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GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE CENTER

Healing Our Earth and Healing our Veterans

At the Partners in Community Forestry Conference

By Karen Firehock and Lara Johnson

© 2018


The Green Infrastructure Center helps communities evaluate their green assets to maximize ecological, economic and cultural returns. We do this by:

Building landscape models

Teaching courses and workshops

Research into new methods

Demonstration projects


Some examples of recent work in urban landscapes…

Summerville, SC Hot Springs, AR Wilmington, NC Richmond, VA

Re-linking nature and

history in a rapidly

developing town

Revitalizing a city at the

intersection of history,

health and nature

Using green

infrastructure to soak up

stormwater and

revitalize the city

Urban revitalization in

a post-industrial city –

regreening, regrowing,

healing landscapes


GIC’s National Book is

available from Island Press.


What is green infrastructure?

A map of a city for one of GIC’s projects (left) shows a neighborhood’s gray

infrastructure including buildings and roads. Classified high-resolution satellite

imagery (right) adds a green infrastructure data layer (trees and other vegetation) .


Term Origin …

Florida coined the term

“Green Infrastructure.”

in a 1994 report to the

governor on land

conservation strategies.

It was intended to reflect

the notion that natural

systems are important

components of our

“infrastructure.”

They built a state model

to find priorities.


Green Infrastructure Planning Requires Thinking About How to Connect the Landscape

It’s about

connecting the

landscape!

Not just key

habitat patches

but how we

connect them!


Access to fitness opportunities. (addresses obesity, nature deficit disorders)

Clean air – trees absorb pollutants, VOCs, filter runoff, cool the city. (combat asthma)

Well being and mental health - -people heal faster when they can see or access green. (hospitals need this for patients, reduces absenteeism of workers)

Less crime occurs near trees. (issue especially for downtowns and public housing areas)

Employees will exercise if they can access green where they work and on the way to work. (addresses employee health)

Trees: Create Healthy Communities


Richmond City Green Infrastructure

Assessment: GI at multiple scales


First: Richmond Regional Planning District Commission maps city green assets = city green print


• Water Resources

• Conservation Lands

• Sustainable Features

• Parks & Recreation

• Transportation

• Heritage & Culture

Resources

What Are the Green Infrastructure Assets?

Image Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment


City Green Print


What are opportunities to re-green Richmond?

The 2009 regional green infrastructure assessment revealed a significant decline of green infrastructure over the last decade due to sprawling development outside the city.

The City of Richmond includes over 9,000 vacant parcels.

Many of these sites can become a resource for expanding the green infrastructure network and enhancing neighborhoods.


City: Develop citywide green infrastructure network based on suitability of vacant parcels.

Planning District: Create interactive database to evaluate suitability of vacant parcels for various goals.

Neighborhood: Develop concept plans and prototypes to connect neighborhoods to the city’s green infrastructure network.

Project: Provide case studies and strategies that can be implemented to enhance Richmond’s green infrastructure network.

Implementation Approach: Planning Across Scales


Vacant parcel inventory, grouped by:

• vacant lots

• vacant structures

• vacant properties(parcels that haveunknown status)

= 9000 vacant parcels

City: Citywide Vacancy


How can we link regional green infrastructure to local projects?


Vacant parcels can provide corridor opportunities to re-green and

reconnect the urban landscape.


If each parcel leaves or replants a green strip, they can be connected for form

a corridor – urban greenway trails can be created within an urban fabric.


Look for other ways for existing parcels to link to greenways.


October 2010

City Land Cover:

42% Tree Canopy

23% Other Vegetation

24% Non-Building

Impervious

11% Building

Impervious


Strategy: Plant more trees to replace aging trees and those lost to storms.

Today Richmond plants trees strategically, where they are most needed.


These parcels met criteria that support the following goals:

• Protect Priority Conservation Areas• Improve water quality • Increase park access• Support greenway development• Identify network opportunities

Potential citywide green infrastructure network based on ecological suitability of vacant parcels through the city.


Green Infrastructure Toolkit


Watershed Scale: Upper Goode’s Watershed

Watershed (dashed boundary) shows the land that drains upper Goode’s Creek

Goode’s Creek drains into the James River

Model for other city watersheds


We use GIS to identify high quality areas and opportunities to restore the watershed


The community

developed ideas for

a walkable

watershed in

December 2011.


