LETS SAVE SOME TREES!

Happy New Year Everybody!

When I start a new project, I always put myself in my client's shoes and try to see the property from their perspective, such as truly understanding what their current issues are. Then once I have put myself in that position, I start to think about what I could do to make this project even better. When I first sit down at my drawing table with the base map, I always start by writing down the program elements and brainstorm words, thoughts, and ideas that relate to their design.

Do you know how everything happens for a reason? Well before I went to school and studied Landscape Architecture, I received my A.S.A degree in Urban Tree Management. This education plus my experience working with a tree service company gave me the knowledge base to have a great understanding of tree growth.

Now let's flash forward to one of my most recent projects where a client and I collaborated on potential options to save large trees along an existing roadway. This all started as she came across plans in her town for sidewalks to be added along an existing roadway. This is a well-traveled roadway, not only by vehicles, but also by pedestrians. This got her thinking, are there any options for saving the existing trees?? My response to this question was: YES, let's evaluate the trees and collaborate on viable options, in turn creating a great experience for everybody who uses this sidewalk.

EXISTING CONDITIONS PLAN

The first step in the process is to create an existing conditions plan and in this case, it was important to locate the existing trees and show their relationship to the approximate location of the proposed walkway. As you will notice on the plan, there is a total of 14 large trees along the roadway.

EXISTING TREES ALONG THE ROADWAY….

In the photo above, you can see the large trees (orange ribbon) along the roadway. Imagine what it would be like to drive down this roadway without these trees. These trees supply so much shade and character along the roadway. You know what they need here... is a place to sit... Hmmm…. Stay tuned for a solution.

TREE REMOVAL PLAN

It is now time to look at how many trees are slated to be removed. As you can see from the image above in red, there are many trees that are proposed to be removed. Now the fun begins and is where the questions start to flow through my brain:

• Can we save all of the trees?

• What would it take to save all of the trees?

• Do we need walls to save the trees?

• How healthy are the trees and what is the benefit to saving the trees?

CONCEPT PLAN

In the proposed design, the design team's solution was to use an elevated walkway. Love it, this is a great place to start. This would really reduce the disturbance of the existing soils and the number of roots that would need to be removed. Ok so what else can be added to the design?  I had a question, how are we going to celebrate these trees? I got it, lets add in overlook areas with interpretative signage to explain the landscape and the benefit of existing trees. These overlook decks are low disturbance (just digging for the footings) and in turn, allow pedestrians a place to sit and take a break. This also gives them the opportunity to learn about the benefit of the trees from the interpretative signage. Just picture for a minute you are taking a walk down the sidewalk on a hot summer's day and all you can think about is I need to stop and have a drink of water. Just then, as you are going down the sidewalk, you come across these overlooks and see a bench in the shade and how relieved you feel.  Well, what you may not know is as you are sitting there is a sign explaining the benefits of trees to our environment.

That then leads me to my next question…. What else can we do to increase the health of these trees? Let's add in some plantings of shrubs, groundcover, and perennials. This will allow for a nice cover of plantings and will increase the health of the trees over time.  An additional benefit is this will deter people from walking on the soil and reduce the soil compaction that will happen on the roots. I have found over the years compaction or poor soils is the number one reason for trees not surviving.

The final item we wanted to study is how can we introduce sustainable treatments into the landscape?  Once again it can be a great educational experience. This area along the roadway is prone to drainage issues and we saw this as a great opportunity to add in a rain garden to capture the rainwater. This in turn will allow the water to filtrate down through the soil and recharge the groundwater and not puddle on the surface that has other negative health benefits.

ADDITIONAL DESIGN VISUALS

Now that we have worked out the design in 2D, it is time to explore the options in 3D. This is one of my favorite parts of the design process, as it really starts to come alive. We decided the best way to show the design was through sections and perspectives. I have always found it to be super helpful to draw perspectives over existing images so it is easy to understand the differences between the existing and proposed conditions. During the design process, we also gathered images of Rain Gardens and Interpretative signage to assist in telling the rest of the story.

This was a really fun project to work on and I am looking forward to seeing how the community feels about these design ideas. These are the types of projects I really enjoy, coming up with a creative design solution with my clients input and engagement and in turn creates such a great benefit to the community and the environment.

Please feel free to leave a comment on what your thoughts are on the project and visuals. Would love to hear your feedback!