Applied Eco-literacy in Landscape Architecture
Drought: California's New Normal
The California Salmon and Steelhead Coalition has a message for our state: Drought is here to stay and nature is paying the price. If we want to protect our fresh water supplies in the long term, we need to protect the ecosystems that sustain them. California needs a coordinated drought response that doesn't destroy the freshwater ecosystems we all rely on.
Our coalition has a vision for a drought-resilient California that supports people and native species: 1) Management plans for dry years. 2) Funding for modern water management changes. 3) Improved water permitting policy. 4) Agency capacity to implement the above elements. If we're going to adapt to California's new normal, we can't leave nature behind. It's time to protect freshwater ecosystems.
CA Salmon & Steelhead Coalition
North Coast Resource Partnership IRWM,
20th Anniversary
Daily Acts: 2024 & Beyond
What Daily Acts has been up to and where they’re headed! Check out dailyacts.org to dive deeper into the details of their work.
Miwok-Park Climate Resilient Transformation:
Public Park Lawn Transformation. Daily Acts Land Resilience Partnership.
In May of 2024, Daily Acts transformed a lawn at Miwok Park in Petaluma into a beautiful water-wise garden, complete with a pollinator hedgerow and rain garden through our Land Resilience Partnership Program. Prior to this project, this frequently trafficked park had little shade, major flooding, and expansive lawn.
Through partnerships with the City of Petaluma Parks, ReLeaf Petaluma, Sonoma Resource Conservation District, ReBuilding Together and Conservation Corps North Bay, Daily Acts helped install over 30 shade trees, a 1,000 sq foot rain garden to mitigate flooding, and converted 9,3000 sq foot of irrigated lawn to a native landscape. Over the course of the installation 1,100 native plants were planted by 63 volunteers from various local organizations including World Centric, Guayaki, CVS, and Gaylen’s Way. The site will provide refuge of shade for neighbors and habitat for pollinators while saving 236,100 gallons of water each year.
Video by Alex McCutcheon | spiderplantmedia.com
Miwok Valley Charter School Climate Resilient Schools Program
In May of 2024, Daily Acts completed the first of four school garden installations through our Climate Resilient Schools Program at Miwok Valley Charter School in Petaluma, California. 46 volunteers powered through to help plant over 900 native plants, which were carefully selected to support local pollinators during each season of the year. All trees planted on the site will be irrigated by the three 5,000 gallon rain tanks that were installed at the school. Not only will this lawn conversion help save the school 290,800 gallons of water annually, but it will be a place where students can connect with nature too!
Video by Alex McCutcheon | spiderplantmedia.com
Chop and Drop Pathways
A simple method for creating sustainable garden paths. Michelle Yahn shows all the good you can do with your garden trimmings if you keep them on site, making a cool little garden path.
Michelle Yahn. Ellin Baumel. Kim Calvert.
Introducing California's Fifth Climate Change Assesment
Worse and more frequent extreme weather events and trends are impacting the state every year, making up-to-date information on climate change essential for driving sound policy and investment decisions. The Fifth Assessment strengthens our understanding of climate change vulnerabilities in California through original research, new data products, and a series of regional and statewide reports to support on-the-ground implementation at the local, regional, tribal, and state levels, focusing on the needs of communities most vulnerable to climate change impacts.
Please watch this short video introduction to California's Climate Assessment and join our mailing list to learn more about ways you can get involved.
Elea Becker Lowe, The Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, California Strategic Growth Council, California Natural Resources Agency and California Energy Commission, alongside numerous expert and community partners, would like to formally introduce their work on California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment (Fifth Assessment).
McKinley School Garden Transformation
Daily Acts Land Resilience Partnership.
Daily Acts and the Land Resilience Partnership teamed up with volunteers to transform 3000 square feet of a school's barren turf landscape into a drought-tolerant garden that will welcome pollinators and harvest rainwater!
Home2Headwaters
Nina Gordon-Kirsch.
Watch this sizzle reel to get a small feel for what the journey was like. Educational 35min film is forth-coming.
Donate now to support the creation of an educational film to teach students where their water comes from: https://www.home2headwaters.com/support.html
Footage collected by: Julia Maryanska, Marielle Olentine, Mer Al'Dao, Sky Richards, and Nina Gordon-Kirsch Edited by Julia Maryanska
Saving Mono Lake
A visual and historical palimpsest of Chicano/a/x environmental justice and water conservation movement in Los Angeles.
Victoria Villeda. Victor Ulloa-Reyes. Gabriel Gutierez.
