly when many properties are being considered at once. To give an idea - as of 2008, the total reported water infrastructure needs for the United States included $63.6 billion for combined sewer overflow control and $42.3 billion for stormwater management. Green stormwater infrastructure reduces the need for complex sewage systems and uses natural processes to treat storm water throughout the landscape.


Author: Molly A. Burhans
goodlandproject.org


Sources

[1] Hartford, CT Combined Sewer Overflow. © Molly Burhans, 2015.

[2] Wikipedia. Riparian zone schematic typical of the Florida Everclades. From '' The Impact of Federal Programs on Wetlands - Vol. II'' source: http://www.doi.gov/oepc/wetlands2/images/fig12-1.gif {PD-USGov}

[3] A photograph of a bioretention system, or rain garden, in Portland, Oregon, US. Wikipedia, User:
EmilyBlueGreen.

City in a Garden: A Reflection on the American Society of Landscape Architects' 2015 Meeting and Expo

Photo Credit: Chicago Lakefront, Wikipedia User Name: Daniel Schwen

There is a very small population on this planet that finds discussions about bollards, botany, grading, and paving materials enrapturing. I am one of this odd population that delights in the parley of porous pavement who gathered in Chicago’s McCormick Center for the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) 2015 Meeting and Expo in early November. I was not entirely sure what to expect, because I am not a Landscape Architect. Instead, I am from one of the related, somewhat subversive branches of landscape planning and design known as ecological design, which is less focused on what you design, and more on the framework you use to design it. Ecological design frames the telos of design to respect an integral ecology, which, in turn, informs the whole systemic approach to the design process. I digress.

Thousands of people attended the ASLA conference. I had an enjoyable time, attending humbling education sessions about conservation strategies and listening to high-design conversations about monolithic water features that were one part aesthetically sublime and one part ecologically mortifying. I met people from architecture, design and planning who are engaged with inspiring work on the residential scale all the way up to nation-wide planning efforts. There were too many interesting talks and events to do justice to the insights they offered, but I will try my best to provide a glimpse of the highlights. Coinciding with each session I attended were several other fascinating sessions that I was only able to enjoy vicariously by listening to small talk in the expo.

Meetings should include a representative set of stakeholders. B. Batchelder '15

The first talk I attended was titled Designing with The Homeless, by Carol Mayer-Reed, Randy Hester, and Douglas Pardue, who discussed how to include individuals experiencing homelessness into the design process of public spaces. The homeless rely on many public spaces more than any other population of individuals, and their inclusion in a charrette is respectful and logical. I must admit, this inclusion was a new and brilliantly obvious notion that had escaped me until now. There was also discussion about designing spaces for the homeless that are dignified in appearance, in contrast to the all too common shelter spaces that succeed best at putting the “brutal” in “brutalist”. One of the speakers mapped homeless networks—this information could help inform the location of resource allocation and distribution to these populations. This session was both fascinating and moving. Some of the most vulnerable among us lack any social space in our society as it currently functions. The least we can do for them is provide humane spaces in the built world. It was inspiring to see people using their design backgrounds to do good work to make those inclusive spaces a reality.

Different bee life stages require different habitat. Cred: Molly Burhans

I also attended a pollinator education session, which is a topic that particularly interests me, since I was a member of a team of students at Conway that produced a city-wide Pollinator Vison Plan for a non-profit in Portland, Maine. I was naively hoping for a scientific lecture that could answer my questions about how to effectively integrate entomological behavior research into design for pollinators. However, I quickly realized that this was not what this talk was about. Although it was not the talk I expected, it was hopeful to hear about nationwide efforts to support pollinators and the vital ecosystems services they provide us.

Transformational Learning: Integrate Ecological Research Into Design was a session that caught my interest weeks before the conference. This talk discussed how to integrate research opportunities into landscape design, as well as how to thoughtfully apply scientific research to designs, in order to increase their ecological integrity and the surrounding ecosystem's health. Something that has occurred to me in the past is that one goal of lighting design within the landscape might be to help reduce the incidence of diseases that employ photosensitive insects as vectors. This thought was inspired by the research one of my former instructors who studies mosquito behavioral plasticity and photoperiods of artificial and natural lighting. This project made me reconsider the potential of using lighting, water, materials, and virtually any element of a design in experiments that might help to increase both scientific understanding and the application of that understanding to designs. Alexander Felson and his advisee Nikki Spinger, Thomas Woltz, and Kong Jian Yo lead the discussion at this session. Kong Jian Yo’s team is working on a project that will clean up an entire lake in China—the renderings of that project were aesthetically breathtaking and ecologically inspiring. Alexander presented the theory behind this integration as well as a discussion of his efforts to integrate ecology research and design. Thomas Woltz from Nelson, Byrd, and Woltz is also part of a team working to learn more about how different reforestation and conservation designs best promote biodiversity.

