CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AVERTED

June 26, 2017 by LAM Staff

For Alaskas Anan Wildlife Observatory, Suzanne Jackson designs around the attraction: bears.

Suzanne Jackson spent nearly 30 years as a landscape architect at the Aspen, Colorado, office of Design Workshop, channeling her passion for backcountry hiking into habitat restoration and open space preservation. But it was when Jackson reconnected with her former colleague Barth Hamberg that things began to get, well, wild. Hamberg manages the landscape architecture program for Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska, the largest national forest in the nation. In 2014, he offered Jackson a two-year post.

Jackson was charged with creating a master plan for the Anan Wildlife Observatory, which is located on a remote peninsula in Tongasss Wrangell district and accessible only by boat or floatplane. Its a steeply sloping temperate rain forest of spruce, hemlock, and huckleberries, and the pools and waterfalls of Anan Creek support one of the regions largest pink salmon runs. That means a lot of hungry predators gathering to feast: black bears, grizzlies (called brown bears locally), eagles, and otters, to name just a few. That biodiversity has been a tourism magnet for decades, and helps support the economies of two small towns in the area: Wrangell and Ketchikan.

But access and safety both are issues, because many visitors arent particularly nimble. Jacksons job was to employ her design background to both enhance their experience and keep them from falling off trails or coming nose to snout with bears.

Among the problems were the raised wooden boardwalks. Constant moisture made for slippery footing, which is a hazard as well as a distraction. As Jacksons master plan points out, hikers often feel unsteady and unable to focus on the surrounding environment. Instead, Jackson recommended using crushed rock where the terrain is suitable, to provide a firmer, safer walking experience, she says.

The regions drastic tidal shifta difference of up to 20 feet in some placesalso complicated the arrival experience. If a boat or floatplane came in at high tide, visitors were greeted with stairs. If they arrived at mid- or low tide, they had to navigate jagged rocks. That trailhead area already was slated for improvements when Jackson began, but the plan points out that the changing water line even makes construction difficult, because materials and machinery cant be easily off-loaded during low tide.

And then, of course, there were the bears. During Jacksons tenure, the landscape architecture team had called in ecologists to map the animals routes and foraging areas in another part of Tongass, and the plan recommends a similar study at Anan. One section was particularly worrisome; it grazed a tight corner that hikers couldnt see around, which could lead to a person and a bear coming into sudden and startling contact. Line of view for approaching bears is very important, Jackson says. Reconstruction of that so-called pinch point is listed as one of several critical projects to be completed between 2017 and 2030.

Besides creating safe passage, Jacksons goal was to convey the value of nature and hopefully foster a sense of stewardship, as well as tourism. In Alaska, she says, [tourism] is seen as a benefit to the economy, a way to move away from other things like taking down old-growth forests or mining.

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Posted in ACCESSIBILITY, HABITAT, LAM MAGAZINE, MATERIALS, NOW, PRESERVATION, SPECIES, WILDLIFE | Tagged Alaska, Anan Creek, Anan Wildlife Observatory, Barth Hamberg, Bears, Boardwalk, Design Workshop, forest, Hikers, landscape architect, Landscape Architecture, landscape design, Suzanne Jackson, Tongass National Forest, trail, wildlife | Leave a Comment

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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AVERTED | Landscape Architecture ... - Landscape Architecture Magazine

Edmond has amended its landscaping ordinance. A professional landscape designer is required during the planning process. [PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN]

EDMOND Urban Forestry Commission members have been working since 2012 to amend the city's landscaping ordinance to be more flexible and, hopefully, eliminate crowding caused by too many required trees, shrubs and other plants.

The forestry commission discussed the landscape ordinance 25 times and the landscape code subcommittee of the forestry commission met more than 17 times to craft the revisions. A workshop on the ordinance was held in 2016.

Planning commissioners and Development Impact Review Committee members also worked on the 60-plus-page document.

Their efforts were completed this week when the city council unanimously approved the amended ordinance that will take effect Jan. 1.

There is the same amount of area to be landscaped, it is just not as dense, said Ryan Ochsner, green infrastructure planner. With crowding of the trees and plants, you have the risk of losing not just one plant but both plants.

Basically, we wanted to fix the issues we found in the code. We wanted something that was enforceable.

The goals included increasing preservation of trees and of the Cross Timbers Ecosystem, to fix issues in the current code, to improve enforceability, and ensure long-term health and viability of the trees, said City Planning Director Randy Entz.

One of the biggest changes is that landscaping discussions will begin earlier in the planning process and proposed designs will come from a professional landscape architect.

In the end, we believe it will be a better product, Ochsner said.

Former Mayor Dan O'Neil campaigned against the amended ordinance, claiming the new code provided fewer standards, particularly along the Interstate-35 corridor.

O'Neil, a member of Edmond Beautiful, was part of a committee nearly 20 years ago that created the I-35 corridor standard for Edmond.

