|
more articles like this
UCSB Campus Projects Recognized
updated: Apr 12, 2012, 3:20 PM
Source: UCSB
Three landscaping and infrastructure projects on the UC Santa Barbara campus
have received recognition and awards from Goleta Valley Beautiful, a local
nonprofit dedicated to environment, education, and community service.
The three projects are the San Clemente Habitat Restoration and Stormwater
Management System at the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecologic
Restoration (CCBER), which was given the Restoration Award; the Chumash Gardens
adjacent to the UCSB Student Resources Building, which received the Open Award;
and the Library Plaza, which was honored with the Public Building/School Award.
"All of these design efforts are consistent with our Campus Plan and our Long
Range Development Plan," said Marc Fisher, senior associate vice chancellor of
administrative services and campus architect, who was also in charge of the
ambitious Library Plaza project. "It is very heartening to see yet another
component of those plans come to fruition, and to be recognized by Goleta Valley
Beautiful in this award for this significant improvement."
The Library Plaza project won a water quality award from the California Higher
Education Sustainability Conference in 2011. So far it has reorganized
pedestrian circulation and improved the campus's stormwater management system
with permeable pavement. The project also included new lighting and replanting.
Meanwhile, CCBER has its own stormwater management project that includes a one-
acre system with three basins designed to capture and attenuate the stormwater
from the 13-acre San Clemente graduate student housing project. The project also
includes restoration of nearby sensitive wetlands, with protection of the
Southern Tarplant, a California special status species.
"The whole six-acre area includes a diverse array of plant communities --
including freshwater wetlands, coastal sage scrub, native bunch grasslands,
vernal meadows, vernal pools, and oak woodland. These habitats and the matrix of
these habitats support a high diversity of wildlife from insects to raptors,"
said Lisa Stratton, CCBER natural areas director.
CCBER has also been acknowledged for its work in the Chumash Gardens, a bit of
landscaping that, according to CCBER greenhouse manager Wayne Chapman, focuses
on the cultural heritage of the Chumash, while bearing in mind the garden's
likely visitors.
"We tried to install plants that had significant cultural value, without using
those that were spiny, poisonous, or otherwise potentially harmful to the kids
who frequent the daycare center adjacent to the garden," he said.
The garden also includes interpretive signage, a small pond, and a simulated
bedrock mortar, historically used by the Chumash and other Native Americans to
grind grains and nuts.
The recipients of the GVB awards will be honored at an awards ceremony and
silent auction fundraiser on May 6, 2012.
"Our campus has a strong vision for its future and each of these incremental
improvements helps to move us to the realization of that vision," said Fisher.
Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)
COMMENT 271227
|
2012-04-12 08:34 PM |
|
Maybe they could hold off on projects and instead put those monies toward reducing tuition.
|
| |
COMMENT 271235P
|
2012-04-12 09:01 PM |
|
The monies come from grants supplied by bodies that have nothing to do with/completely independent of tuition.
|
| |
COMMENT 271300
|
2012-04-13 09:18 AM |
|
No big deal! with their deep pockets.
|
| |
COMMENT 271375
|
2012-04-13 11:17 AM |
|
Some pictures would have been lovely...
|
| |
25% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.
| 
