The Climate Resilient Landscaping Project aims to demonstrate the integration of resilience science into landscape management and design for a university campus. We define climate resilient landscape as a design, installation and maintenance process that sustains biodiversity, enhances ecological functions, and honors the indigenous cultures of our bio-region, all while meeting campus aesthetic needs, Grounds department capacity, and despite the multiple stressors anticipated for our climate constrained future.

Image courtesy of Permaculture Action NetworkThis project proposes researching food forests and permaculture and looking into ways to implement them into communal food security for campus and/or surrounding communities.

This project proposal seeks to take a radical approach to landscaping by establishing guiding principles that challenge human-centric relationships with the “landscape”. The selected preliminary sites for this project were regions that have been proven difficult to maintain as lawns, making them ideal for this conversion. These areas are difficult to access with equipment, have smaller/more irregular shaped lawns, and where leisure would not be preferred (damp and shady).

Image courtesy of the City of Arcata (2017).Cal Poly Humboldt (CPH) has an 888-acre forest in Jacoby Creek which sequesters unknown amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. To quantify this carbon uptake, the “University Forest Carbon Sinks” project proposes to conduct ongoing data collection, inventory, and calculation of carbon stored in trees. When measured according to protocol, carbon sequestration data can be used to offset carbon emissions coming from energy used on campus. This work will be done by experienced field trained student employees.