Dustin Bajer

Designing With Nature. These are my projects.

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Urban Ecology is a way of looking at and studying the interactions between our built and natural environments. Far from being separate, nature and cities can benefit and benefit from each other is a complex web of interrelations. In a sense, Urban Ecology represents the maturation and combination of two science; urban planning and design, and ecology.

Urban Agriculture as a Response to Climate Change

December 7, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

Urban Agricultural Systems Inspired By Nature Can Mitigate Climate Change

Ear of wheat grown in a monoculture.

As climate changes and extremes become more common (floods, drought, storms, etc.) growing food – especially in monoculture – will become more challenging. Monocultures rely heavily on external inputs.

 

Layers of a food forest.

Forests aren’t immune to climate change, but they’re less susceptible because of the connections they contain – forests are diverse, and the end of every process is the beginning of another. Forests cycle water, nutrients, and create microclimates conducive to life.

 

Cities are like forests. Layers of a city.

Cities are like forests. Cities are places for maximizing connections, and they’re filled with opportunity. Whereas a forest might cycle water, nutrients, and energy, cities cycle ideas, information, culture, and resources.

 

Biophilic cities bring nature into cities.

Ecologists describe the border between two ecosystems as an ecotone – a special place where the diversity of both systems some meet. If we could bring nature into the city, we could create a system with all the variety and potential of each separate systems – while creating unique opportunities for these systems to interact in beneficial ways that solve problems.

 

Burdock plant protecting bare soil.

Here’s a secret – nature loves cities. Nature will colonize even the most inhospitable urban environments. And as it does, it will hold onto water, cycle nutrients, and create microclimates. We often fight the parts of nature best adapted at doing this.

 

Drink your problems away. Root-beer from invasive plants.

The key to blending nature and cities is to link them in creative ways – in ways that turn problems into solutions. (Drink your problems away. Root-beer from invasive plants).

 

The drain monster is eating your potential.

In cities, we tend to collect and move water away from our landscapes. Forests, in contract, capture excess water when it’s wet and put it to use when it’s dry. Forests cycle their resources – using water twice is the same as having twice as much water.

 

Swales on counter collect water for a downhill food forest.

In the face of climate change, we can take inspiration from nature and integrate passive water harvesting and storage into cities – especially when combined with the potential to grow food. Small changes in topography can direct water to the soil where it can be accessed.

 

Parkallen Community Garden water harvesting swale.

Here’s a water harvesting feature (swale) going into the Parkallen Community Garden. It’s built on contour and is designed to spread and soak water along the length of the garden.

 

Vegetables growing on a water harvesting swale. Parkallen community garden.

Once planted, fruits and vegetables can access free water stored in the soil. This simple technique stores excess water during wet periods and makes it available when it’s dry – mitigating floods and drought.

 

They're called leaves for a reason. Don't bag your leaves.

Ecosystems don’t create waste  – they cycle it. Though, we tend to bag ours and send it to the landfill. When we throw out our organics, we’re robbing our landscapes of essential nutrients. They’re called leaves for a reason.

 

Carbon powered herbivore.

Watering non-food producing monoculture designed to shed water then bagging and throwing away the result is insanity. This landscape could capture and process the water that lands on it. It should cycle and accumulate its nutrients. It could be producing food.

 

Water harvesting and food producing bed between two houses.

This patch of lawn has been converted into a raspberry garden. Beneath the ground, water harvesting features collect water from the roofs and spread it across the length of the yard. Covered with mulch the beds soak up excess water like living sponges and make it available to the plants. These simple techniques reduce flooding, reduce drought, cycle waste, and grow food.

 

Plant your water before you plant your garden.

This vegetable garden is growing on top of a series of water harvesting features that take water from the roof of the house. A bed of organic much is added on top and planted with vegetables and perennial food plants.

 

Storing water in healthy soil has the potential to mitigate climate.

When I first started working in this yard it was unbearably hot – south facing and void of vegetation – the soil baked. After adding ten cubic yards of mulch, dozens of bags of leaves, and 24 straw bales the earth is coming back to life and the microclimate of the yard has transformed – it’s humid now and doesn’t get as hot or cold. This yard now captures all the water that lands on it and converts it to food.

 

Apple tree and pear tree espaliered against a south facing wall.

Urban environments are exceptional places for creating and taking advantage of microclimates – especially for food production. These fruit trees are planted against a south facing fence to increase the length of the growing season. Water harvesting features below the ground bring water from the roof to the base of the trees.

 

Whitemud retaining wall orchard. Quisnell retaining wall orchard.

Vast microclimates create large potential. The south-west facing retaining wall by the Quinelle bridge would have made an amazing fruit orchard – absorbing the sun’s energy throughout the day and radiating it back at night.

 

Just outside of Edmonton's growing conditions - the 'resilient' peach.

Just outside of Edmonton’s growing conditions (zone 4a) – the ‘resilient’ peach (zone 5).

 

Just outside of Edmonton's growing conditions (zone 4a) - the American persimmon (zone 5).

