sustainability - DG2 Design

Feb 11 2019

Pollinator Gardens

I recently became interested in pollinator gardens when I was doing some research about it for one of our ongoing projects. I got so much information from Missouri Botanical Garden and Saint Louis Zoo about how important a pollinator garden is and how to create one for yourself and for the environment.

First of all, choose a location for your pollinator garden. You can attract much more varieties of pollinators if you choose a sunny spot for your garden. The location needs to be located in an area that receives at least 6 hours of sun a day.

Second, pick the plants for your pollinators. Choose native plants in Missouri or wherever you live. Native plants are adapted to local weather, they need less water and maintenance and they provide the best food for pollinators. Try to be diverse, pick a large number of varieties and make sure there’s always something in bloom from April to October.

Finally, you can start creating your pollinator garden! Be sure that you don’t use any chemicals such like pesticide and herbicides, they kill pollinators. Here are some beautiful and powerful native flowers that often used in pollinator gardens: Butterfly milkweed, Blue wild indigo, Aromatic aster, Eastern blazing star, Slender mountain mint, Cliff goldenrod and Purple coneflower.

Why is creating a pollinator garden important to the environment as well as human beings? More than 150 crops in the United States depend on pollinators. Pollinators transfer pollen from one plant to another and flowers use the pollen to produce seeds. Food such as apples, berries, cucumbers and almonds wouldn’t exist without these pollinators. There is no limitation of how big or how small your pollinator garden is, a few plants can make some difference to this world. I actually got some native flower seeds in the weekend and started to have a small pollinator garden on my balcony this spring!

Information from:

https://mdc.mo.gov/xplor/2017-03/how-plant-pollinator-paradise

https://www.stlzoo.org/conservation/doityourselfconservation/pollinators

images from:

https://umdearborn.edu/casl/centers-institutes/environmental-interpretive-center/research-resources/sustainability-initiatives/pollinator-garden

https://davidsuzuki.org/queen-of-green/create-pollinator-friendly-garden-birds-bees-butterflies/

https://www.gardeners.com/buy/pollinator-cedar-raised-garden-bed/8597000.html

https://www.berkeleygardenclub.org/1718-programs/2017/10/17/growing-a-habitatpollinator-garden

https://www.flickr.com/photos/80651083@N00/1642322091

Oct 10 2018

Post-Industrial Landscape Design

By Mimi Lo

I personally am always attracted by post-industrial sites. The potential on sites where people built up factories and finally decided to close it for different reasons, leaving entire campus became an abandoned space, is great. The structures can be reused and developed with an ecology-beneficial garden. I have worked on several post-industrial projects for studio when I was in UMass Amherst. The beauty of the steel/ brick old factories and the opportunities on the site amazed me every time. I would like to share two post-industrial landscape architecture projects around the world.

The first one is SteelStacks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Bethlehem Steel Corporation produced the steel for nearly 120-years. In 1995, the plant closed down. The community worked hard to save the historic mill from demolition and tried to bring back a new life to the site. In 2015, the 9.5 acre SteelStacks Arts + Cultural Campus was built. The project is successful from many aspects: social, cultural and environmental. The campus now acts as a “town green” space for events and engages with local community to support regional development initiatives. On the environmental aspect, many of the plants were brought to the site didn’t exist here before. This design is trying to broaden the biodiversity on the site.

The other project is Solana Ulcinj in Montenegro. The site is a salina which produced valuable salt, but after the privatization, the organization went bankrupt and the salina was abandoned. The site is on the route of Adriatic Flyway migratory route and also provides rich nutrient to wildlife, which resulted in the massive number of birds passing through every year. The design team came out with many ideas for the problems in different fields. How to keep the site as a habitat for the birds? How to keep producing salt but in an economic and interesting way? This project demonstrates an example that how we turn the abandoned space into a fun and functional place and the nature can also benefit from human’s presence. One of DG2 Design’s ongoing projects is also about wetland environment.