Woltz was also involved in an education session titled Conservation Agriculture: Quantifying Results and Expanding Territory. The Conway School is in some respects a gigantic education experiment, and a constant of that experiment involves permaculture and sustainable agriculture experts, ecologists, landscape architects, and conservation biologists all working with students on design. To be honest, I was not anticipating I would find a session at an ASLA meeting that could have been a studio lecture at Conway, but I did. This session placed a farmer, a conservation biologist, and a Landscape Architect on the same stage to talk about such diverse topics as food security, ecological integrity, cultural landscapes and aesthetics.

Geodesign: Visualizing Green Infrastructure presented by Stephen Spears, Mathew Wilkins, and Brooks Patrick was another outstanding talk. Once again, the software capabilities for design are absolutely mind-blowing—ESRI’s City Engine and the possibilities for visualized rule-based design, for example, provide a powerful way to approach planning. Geodesign is a framework for approaching projects that I first encountered during graduate school. One of my instructors, Paul C. Hellmund, was lecturing about a design framework and he mentioned that it was largely inspired by Carl Steinitz. He held up Steinitz’s book “A Framework for Geodesign: Changing Geography by Design,” which I quickly thereafter borrowed. After reading this book, my life was irrevocably changed and my entire learning experience at the Conway School was revolutionized. It is delightful to encounter academic work that is so impactful. It was a new and positive experience for me to be in a room with many people who were familiar with this work, and other geodesign work, and to learn how people around the world had applied and augmented geodesign frameworks.

I also attended talks on water, human resources in the context of Landscape Architecture firms, bioregionalism, public and private spaces, as well as a number of other subjects that slip my mind at the moment. I was pleasantly surprised to see hand-rendered designs at the conference. I love the technology available for design, and I do not shy away from it. However, I thoroughly admire the art of architectural drawing as well, and personally enjoy getting a break from my computer to draw and paint. It was useful to see how some firms are balancing their use of new technology with the traditional disciplines of the field.

For me, the sessions which included Woltz, and the talk on Geodesign were the highlights of my experience at the meeting. Not only did they touch on subjects that I deeply care about, the speakers were incredibly humble and willing to share their successes and failures in their efforts to work toward designs that genuinely make the world a more verdant and just place. These talks were extraordinarily informative, and I was humbled and inspired, taught valuable information, and filled with joy by these sessions.

In addition to the education sessions, there was the “Expo”, which had display booths for things like paving surfaces and lawn furniture. There was also playground equipment dappled through the Expo—if I had not been wearing a dress most days and if I could have found an adventurous friend to join me, I probably would have spent more time “testing” this equipment. I did test some exercise playground equipment, including one piece of equipment that seemed like it could more easily shred knee ligaments rather than help people shed weight—I gained a great deal of respect for the value of this Expo in helping individuals determine what should be included or not included in common spaces.

The American Society of Landscape Architects did an good job coordinating this interesting and valuable conference. I met a number of extraordinary people and obtained a much better sense of how others are making landscapes function for a greater good.

Author: Molly Burhans 
www.goodlandproject.org

Millennium Park, Chicago is one of the most iconic public spaces in America. Edward Uhlir of the Millenium Park foundation provided a narrative about the development of this space's design, sponsorship, and inmplementation. Wikipedia: by DDima

Can Gardening Really Help Save the World?

By Valerie Payn

Babylonstoren Estate. Paarl. An eco-friendly alternative to lawn. Photo credit: Valerie Payn.

People often say to me “What difference does it make how I choose to garden? My garden is such a small piece of land. Surely it’s a huge exaggeration to say the way I garden can help save Earth’s environment?”
 
I think questions along these lines miss the point. The world is faced with big problems, so we think they need big solutions. Most of us are just ordinary Earth citizens with limited means and influence, so we think big problems must be left to experts, governments and big international organizations with big resources to solve them. We forget, or ignore, that most of the problems the world faces today only became big because millions of people choose to act in similar small ways that individually might not make much impact, but collectively have a huge effect.

Lawn, the biggest cultivated crop in America

Take lawns, for instance. NASA, in 2005, estimated that lawns cover about 128,000 square kilometers, or 31 million acres, of the USA’s landmass. That is more land than the USA uses to grow corn. As Cristina Milesi, one of the world’s foremost researchers on the ecological impacts of lawn remarks ‘lawn could be considered the single largest irrigated crop in America in terms of surface area’. Milesi has calculated that keeping all this lawn at golfing green perfection requires approximately 200 gallons of fresh water per person per day.  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Lawn/. The average petrol powered lawn mower is 11 times more polluting than a car, per unit of energy used.   Lawns also lack bio-diversity, an essential part of any healthy garden eco-system. 

