Ecological Restoration & Design

Site Assessment and Restoration Report

Blackland Collaborative will visit the site to assess current conditions (soils, vegetative cover, dominant vegetative community, invasive and native plant populations). Time on site will be dependent upon site scale and project goals. We then take that data and research historical documentation to determine historic climax plant communities and provide an in-depth report documenting multiple plant community states and the transition efforts required to achieve desired conditions. Reports will include thorough prescription of restoration measures including soil amendment, invasive plant treatment plan, seed species design, seed rates, live plantings, establishment irrigation schedule, and maintenance regime. Maintenance can include prescribed burning, grazing, mowing, thatch removal schedule, subsequent seedings, and vegetative monitoring plans.

Design Package Work

• Master Plan
• Schematic Design
• Design Development
• Construction Oversight
• Post Installation Monitoring

Blackland Collaborative will work with the integrated design team through the entire process to create restored ecosystems within larger design. We provide stakeholder facilitation at the Master Plan level and then help guide the project to optimize ecosystem services in alignment with client’s goals. In the initial stages, Blackland Collaborative will provide rigorous redline and review sessions to help shape design trajectory. Our aim is to push the project so that the design outperforms and functions on multiple levels. Blackland Collaborative will produce design specifications related to soil selections, soil amendment, soil compaction rates, invasive plant treatment plan, seed species design, seed rates, seed schedules, live planting selections, establishment irrigation layout (to achieve coverage, we are not licensed irrigators and will coordinate with irrigation contractor), establishment irrigation schedule, and maintenance regime. Maintenance can include prescribed burning, grazing, mowing, thatch removal schedule, subsequent seedings, and vegetative monitoring plans. Blackland Collaborative will visit the site quarterly, post installation and provide reports per each inspection to help guide restoration areas in their infancy. These inspections can continue as long as the client desires.

SITES Integration

Our projects reflect best practices based on guidelines from the Sustainable SITES Initiative (SITES), a Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) program that was initially created by a partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the United States Botanic Garden, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center including members of the EDG staff. SITES is a set of comprehensive guidelines and performance benchmarks for a voluntary national rating system for sustainable landscapes, similar to the LEED rating system for green buildings. Blackland Collaborative will review the SITES scorecard with the design team and clients at the beginning of the project to assess if it is a good candidate. We will work with the integrated team to help with relevant documentation, establish a maintenance and management framework, and long-term monitoring protocol.