Moving Towards Regenerative Together
Highlights from the Project Positive Summit
In 2019, Biomimicry 3.8 launched Project Positive, a collaborative of change agents committed to elevating sustainability through Biomimicry and Positive Performance. Today, Biomimicry 3.8 and Project Positive members are demonstrating that organizations can advance their economic agendas, support climate goals, engage employees and local communities, while driving innovation and creating positive impacts for both people and the planet. This film offers a glimpse into the vision, approach, and the change-makers learning from nature to benefit all Life.
Anne LaForti. Produced by White Rhino.
Thinking Like Water
Docuseries Trailer.
Renea Roberts.
Thinking Like Water docuseries celebrates Bill Zeedyk and his lifetime of work in restoring degraded lands and waterways. Part Biography and Part How-To, it Illustrates simple low-tech, low-risk, low-cost methods in easy to understand ways while tagging along with Zeedyk and his allies. Go to thinkinglikewater.com for more info and to sign up for updates.
Mulch Basins Catch a Stormwater Rain Bomb
Oasis Design.
Simple much basins capture stormwater at 100x the usual performance standard. 1,000 ft2 of mulch basins capture 2.4 inches of rain on 100,000 ft2 of catchment in six hours, a quarter of it in 15 minutes.
A trailer for the full length version of "Mulch Basins Catch a Stormwater Rain Bomb" http://oasisdesign.net/water/stormwater/
Motherlode Fairgrounds Rainwater Harvesting
Land Resilience Partnership. Watershed Progressive.
Motherlode Fairgrounds, Sonora CA - Video of tanks that collect rainwater as a water source for livestock.
Videography by Ryan Evans. Narration by Peter Deneen.
Twain Harter Bocce Ball Court Stormwater Enhancement Project
Land Resilience Partnership. Watershed Progressive.
Raintank collects rainwater and is used for the Twain Harte Community Garden.
Videography, Music and Narration by Ryan Evans.
Learning where to place a one-rock dam…
by observing dam being built by beaver.
Brad Lancaster learning from the beaver in the Gila Wilderness, New Mexico.
Summer Sidewalk Temperatures:
Brad Lancaster shows us the dramatic summer temperature differences of public walkways in the shade vs. in the full sun. This video also shows you how simple changes that plant the rain and grow living shade can vastly improve our comfort, mood, and health; while also rehydrating our communities. It illustrates how we need to expand the public rights-of-ways, or public commons, in our communities to make such living shade more viable and accessible for all.
Filmed August 2023.
Harvesting Rain
Land Resilience Partnership. Watershed Progressive.
There is hope right under our feet and all around us. Capturing and storing rain is one example of a solution based on understanding natural cycles and processes. This video provides a overview of the benefits of rainwater capture, storage, and reuse.
Land Resilience Partnership
The Landowner Resilience Partnership (LRP) engages with property owners to promote local onsite water treatments such as rainwater harvesting, greywater reuse, stormwater management and water efficient landscaping. Landowners receive professional guidance to ensure their project is built to code specifications and maximize their water conservation goals. LRP assists with system design, planning, project management as well as material and tank rebates to help offset costs. Through this program, local landowners will efficiently manage their onsite water resources towards a more resilient future.
Audio and Video Ryan Evans and Charles Upton
Transforming Communities through the Land Resilience Partnership
The Land Resilience Partnership (LRP) is a direct-technical assistance program that identifies opportunities, plans for creative and technical design solutions, and transforms land through local solutions for onsite water management. Lindsay Mattos describes how the LRP was formed in partnership with the Tuolumne Resource Conservation District (TCRCD) and walks through some of the tools employed in the program.
Shifting the Paradigm with Martha Davis of the Mono Lake Committee
Martha Davis of the Mono Lake Committee talks about what it means to work towards a “Paradigm Shift”, and how systems thinking can help us become better land and water stewards.
Greywater, Rainwater, and Community Resilience with Laura Allen of Greywater Action
Laura Allen of Greywater Action discusses tools from the Water Toolkit, including rainwater, greywater and climate appropriate planting. She answers questions from the forum chatroom about best management practices when using greywater and rainwater.
Steering Committee Reflection Panel
Trathen Heckman, Bob Wilkinson and Laura Allen reflect on where we are and where we can go from here, using Localizing California Waters and discussions about community efforts to build watershed resilience through the transformative power of small actions.
Closing Reflections
Closing reflections from the LCW November 2021 Fall Forum.