This project focuses to provide Walker Township leadership information and tools for its residents to address backyard flooding relating to maintenance and increased absorption on private land. When residential housing is adjacent to a creek, the lawns often run up to the creek bed. In Walker Township several residential lots border a creek that is […]
Read More… from Riparian Planting Guides to Address Flooding in Walker Township
The town of State College is in the process of providing its residence with detailed guidance on promoting pollinators through pollinator gardening approaches and habitat. Students are asked to provide recommendations specific to the State College geography for the establishment of pollinator habitat/gardens in State College residential neighborhoods, including native plants materials, guidance on planting and […]
Read More… from Residential Pollinator Garden Guide for State College Borough
The City of Reading owns a large greenhouse, 6,500sqft in City Park that has been vacant since 2018. The City is interested in using the Greenhouse to educate the public about growing plants and sustainable food systems, promote the local farmers market and local food initiatives, serve for training and workforce development purposes, and to […]
Read More… from Revitalizing the City of Reading Greenhouse as a Community Space
The USDA office in Huntingdon County is interested in promoting regenerative farming practices. While there has been some interest among the farming community, more could be done. The USDA office would like to provide leadership by working with local farmers to explore regenerative practices and possibly establish demonstration sites. Students had the opportunity to visit […]
Read More… from Regenerative Grazing Initiative in Huntingdon County
Walker Township in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, is the owner and caretaker of Woodcock Valley Park, which serves the community of McConnellstown and surrounding residents as an outdoor recreation space. The township supervisors and Park Committee would like to see changes to the park that implement easier maintenance and more utility for local residents. The township […]
Read More… from Improving Community Park Design: A study in Walker Township
Coburn Park serves as the community park for Penn Township, consisting of a 15+ acres area along Penns Creek, with two picnic pavilions, a playground, baseball field and large open, mowed areas. Opposite the parking area for the park, is a swale that seems to collect stormwater runoff from the town of Coburn slightly uphill. […]
As of 2014, over half (54 percent) of the world’s population resides in urban areas, a number that is expected to increase to two-thirds of the global population by 2050 (UN 2014). Increased human flow into cities results in increased urbanization, a complex process consisting of people altering the landscape through settlement patterns and spatial […]
The ways we choose to modify and manage the landscapes around us have enormous local and global consequences. Single-family houses now dominate the suburban landscapes of Washington, D.C., including Columbia, MD. These planned housing developments typically have a clean, tidy appearance with mown grass and trimmed shrubs. Unfortunately, this ordered presentation does not provide the […]
Read More… from Tidy or Tangled: How People Perceive Landscapes
White tailed deer populations (Odocoileus virginianus) have become troublesome in the United States over the past hundred years. However, deer have not always been a problem in the United States. In the past, natural predators along with hunting by Native Americans, maintained deer populations (Audubon 2003, 3). The arrival of Europeans introduced trade of white-tailed […]
Whether it is Japanese honeysuckle, Oriental bittersweet, Mile-a-minute weed, or any of the other invasive vines present in northeastern U.S. urban forest systems, vines present a continuous burden on urban forest edges. The effects of invasive vines range from mere nuisances to ecological damage, often by smothering native vegetation. In most cases, given their rapid […]