In the New York Times this week, there was an article about NATIONAL dam removal and its impacts on ecosystem health. Across the country, there’s a massive movement to raze dams. It names the Penobscot River, ME, Elwha River, WA, and Klamath in CA/OR. There is a ton of information regarding fish species throughout the article but I think this is a just another great way to justify the dam removal project on a smaller scale creek and how much it can benefit the whole system (Delaware, Lehigh River).

With the 3rd street dam removal on the near horizon our project plans should be thorough and provide insight to all aspects of the college’s needs and community’s needs for that space. Hopefully other projects like our Bushkill Revitalisation Plan are being drawn up across the country because there is so much to gain from a healthy ecosystem.

Dominique Bayne from Emory Knoll Farms replied to my inquiry about the use of native plants on a green roof basically saying that eastern US natives do not usually do well on roofs, but putting some natives and pollinator plants in as accents around sedums is definitely doable. She specifically mentioned some eastern natives. Below, I’ve written the name as well as included the link to some information about the plant:

• Nodding Onion
  • http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=z580
• Nuttall’s rayless goldenrod
  • https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=BINU2
• Butterfly weed
  • http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b490
• Eastern prickly pear
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia_humifusa

Dominique also included three informative sheets about good sedum plants for green roofs. These will prove very helpful in choosing what plants can go on the green roof.

Last week, Prisca, Alaina, and I met with John Wilson to interrogate him about his chicken operation. We learned an INCREDIBLE amount including the fact that raising chickens is incredibly involved. I have enough raw information in the recording of our interview to write a much longer blog post than any of you would like to read, but I just want to point out some highlights and take aways that I particularly found interesting/helpful.

1. We do not need a rooster! Chickens will lay eggs even if they’re not fertilized. If we plan on hatching chickens, we would need a rooster, but if we’re just going to keep buying baby chicks or chickens that are a few months old, this isn’t a concern.
2. We will most definitely need more paid positions. The amount of daily labor that chickens require is definitely more than what can be done by just Sarah or Sarah and a few volunteers. Successfully raising chickens would require multiple part-time student employees or one full time employee. This would require us to get more funding – likely from grants.
3. Chickens need raw protein and some sort of calcium in their feed. The protein is because chickens are omnivorous and need the protein as a foundation for their eggs. They need the calcium so the shells that they lay can be strong. Prof. Wilson grinds his own feed out of corn, raw animal fat, and oyster shells. We would likely be purchasing feed, but now we know we have to look for this!
4. There are different breeds of birds that are bred to produce eggs or meat – not usually both. We want to look for laying chickens rather than meat chickens. An implication of this is that if we have to kill our flock for some reason (potential for disease, age, etc.) we would have to find a use for the dead bird that wasn’t direct consumption. Perhaps we could add this to compost once that gets back up and running.
5. Know your customer – if we want to sell these eggs, we have to have a really good sense of how much Gilbert’s, students, faculty, or a farmers market shopper would pay for eggs from LaFarm.
6. Chickens can be trained! We would actually have to train them to go back into their coop after roaming around LaFarm for fertilization purposes and to lay eggs. Hopefully, we our coop will have attractive enough roosts where our chickens will want to go there to lay their eggs. Otherwise, we could unexpectedly come upon eggs throughout LaFarm!

I know focusing on native plants is central to ecological sustainability on our campus, but unfortunately, it looks like there are not many species native to our area that would thrive on a green roof. Since a roof can be a fairly hostile environment, the plants that do the best up there are alpine, desert plants that do well in rocky, thin soiled environments. Additionally, greenroofplants.com says that any eastern US native plants would require extra shading. Buck Hall is not shaded at all by trees which would make it even more difficult for native plants to thrive on the roof. We could perhaps include some native plants in the third tier idea since, in that tier, we’re committing to more maintenance anyway.

Fortunately, many of the plants we could use are incredibly attractive, such as wildflowers and succulents, and require little maintenance after planting. Based on what I have learned in Conservation Biology so far this semester, I am fairly confident that plants native to the American Southwest and other desert type habitats would not thrive on the ground and would thus not invade on pre-existing ecosystems surrounding Buck Hall.

I have an email out to GreenRoofPlants asking for some consultation for more specifics about the kind of plants we could use and will report back upon receiving a response.

Here are the links with which I consulted:

http://inhabitat.com/top-10-plants-for-a-living-roof/

http://www.greenroofplants.com/green-roof-technology/green-roof-faqs/#Can%20people%20walk%20on%20the%20green%20roof

This isn’t directly related to our class projects, but thought it might be of interest

This little-noticed court settlement will probably save millions of animals

Dealing w/ Pests:
Many college’s have a Integrated Pest Management Systems.

Oberlin College: “the plant is treated by correcting water deficiencies, lowering root temperatures or by mulching or pruning diseased branches. The area is examined for beneficial insects that could control the target pest. When cultural practices are in place to the best degree our resources will permit, the plant’s value is evaluated. If the plant can be replaced by a resistant variety, it is removed and replaced. Plants that are valuable are monitored. The pest is left unmolested until the injury exceeds the economic damage threshold. Past the economic damage threshold the infestation is judged to be an imminent threat to a college asset. At this point chemical controls are used.”
https://new.oberlin.edu/office/environmental-sustainability/progress/grounds.dot

Harvard:
“Aerating to reduce plant stress
Monitoring moisture because inadequate moisture levels can weaken plants and make them susceptible to pest problems.
Applying compost teas to suppress powdery mildew.
Introducing and cultivating beneficial insects which prey on destructive insects.
Manually removing infected tree and shrub branches.
Manually removing weeds.”
http://www.energyandfacilities.harvard.edu/facilities-services/landscape-maintenance/organic-maintenance-program

Seattle University:
-Use home brewed compost tea sprayed ( introduces beneficial communities of fungi, bacteria, and microscopic arthropods)
-grounds team works on maintaining the overall health of turf and fields by aeration, fertilization and watering
-control weeds before they go to seed
-coarse woodchip mulches to control weed germination in beds and gardens, and
planting dense groundcovers
http://www.paladinoandco.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Pesticide-FreeCampuses.pdf

These campuses all provide alternatives and guidelines to our pesticide problem. We need to decide whether we want to lay our guidelines for IPM and just have reduced pesticide use or go full out and attempt to look more like Seattle University.

Also other great resource links and putting them here for safe keeping: http://sustainability.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/SustainableTurfCare.pdf
http://vsa.vassar.edu/orgs/vassargreens/2013/05/22/vassar-agrees-to-stop-spraying-toxic-24-d-pesticide/

Sustainable Landscaping