Partnerships Are Key Richmond government

can not take on and solve watershed problems alone.

Partnerships with nonprofit groups, businesses and community members are key to achieving goals to clean our waters.

We formed a Watershed Coalition to make partnerships work!


Trash Cleanups


Storm Drain Labeling & Rainbarrels


Engaging youth in building the nature trail, replanting buffers


Help the Community Plant Trees


GIC and VA DOF Created an Arboretum at the McGuire Veterans Hospital: it is a healing site for patients, staff and visitors.


McGuire Veterans Arboretum

On land owned by Thomas Cheatham in 1892

After WWII the family had to give up land to eminent domain for a highway.

Built in 1946 and named after Stonewall Jackson’s personal physician. Serves > 200,000 veterans.

87 acre site in the City of Richmond.

Rebuilt in the late 20th Century.

Surrounded by a dense residential neighborhood with a number of industrial sites

South of the James River


Our Engagement: Three Year Process

Step One: Finding sites to

plant – this was difficult

due to constant building

going on. We found one

place they would not build

– it was a geothermal well

field so it would not be

built on!



Step Two: Getting permission.

A funny story…

The engineering department had once wanted to

plant trees everywhere they could and asked for help.

They pulled a dusty binder from a shelf with a study

of the entire site!



Step Three: Planting

We started with our staff.

And then Ron showed up ….


Step Three: Planting…was really difficult.

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE CENTERPlanting Day!


Assessment and Rethinking

Some trees didn’t make it. Why?

A very droughty summer…

High winds (and windstorms!)

Poor extremely compacted soil (it was a

rubble site = bricks, bathroom tiles, pipes!)

Some species were not compatible

Planted tooooo deep (foxholes!)


Year II: Replanting and improving the odds.

Added top soil to mix with the

bad rubble fill.

Added mulch into the soil and

mixed it.

Settled on a mix of ½ native

soil + ½ mix (2/3 soil + 1/3 compost).

Rethought the species for this

site (drought + wind tolerant, full sun).


Year II: Replanting and improving the odds. Watering was difficult – no nearby

water. We used 5 gal gas tanks with

water to fill gator bags! Uuugh.

Changed to a 48 gal ‘laydown water

tank’ usually used for livestock in

remote fields.

Changed to large 275 gal.

rectangular tank and had fire station

to fill it. This cut watering time 4x.


Year II: Hiring the veteran crew!

A pilot program to hire disabled

veterans was available (life counseling and work)

Hired a social worker to supervise.

Recruitment and interviewing.

Challenges with work-force re-entry.


Year II: Training and Teaching!

They learned about soils and tree species and

designed the expansion for the site.


Year II: Pruning and staking …


Corporate Sponsorship and Engagement

Year one, Altria and Year two Dominion

Virginia Power


EducationPlanting tags added.

Great news coverage.


The Hospital Embraces the Arboretum

Hospital Director John Brandecker thanks the crew.


An act of 114th Congress


The Dedication …


Veterans Progress!


The Arboretum today…


Exercise Equipment Added


Eagle Scouts Are Amazing and…there is likely one near you!

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE CENTERLessons Learned1) It started in the middle not at the top – a little

bit guerilla effort and finding interested staff at

the hospital.

2) Engage and train the grounds staff – we had

problems with gator bags cut and equipment

storage – until we directly engaged the grounds

staff who thought we were encroaching on their

jobs.

3) Have a thick skin – once something is a

success the worker bees may get lost in the

process…

4) Make sure the work is fun too – have some

lunches, some off site events.

5) Manage expectations –it’s a tough site so

anything that lives is a victory!

6) No egos allowed! Unified effort to avoid

confusion, but groups still free enough to get

work done.

7) Restoration takes a long time, funders ask

when will you be finished? We said it took many

years to compact and ruin the soil – it will take

decades for the site to mature.


Hope you’ve made it this far…


ENDLara Johnson

[email protected] Dept. of Forestry

Karen Firehock [email protected]

GIC Inc.Charlottesville, VA, 22901

www.gicinc.org

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