We hammered it out for a year, O'Neil said. We wanted to encourage a pleasant driving experience. We want to be different from Oklahoma City. We wanted to make sure what we had was something special.

The amended ordinance reduced the number of plant units from 40 to 30 along the interstate.

Much of the work done in this section was to address struggles regularly faced with the existing code, while focusing on the objectives of the district, Ochsner said. All other plant unit requirements are reduced, but remain higher than the general standards.

Mayor Charles Lamb said when the I-35 corridor code was written it started with 30 plant units in September 1998, but was increased to 40 in 2005.

That is not a different plant unit now than when we started, Lamb said.

When a project has more parking spaces than the code requires, the amended landscape ordinance will require 15 trees for each four spaces over the regulated number. The current ordinance used a sliding scale that made it difficult to include all the required plantings.

The purpose to this is to shift the focus to landscape that provides a value, Ochsner said. "It has been a real challenge. It has been an absolute struggle."

Read more:
Rules on how to landscape have changed in Edmond - NewsOK.com

Neighbors on Nantuckets eastern end have more than faded red chinos and a desirable zip code in common; many have landscape artist Marty McGowan, too. For 43 years, McGowan has designed some of the islands coveted properties helping to shape Nantuckets signature yin-yang of natural beauty, with elements like teeming bunches of hydrangeas and roses spilling over picket fences, along with the manicured European elegance of topiaries and imposing privacy hedges. But its the unexpected that sets his work apart, and that comes from a lifetime of study and observation both on and off the island.

I tell clients, whatever the earth will allow me to do I will do that for you, says McGowan, who is not a purist about native species but instead focuses on creating artistry and whimsy for his clients' gardens.

McGowan's Landscaping at Greydon House.

Photo: Douglas Friedman

For Nantuckets Greydon House hotel , a new 20-room inn off Main Street, McGowan worked with Manhattan interior designers Roman and Williams to create abundant gardens and window boxes that speak to the spirit of the hotel, its nautical roots, and Nantuckets worldly past.

We had a strong connection with Marty from the beginning and bonded over his idea of mixing vegetables, herbs, and flowers in Greydon Houses flower boxes and gardens," says Robin Standefer, principal and cofounder of Roman and Williams. "That intentionally unexpected variety became the foundation of our overall design inspiration for the project."

McGowan's Landscaping at Greydon House.

Photo: Courtesy of Douglas Friedman

Working to compliment the hotels interior color palette, he used plants from Germany, Asia, the Caribbean islands, and Portugal, including unusual black grasses from Florida, German geraniums, and a blue succulent that resembles ocean flora. McGowan created a landscape that reflects the life of a well-traveled sea captain like the one who might have lived in the hotels 1850s Greek Revival house.

No wonder the designers known for creating narrative hotel environments would find a kinship in McGowan. He is likely the only gardener whose farm was inspired by an abstract painting by artist Paul Klee. Pumpkin Pond Farm , his organic farm and nursery, complements the landscape-design business, providing produce for many of the islands top restaurants, and welcoming guests for tours and tastings like his annual heirloom Tomato Festival in August. McGowan planned the farms plants and vegetable fields by color to resemble Klees Cubist landscape Highways and Byways from 1929. Mica stone pavers, like the ones that paved historic Nantucket streets, bisect the center of the farm.

The "hydrangea park" at Pumpkin Pond Farm.

Photo: Courtesy of Marty McGowan

McGowan was exposed to art early by his mother, a master weaver with a masters degree in art. He gained a practical understanding of working the land from his grandfather who owned a 10-acre farm near his Rochester home. A chance invitation from a friend brought McGowan to the island for the month of August 1966 and for several other Augusts of his youth. When McGowan was old enough, he spent summers on Nantucket working for people like Earl Coffin, a gardener and descendant of an original English settler to Nantucket, who tended to the gardens of old-Nantucket families. Coffin shared his wisdom, which McGowan parlayed into his own business, called Sconset Gardener.

Moving to Nantucket allowed me to create my own identity and be creative from the beginning, says McGowan.

Today McGowans work takes him all over the world, researching at international conferences and events such as the Chelsea Flower Show , and working on Nantucket clients other homes in places like Mexico, California, Florida, Washington, and Boston.

The "Walk of Thyme" and "Apian Way" at Pumpkin Pond Farm.

Photo: Courtesy of Marty McGowan

Nantucket has a unique climate that allows for beautiful gardens, McGowan says, People come here and they see it and theyre enchanted. They want to have a beautiful garden, too.

McGowan credits his success to observing mother nature on the island. He spends much of his free time walking the paths and trails through undeveloped parts of Nantucket, which comprises nearly 60 percent of the island. His favorite is the walk past Miacomet Beach to Lady Beach for a swim at sunset or hiking along the paths at Hummock Pond and Sanford Farm through the woods and moors to the sea. It always gives me the sense of knowing Im in the right place.

See more here:
This Is the Landscape Architect Nantucket's Elite Have on Speed Dial - Architectural Digest

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