This project converted several "green spaces"- or areas predominantly covered in grass- to areas that would require less water and fuel for maintenance. The Library Oak Lawn, the Van Matre Lawns, and the Harry Griffith Hall (HGH) Courtyard Lawns were all converted, and water usage for these areas is estimated to have decreased from 40,900 gallons per year to 5,539 gallons per year- now representing only 13% of the previous usage.Read more here: Final Report

This project entails the creation of an interactive map that has pins on campus showing locations of plants that have ethnobotanical characteristics and relationships. This phase of the project has been completed, and has shifted into a project titled "Place Based Learning Practices Project". See project page here.

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).