 Japanese philosopher and natural farmer- gardener Masanabu Fukuoka once commented that, judging from the appearance of the average American garden, it would seem the main American dream is to live in a large country house surrounded by large trees ‘and enjoy a carefully manicured lawn’ (Masanabu Fukuoka. 1992).  He argued that people suffering from ‘lawn culture’ are so stuck on the idea of large immaculate lawns they won’t consider more eco-friendly possibilities for gardening.  The citizens of the USA are not the only ones on Earth who suffer from ‘Lawn Culture’, or a fondness for other unsustainable gardening habits. In my book An Ecological Gardeners Handbook I highlight a number of other unsustainable gardening ‘cultures’ including ‘WANA’, ‘Less is More’, and ‘Exotica’.

 New habits for a new millennium

Of course, individually, what we do in one tiny little pocket garden is hardly likely to make a dent in the state of the global environment.  But if millions of gardeners choose to garden in more sustainable ways it will certainly help transform our urban and suburban environments from polluting, energy and water guzzling environmental wastelands into resource conserving, biologically rich, productive urban ecosystems. Our collective actions have a tremendous impact. Collective action begins with individuals who see a new vision, choose a new path, and forge new ways of being, thinking and doing with other individuals who also buy into that vision.  Turning a small pocket of land into a garden with a healthy ecosystem is as good a place to start as any. As Australian folk musicians ‎Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly sing, ‘From little things, big things grow’.

Valerie is the author of An Ecological Gardeners Handbook; a book that explains how Nature gets plants to grow, without a human in sight, and how gardeners can use those same natural processes to create productive, flourishing, healthy garden eco-systems, wherever they live.

 

Wetlands and Land-Use

Wetlands Cape May New Jersey, wikimedia, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library

“39. The replacement of virgin forest with plantations of trees, usually monocultures, is rarely adequately analyzed. Yet this can seriously compromise a biodiversity which the new species being introduced does not accommodate. Similarly, wetlands converted into cultivated land lose the enormous biodiversity which they formerly hosted.”

--His Holiness Pope Francis I, Laudato Si, par. 39

The quote above from Laudato Si' references two major issues related to land-use, management, and landscape design. One issue addressed is large-scale monoculture planting practices that replace biologically diverse ecosystems. Another, related issue deals with land-use decisions about where to locate specific activities, such as cultivation, and the reasoning behind this location. Specifically, in this paragraph from Laudato Si', Pope Francis refers to the topic of wetlands being converted into cultivated land.

Wetlands are incredibly important to the health of ecosystems. They can trap floodwaters, recharge groundwater supplies, remove pollution, and provide habitat for a diverse array of species. Wetlands are important for fishing, hunting, agriculture and recreation (EPA). The existence of only a fraction of wetlands has been recognized. Unless a property has been properly analyzed before construction or changes in maintenance occur, these biologically precious areas often remain unrecognized and vulnerable to degradation.

The existence of a wetland is often less apparent than the marshy photo above. Sometimes a wetland is only seasonally saturated. When this is the case, a wetland may become apparent only by the detection of plants in the area that can tolerate high water saturation in the soils. The soils in these areas will show evidence that they have developed in anaerobic conditions (these soils are often called “hydric soils.”)

Why does recognizing wetlands matter? More specifically, why is it a potential problem if you choose to cultivate crops in a wetland? Depending on the crop, the crops may not be very tolerant of the natural conditions – consequently, remediation of the land towards the goal of crop growth may be necessary, and this will require additional energy input. Additionally, the UN’s FAO has determined that environmental degradation is more prominent within wetland systems than any other ecosystem on Earth. That means that the species that need wetlands to survive are losing these vital places, putting them at risk for extinction faster than is the case for many species that rely on other ecosystems. In fact, wetlands are incredible reservoirs of biodiversity, and their degradation contributes enormously to the serious problem of loss of species. Pope Francis says “Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right.” If we are to protect many of the species that rely on wetlands for their existence and to allow wetlands to continue to provide the innumerable ecosystems services that they provide to the world and all its people, well beyond the geographic boundaries of wetlands, we must ensure that they are recognized and protected in landscapes.


by Molly Burhans
www.goodlandproject.org 

What's in a Map? (an Introduction to GIS Technology and its Potential Applications in the Church)

View of the Roman Forum, Giovanni Paolo Panini (1692–1765). Wikipedia.org

Recently I had the opportunity to connect with a woman who works on historical landscape preservation in Rome; this brought me back to thoughts that I’ve had about not just the ecological potentials of the Good Land Project, but also the great potential of future collaborations that could relate to the historical preservation of Holy Sites and landmark pieces of ecclesiastical architecture and landscape design.