Just outside of Edmonton’s growing conditions (zone 4a) – the American persimmon (zone 5).

 

Just outside of Edmonton's growing conditions (zone 4a) - the largest fruit native to North America - the Pawpaw (zone 5).

Just outside of Edmonton’s growing conditions (zone 4a) – the largest fruit native to North America – the Pawpaw (zone 5).

 

Volunteers planting a food forest in Edmonton's river valley.

We can choose to come together and create innovative food-producing systems that benefit the city and the natural world. Since 2014, I have been partnering with the City’s Roots for Trees program to plant thousands of native edibles in the river valley.

 

A community is a forest.

A forest is a community, and a community is a forest. It’s a dense web of connections, ideas, and potential. Working together is probably the single biggest strategy that we can adopt from nature to grow food and mitigate climate change.

 

Map of Edmonton utility lots for gardening and urban agriculture.

There’s no shortage of places to do this – backyards, front yards, boulevards, vacant lots. The City of Edmonton recently released a list of public utility lots available for gardening.

 

Highlevel bridge park and food forest.

One of my favorite things to do is reimagine the cityscape as food-producing ecological systems. I used to call this “postapocalyptic Edmonton”, but I’d rather see them in a preapocalyptic reality.

 

Anthony Henday roundabout food forest

I will admit that some of my drawings are a bit tongue in cheek – but we have so much unused space, and we should be putting it to productive use.

 

West Edmonton Mall Community Garden

This is a favorite of mine. West Edmonton Mall Community Garden.

 

The long tail of urban agriculture.

How much food could we produce in the city? Probably not all of it – but let’s not underestimate the food producing capacity of many small players. What we need are people who are willing to try and the regulatory and political conditions conducive to doing so.

 

Wild goji berries growing in Edmonton's river valley.

What I can tell you is that in addition to capturing water, reducing waste, and temperating the local climate these systems will be uniquely Edmontinain – like these, naturalized Goji berries left behind by Chinese market garden community.

 

Capilano apricots guerrilla planted in an Edmonton scrub bed sometime in the 60s.

Or these – Capilano apricots guerrilla planted in a city scrub bed sometime in the 60s. This is a uniquely Edmonton variety – it exists nowhere else int he world.

 

Biophilic city street that stores water, nutrients, co2 and produces food.

So let’s take inspiration from nature and create a city that cycles nutrients, tempers climate, and captures water and our imaginations.

 

Let's create a forest city. City as forest.

Let’s create a forest city.

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Avantgarden, Biophilic Design, Edmonton, Urban Agriculture, Urban Ecology

Slow Landscaping: A Case For Planting Ancient Trees

June 22, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

Slow Landscaping: A case for planting ancient trees.

Urban Sentinels

Almost by definition, cities are active, busy, bustling, ever-changing places where short-lived beings go about their busy days. Fast fashion, quick commerce, short election cycles – the world around us takes on various pace layers.

What better way to slow to slow things down than to seed cities with beings capable of living centuries or millennia? In what ways might a walk beneath ancient giants and twisted ancestors place us in a bigger here? A longer now?

The Long Now

Artist and musician Brian Eno once said that he wants to live in a “big here” and a “long now”. How long is your now? That is to say – what’s the timeframe in which you view our day to day? What timescale informs your decisions? Days? Months? Centuries?

In 01996, the LongNow Foundation (named by Eno) formed to “provide a counterpoint to today’s accelerating culture and [to] help make long-term thinking more common”. They define they now – the longnow – as the last 10 000 years and the next 10 000 years.

How differently would we act if we lived in a longer now? In what ways would our decisions change and in what ways might out priorities shift?

Slow Landscaping

The point of slow landscaping is to provide continuity in a fast paced environment – to provide pause and contemplation – to remind us that we are the result of circumstances that extends way before (and after) us – that we’re living in the LongNow. Slow landscaping asks us to act in ways – and is an act in and of itself – that leaves future generations with more options than we inherited.

One strategy may be to plant long-lived trees on sites unlikely to be disturbed. A second more devious strategy might be to plant long-lived trees to protect existing and vulnerable sites from future disturbances or development.

Living longer than most buildings, slow landscapes would dictate the shape of the built environment – as opposed to the other way around. Cities and buildings would bend and shift to fit slow landscapes like geological features. Each tree would shape the fabric of the spaces it occupies. Poor architects and planners will hate them, but good ones will incorporate them into their designs.

Long-Lived Species

There are many long-living species to choose from – a quick google search yields a list of the world’s oldest individual trees – many of which are slow growing conifers living in high alpine environments. I’ve selected a handful suitable for growing in my local (Edmonton) environment. I encourage you to see what will grow where you live.

Bristlecone Pine (Pinus aristata) – 500 to 2500 years

One of three bristlecone pine species, P. aristata, can be found at local nurseries here in Edmonton and is a small to medium sized tree (20 feet tall and 25 feet wide) native to the Blackhills of Colorado.

I know of at least one bristlecone pine growing at the Goerge Pegg Botanic Garden near Glenenis, Alberta (an hour West of Edmonton). Read more about this bristlecone pine at conifers.org.

