Creative management as a design tool for biodiversity

Abstract

Landscape management plays a key role in the appearance and use of designed landscapes over time. It is typical for management plans to be a last consideration, something that comes at the tail end of the design process or is not considered part of the design process at all. If they are part of the process these plans tend to work against natural successional patterns with the goal of maintaining the visual aesthetic of the original design over a number of years. But what if management was used as the primary tool for design to work alongside and encourage certain successional patterns that enhance biodiversity to create dynamic landscapes over time? In my practicum, I will explore how creative management of vegetation in a local golf course in Winnipeg, MB Canada allows for increased biodiversity and successional patterns. Contrary to regular approach to landscape maintenance, creative management is an adaptive approach that responds to on the ground conditions in the moment. This requires an in-depth understanding of the site through various times and seasons to experience the patchwork of micro conditions that make up a landscape. Once people are equipped with the knowledge of the land it enables them to respond quickly and appropriately to changes in the land in order to benefit the habitats as a whole. I have identified a number of habitat types and will develop a management plan for each one. This practicum will take two golf courses and transform them into a mosaic of different habitats with the goal of creating and enhancing biodiversity within the city. In order for creative management to support biodiversity it has to be intentional with its timing and methods. For this reason I have selected a number of endangered insects and animals to create specific habitat for which will provide a base for the project. The Manitoba list of species at risk informed the selection of species to create and manage habitat for. From an in-depth study of the life cycles of the selected species along with real life experience in the field of landscape management a series of strategies were developed that will be used to transform the golf courses into prime habitat. Homogeneous lawns will become large fields of prairie and wet meadow. Retention ponds and other low areas will become a patchwork of pothole prairie marshes scattered across the landscape and the creation of a dune field will provide a unique habitat within the city.