As I began to write about mapping historical landscapes, I realized that before I can enlighten my readers regarding the immense potential of landscape planning I also need to provide a basic introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology.

Don't let the technical sound of Geographic Information Systems intimidate you - GIS technology is actually quite simple, and it is incredibly interesting. If you have ever used Google Maps or Map Quest to locate where you are, or to find directions between two points, then you have already used a GIS.

An example of a gvSIG, open source GIS software. Vector data layers are being combined over raster satellite photos in this image. The left side shows where you can show or hide layers; these layers appearance can be edited and their information contents used in analyses, as well. source: "gvSIG 1.0," Emilio Gómez Fernández, Wikipedia.org

Maps can reveal routes for travel from one point to another in the landscape. Maps can also show the location of geographic features, such as a town, bedrock geology patterns, or national boundaries. In the twentieth century, a revolution in geographic sciences occurred with the emergence of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) computer technology. GIS technology provides a way to connect lists of information, like addresses and geographic points, using a computer program that builds a map based on this information. GIS technology made the static Cartesian map a thing of the past, and transformed the map into a dynamic tool for spatial analysis and a way to give vision to discrete data narratives about nations, cities, and homes. A GIS allows massive amounts of information to be overlaid, analyzed, and correlated based on its location in space. In fact, a GIS allows information about virtually any objects, to be geographically and temporally linked. For example,Geographic Information Systems can be employed to create a map that reveals where to send medical resources by connecting epidemiological data with village coordinates using a few simple commands. A GIS can indicate where there have been mass conversions to Catholicism. It could also reveal where Church lands are hosting rare habitats or playing crucial roles in landscape connectivity. All of this can be accomplished by connecting existing data sets with a map of Church lands. The possibilities for increasing our understanding of the Catholic Church’s spatial operations are numerous, and the potential impact of using this understanding for enhancing the lives of large numbers of people is enormous.

Layers of geographically related information stacked, source: Diane Quick, wikipedia

Maps are emerging as one of the most powerful tools of the twenty-first century, and the Church and her operations stand to benefit greatly from the creation of maps of Church lands. GIS software allows information to seamlessly flow between maps, graphs, and other forms of informational representation that can provide visual understandings of large quantities of information that might otherwise be challenging to verbally articulate and understand. In the past few years, the creation of a maps based on crowd-sourced information became possible. This allows mapping Catholic lands to become a global community effort. Maps can be automatically created with data collected by people pinging cell phone signals, by online surveys, and even by individuals simply drawing lines around their properties on a satellite picture. A Church map could be built and constantly edited by the communities within the Catholic Church and connected by a central database. Considering all these factors, making maps of Catholic lands using GIS technology is entirely feasible. Creating maps no longer requires the mapping missionaries of bygone eras. However, it can still be a service to use GIS technology to map new information about the "unmapped" world, and make new or improved data sets available for educational institutions, organizations, and governments.

Why is it called a Geographic Information System rather than a Map?

System is an appropriate word to describe how GIS works. A GIS is a system of tools and information; geospatial (geo - earth, spatial - pertaining to space) analysis involves coordinating and connecting information through a variety of programs or interfaces. There is no one correct way to use a GIS, regardless if you prefer simple coding in an IDE or using a model builder program. However, there are occasions that are more or less appropriate to use different components of a GIS. Working with Geographic Information Systems technology is comparable to creating complex musical tracks by looping and augmenting previously recorded audio tracks. The instruments (tools) can create raw code, AutoCAD documents, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, Graphic images, etc. GIS Software is like the music mixer; it is what allows all of this information to be recombined and related to its geographic location on the Earth's surface.


Mapping Catholic lands presents an incredible opportunity to reveal a new understanding of the Church, and to explore how virtuous acts, like helping care for a neighborhood, can have a spatial component. It also presents an opportunity to use creative solutions to address pressing environmental concerns to potentially make a lasting impact on the course of climate change. Mapping could present a new way forward for the Church to become more ecologically and socially sustainable, and to use her resources to do good in even more effective ways.

Some Videos for individuals interested in learning more about GIS:

What is a GIS (from esri): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEaMzPo1Q7Q

TEDx Talk on GIS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V_Mz7NDy3o

What is LiDAR? (really interesting!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYbhNSUnIdU

What is Raster and Vector data? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwcoZJagfQ

Author: Molly Burhans 
www.goodlandproject.org