Every Monday for the next five weeks, we’ll be running a blog entry by Peter MacDonagh about the history of street trees in Holland (to see Peter’s fantastic series on the history of street trees in Paris, click here). Peter’s knowledge is incredible; I promise you don’t want to miss this unusual history of Holland… More
In early June, the Portland Oregonian published an editorial titled, “Portland’s Cadillac Tree Plan.” In it, the board suggested that Oregon’s urban trees are doing great just the way they are, and argued that the city’s new tree code is costly and ineffectual. (The code was adopted two years ago but has not been implemented due… More
Back in December 2012, we reported the first preliminary results of Stormwater Treatment Performance Monitoring by Dr. William Hunt, Jonathan Page, and Ryan Winston, of two Silva Cell Systems in Wilmington, North Carolina. Final results and statistics are expected later this summer. In the meantime, preliminary results are so promising that we want to share… More
Today’s post is by Alison O’Connor, Horticulture Agent with Colorado State University Extension in Larimer County. It originally appeared on her blog, Co-Horts, and is reprinted here with her permission. Thanks, Alison! -LM Unless you’ve been vacationing in southern France for the past few weeks, you know that Colorado has had an interesting spring. I’m… More
There are some individuals drawn to the comfort of indoors, fed by books and stories of adventures from arm’s length in their armchairs. I am not among them. Having been given a diagnosis of “terminal wanderlust,” I have always felt more comfortable under the open sky rather than under a roof. The sizable amount of… More
This post, by Linda Chalker-Scott, addresses a misperception that we encounter frequently about the efficacy of using gravel or sand beneath soil to aid drainage. Linda mythbusts this incorrect belief handily. This article originally appeared on her blog, The Garden Professors. It is reprinted with her permission. -LM I’m just starting to think about getting my… More
In the world of Low Impact Design (LID), the terms raingarden and bioretention are often used interchangeably. However, there are some inferred differences between these two LID practices. These differences were highlighted during recent work with the Washington Department of Ecology, which designated Silva Cell as functionally equivalent to a bioretention facility.
Google Earth is so much fun to explore. You can really and truly get lost in it, the feeling of “traveling” somewhere on your screen that you’ve never been in person. I recently saw that they’ve applied the same approach to creating a timelapse tool for the earth from 1984 to 2012 called Earth Engine.
In 2010, my colleague Peter MacDonagh attended the American Society of Consulting Engineers (ASCE) conference and emerged with a chart from a presentation given by Bram Gunther and Fiona Watt, of the New York City Department of Parks, that listed the urban tree canopy information for about two dozen U.S. cities. Ever since then, I’ve… More
(Read “Rise of the Curb Cut: Part 1 here). The fundamental behavior of stormwater in curbs and street design is simple. Each creature, each inanimate object, each molecule of everything functions and abides by its simple and powerful law every day: gravity. From this basic concept, direct parallels can be drawn between the design elements… More
Before anyone is lost to their thoughts or misgivings about the title of this post, this is not a piece on Germany in World War II or military strategies. Rather, this is about how odd parallels can be drawn between streets and nature, the built environment and natural one, and how an understanding of history… More
The Silva Cell has officially been designated as an approved equal for bioretention facilities by the Washington State Department of Ecology. Designers and engineers who want to incorporate Silva Cells in to their projects can now refer to the official document, Using the Western Washington Hydrology Model (Version 4.0) to Size Silva Cells for Runoff… More
Soil. Stormwater. Sustainable Infrastructure.
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