Jun 05 2018

Supporting Watershed Nature Center

By: Christina Hughey

The Watershed Nature Center in Edwardsville, Illinois is home to over 40 acres of prairie, forest, and wetland habitats. The center features paved walking trails, a raised marsh walk, and a welcome center. The Watershed is dedicated to providing environmental education, passive recreation, and enjoyment of native habitats for Edwardsville and surrounding communities.

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The Watershed Nature Center largest native habitat is the wetlands and two lakes fed by storm water runoff from 400 acres of downtown Edwardsville. Wetlands are the sponges and kidneys of the earth and offer great importance. Over the years there has been a huge decrease in wetlands due to residential and commercial development. This has lead to flooding, erosion along riverbanks and increased pollution runoff in river and lakes. Wetlands biggest role is filtering out dangerous pollutants and toxins before they go into the rivers, and eventually pollute the ocean. Wetlands also support a large variety of plant and animal life. Watershed has an abundance of aquatic life that live in their wetlands ranging from the diving beetle to the blue heroin. In Illinois, many of the vertebrates and plants that are endangered are wetland dependent. The Watershed Nature Center offers refuge for wintering waterfowl and birds as they migrate along the Mississippi Flyway. It also serves as a nursery for birds, amphibians and reptiles and animals to raise their young.

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The Watershed Nature Center conducts free and paid programming for children and adults, school field trips, and stewardship opportunities for scouts of all ages. The Watershed is a living, learning laboratory for students from 1st– 12th grade and college, graduate and postgraduate studies. Partnerships with SIUE and Lewis and Clark College engage undergraduate and graduate students to utilize the Watershed for their research projects, internships and place based learning for all subjects.

Watershed Nature Center is going to expand even more, with the help of the City of Edwardsville and the Recreation and Parks Department. This major park improvement project will allow for greater access and exposure to the native habitats in the preserve. They are calling this project Access Nature. This will happen by modifying the entrance to allow for greater access and understanding of the native habitats in the park. Watershed Nature Center will add a large Education Meadow at the entrance, a Shoreline Classroom with amphitheater style seating, an ADA accessible path so everyone can reach the water’s edge, and even more. It will be exciting to see the changes to come.

We believe Watershed Nature Center is a remarkable place. It makes the people who visit stewards of the environment while positively interacting and engaging in nature. This place is truly worthwhile. For Watershed to continue their access nature plan, they will need support. There are many ways to show support to Watershed, whether it be as simple as planning a trip or as generous as becoming a sponsor. Here are all the ways to help watershed grow:

Plan a fun and educational field trip! With tons of options geared towards each individual grade, the children are sure to have a blast and the parents and teachers too.
Become a member and enjoy all the perks that come along with it!
Visit Watershed Nature Center!
Bring your scouting troop to Watershed Nature Center, there are plenty of activities for your troop to do.
Become a sponsor, there are many different levels of sponsorship available.

To support Watershed or to plan a visit, go to watershednaturecenter.org or contact Watershed directly at: info@watershednc.org (618)692-7578

“Help us improve our community’s park to maximize educational opportunities while beautifying and strengthening the ecosystems at the Watershed Nature Center.”

Apr 19 2018

Designing for Trail Sustainability

By: Christina Hughey

Figure 1: Trail Sustainablity

Trails provide much more than hours of fun, trails help protect our environment. A trail built for sustainability reduces damage to plants, reduces disturbance to wildlife, reduces damage to soil and much more. A trail built right will last for many years. In contrast a poorly built trail will damage the environment surrounding it. When building a trail its important to build for sustainability.

There are many design tips and requirements to build for sustainability. Here are just a couple of ways to build a more sustainable trail:

Find the right trail location. Although it may seem easier to build on a flat terrain, you shouldn’t build there. If the terrain is flat water will collect or erosion will occur. It will save you time and money to build on the right terrain in the first place.
Another way to avoid erosion is to provide a suitable side slope. Water will always take the easier route downhill. The out slope needs to be greater that the grade of the trail.

You won’t regret building a sustainable trail!

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