Making UMass Dartmouth Shangri-La: Profile of the Land Use Committee
How to utilize the sprawling land that encompasses UMass Dartmouth has always been a top priority for the Administration. As one of the nine sections of the Sustainability Initiative, the Land Use committee's primary objective is to determine how to make the landscapes of the campus both attractive and sustainable for its users.
"When we do build on campus, we look for the long-term impacts associated," said Dr. Garry Clayton, Director of CCB Cape Cod and co-chair of the Land Use Committee.
The committee has had a slow start when compared to others within the Initiative due to time and scheduling constraints for its members. While plans and criteria are still very broad, several key points of interest have been discussed.
The Cedar Dell Pond and all the storm water that runs off into it are main concerns for the committee. Proposals to test the pond for its ph level and contaminants that pose risks to the surrounding habitat, as well as ideas for increasing the aesthetic value of the entire area, are in initial stages. "It is a beautiful pond that the campus turns its back on. We need to make it sustainable, while attracting more worth and joy from its wonderful assets," said Dr. Clayton.
The educational possibilities behind analyzing and cleaning the pond are also being explored. "We have, essentially, an unused laboratory here for all sorts of research when you think of water, water quality, and control. So, what research are we doing and what should we be doing? What educational programs are possible," explained Dr. Clayton.
Studies are also in the works to determine the effects storm water runoff has on the topography and nearby wildlife of the pond. "We need to evaluate the storm water situation because we have a lot of parking lots here, and we need to make sure the storm water that goes into the Cedar Dell Pond is filtered properly through natural vegetation," said Eric Lyonnais, Assistant Director of Housing/Facilities and co-chair of the Land Use Committee. Alternative solutions being kicked around the office for minimizing runoff include the creation of a filtration system and storm gutters at specified locations for trapping the water elsewhere.
The prospects of having bike paths and official nature trails on campus are growing more concrete, though it will still be sometime before this becomes a reality. Information needs to be gathered to determine how popular the topic is with students and the surrounding community, how many bikers we have on campus, the routes the paths would have, and how feasible they really are. "What I envision is how educational these nature trails could be," said Mr. Lyonnais, referring to the varieties of trees and plant life that make up the woodlands.
One possible managerial technique brought up by Dr. Clayton is the balanced score card, which divides the committee's agenda into four main areas that will produce compelling data and give a clear indication of success. The first area is Financial, which entails the costs for the campus to look over landscapes, maintain habitats, and how to make cost savings sustainable. The second area, Processes, looks into auditing the business relationships on campus, what types of risk management and hazardous responses plans exist, and how we can measure their success. Linear Development focuses on the research and laboratorial possibilities with the Cedar Dell Pond and the rest of the natural topography. The final area, Customers, deals with overall response towards the landscape from the campus and outside population and how to improve this with the resources we have.
We're a few seasons off until the due date of the Sustainability Assessment Report, and both co-chairs are confident they'll have a suitable draft ready that will provide detailed results and recommendations for what to do with UMass Dartmouth's landscape. "In all fairness, we'll have a strong draft, but it is all open to change and new directions," said Mr. Lyonnais.
The Land Use Committee is looking for forward-thinking students with interests in sustainability. For inquiries, contact Dr. Garry Clayton at (508) 999-8261 or Eric Lyonnais at (508) 910-6884.
