Naturalized Gardens in Urban Areas Part 1

The disciplines of landscape design/architecture and natural resource management intersect in the development and management of natural environments such as prairies, wetlands, woodland, lake and river basins.  Michigan never had extensive prairies like much of the Midwest.  This area is dominated by lakes and rivers, wetlands and woods.  200 years ago, Michigan boasted 14 million acres of wetlands.  In 1837, when Michigan became a state, almost all of its 36.4 million acres of land was  covered in forests. 

Years of rapid industrial expansion and urban growth left much of the natural beauty of Michigan degenerated.  In previous generations, the goal of our society was to extend the benefits of the industrial and information revolutions to everyone.  By doing so, life expectancy increased, health improved, education spread, poverty, true poverty, receded.

But the cost of such rapid growth was a general disregard for the natural environment.  Urban sprawl has expanded cities in such a way that there is no clear border between cities. Roads, development of neighborhoods, malls and industrial complexes are unconfined. As a result much of the beauty and health of the natural world has disappeared. 

This does not mean everyone disregarded the care of the natural world.  Conservationists such as Theodore Roosevelt did what they could to ensure a healthy environment.   Conservationism was dedicated to setting aside large swaths of land to keep those pristine.

"We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources. But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the soils have still further impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting the rivers, denuding the fields and obstructing navigation." Theodore Roosevelt 

According the the Michigan DNR, over 11 million acres of wetlands have been destroyed since the influx of European settlers around 200 years ago. There are wetlands and woodlands throughout Michigan still.  However, today, Michigan boast less than 3 million acres, down from 14 million acres 200 years ago.  Although Michigan's State Forest system is the largest in the nation, with 3.9 million acres, most of the pre-settlement forests are gone. 

Yes, people have continued to bring ever elusive nature back into their lives by creating gardens, planting trees and flowers etc.  Of course, lawns still dominate the suburban landscape.  Because lawns are basically uncomplicated masses of grass, care for these is fairly straight forward, if environmentally unfriendly.  Unfriendly because they require constant care.

Lawns need more water to stay attractive than they generally get from natural precipitation.  So, water resources are diverted to keep our lawns beautiful. Weeds need to be controlled.  If you don't have time to pull them individually, you have to find another control mechanism.  The most common control is chemical.  Likewise, most lawns need regular fertilization to ensure proper nutrition.

So, the environmental footprint of a lawn goes beyond the energy used and pollution created by a lawn mower and edger.  Creation of weed control products and fertilizers requires significant energy sapping production facilities.  Precious water resources are pumped from aquifers, lakes and streams to keep our lawns green.  Lakes and streams can be replenished through natural annual precipitation.  Aquifers, however, take thousands of years to recharge.  Water costs energy (and thus money) not just to get it to the source of use but to return these resources to usefulness.  Water that runs off lawns and into sewers is then recycled at plants, once again requiring energy resources.  Environmental footprint of maintaining a lawn amplified.