Ecological Landscape Alliance – 26th Annual Eco-Marketplace
Earlier this month, Zachary Berger Associates had the opportunity to sit in on several lectures at the Ecological Landscape Alliance’s annual gathering. The show featured some of the most forward leaning thinkers in the green industry.
As the UVM Place Program states:
An ecological landscape consists of a mosaic of natural communities – associations of plants and animals and their related processes and interactions.
Considering this, how does a designer go about achieving an eco-friendly landscape? Generally speaking, a designer’s goal should be to enhance the surrounding environment for all life forms in the ecosystem. How is this accomplished and to what degree? We hope you’ll listen to some of our favorite lectures from the Ecological Landscape Alliance Winter meeting.
LECTURES
Self-taught, Laura Kuhn brought her experiences in theatre arts and choreography to the ecological landscape in 1997. Initially working in the nursery industry, Kuhn began her own design firm nearly 20 years ago. Regenerative design relies on a feedback web of several operations for life to thrive.
Laura reviews transformations of different sized local properties and explores how we can maximize ecological benefits for our natural and social communities when our loftiest goals may be out of reach.
In this lecture, Michael discusses new-age ideas for establishing the urban forest amid limitations of urban development and various contributors. Ormston-Holloway works as a landscape and urban ecologist, specializing in the urban environment.
He believes that joining a detailed understanding of the biological sphere of landscape architecture with a solid understanding of planting design safeguards an optimal landscape experience.
Leslie discusses New England’s diverse species of ferns. Duthie introduces fern terminology and basic fern biology – they reproduce by spores.
For nearly 40 years, Leslie Duthie has been propagating plants. She was formerly employed at the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary where she was the horticulturist and plant propagator. Duthie’s love for ferns first began when she first learned to grow them from spores.
We hope you’ve had as much fun listening about ecological landscape design as we did attending the conference. If you or someone you know is interested in transforming their landscape into a space for all life forms, please let us know.