Korean Pinenut (Pinus koraiensis) – 500 years

Koren Pinenut is a slow-growing giant that produces edible nuts. Reportedly hardy to USDA zone 3, the Korean Pinenut is native to parts of Korea, Manchuria, Eastern Russia, and Japan. The tree can reportedly reach 100 feet, though, 30 to 50 feet is more typical for trees under cultivation. Plant one now and you’ll be harvesting pine nuts in 15 to 45 years – expect a yield of 10 to 20 pounds per tree. Bring a ladder.

Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) – 500 to 1200 years

Native to the high elevations of Alberta’s mountains, the whitebark pine is a long living Alberta tree with significant ecological value for wildlife (having coevolved with the local Clark’s nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) who bury and inadvertently propagate seeds. Like the Korean Pinenut, the seeds are edible, though, smaller.

The Whitebark pine is slow growing and can take on various forms depending on the harshness of its location. At high elevations, it sometimes grows as a multi-stemmed shrub but has the potential to get as large as 70 feet tall and 45 feet wide in more favourable conditions. The oldest recorded tree is 1200 years old.

The Whitebark Pine is currently a species under threat due to white pine blister rust, mountain pine beetle, and the ill effect of fire suppression. The most comprehensive sources of information on Whitebark pine that I could find is an Alberta Conservation Association report from 2007 and a profile on conifers.org.

Alpine Larch (Larix lyallii) – 500 to 1500 years

A native Alberta tree found at high altitudes in the Rocky Mountains. Alpine Larch can grow anywhere from 30 to 80 feet tall depending on elevation – growing shorter at higher elevations. Soft green needles turn golden and fall off each year.

The oldest Alpine Larch is in Kananaskis and reported to be over 1900 years old. More information at conifers.org.

Honourable Mention: Trembling Aspin (Populus tremuloides) – 80 000+ years

The trembling or quaking aspen grows locally in Alberta is has the potential to live for tens of thousands of years due to its massive underground root system that perpetually sends up new trunks. Though individual trunks – that present as individual trees – are short-lived, the plant as a whole can grow to be ancient.

The oldest know trembling aspen is named Pando growing in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest. Pando is a single male aspen tree estimated to be over 80 000 years old. Pando covers a staggering 106 acres, has over 4000 trunks, and has a mass around 6 600 metric tonnes.

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Bio, Biophilic Design, Botany, Urban Ecology, Urbanism, What Grows Here?

Death Grip. How Decorative Lighting Kills Trees

June 20, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

Girdling

Decorative tree lights biting into an elm tree on Whyte Avenue, Edmonton.

The Dark Side of Decorative Tree Lighting

Edmonton has embraced year-round decorative tree lighting, and it’s hard not to love it! An Edmonton Journal article from 2015 (Tiny white lights to adorn city tree year-round) states that the City’s forestry department “installed lights on 1000 city-owned trees in six business revitalization zones: Alberta Avenue, Beverly, Downtown, North Edge (107th Avenue), Old Strathcona, and 124th Street).” Walking Whyte, Churchill, or Giovanni Caboto amongst twinkling giant elms is magical, but it also has a potential dark side. If left unchecked, decorative tree lighting can cut into and even kill growing trees.

Death By Girdling

Beneath the bark of a tree lies a network of tissues that channel sugars, minerals, and water throughout the plant. When this flow of nutrients is interrupted by a cut or object wrapped tightly around the truck – a process called girdling – the tree can weaken or die. The danger of decorative lighting is that it can’t expand as the tree grows.

The same Edmonton Journal article goes on to state the “the lights are secured to the trees with zip-ties, and as the tree grows the zip ties will be loosened.” Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Though I’ve seen zip ties used to secure extension cords running vertically up the trees, the decorative lights are secured by continuously wrapping the tree’s trunk and branches. As such, the only way to loosen the lights would be to remove and reinstall them.

It’s a Matter of Time

But don’t trees grow super slow? Won’t it take years for decorative tree lighting to causes any damage? Let’s take a closer look – since most of Edmonton’s light wrapped trees are American elms, I thought I’d look into their rate of growth. Fair warning, the following segment contains math.


According to the City’s OpenTree data, (and some help from pi), the elms between 104th and 105th Street on Whyte have an average circumference of 51 inches. Though OpenTree doesn’t say their age, an Edmonton Journal article about the removal of diseased elms (between 99th street to 96th street) claims that they were planted sometime in the 40s. Let’s assume that the 104/105 elms are of a similar age.

Whyte Avenue Elms
Average Circumference = 4 feet 3 inches (51″)
Estimate of Age = 72 years
Growth rate of Circumference = 0.71″ per year

Since my Edmonton data is spotty, let’s turn to some old elms from our Southern neighbours. These trees may or may not be representative of an elm growing in Edmonton.

The Treaty Elm – Philadelphia, PE
Circumference = 24 feet (288″)
Age = 280 years
Growth rate of Circumference = 1.03″ per year

The Johnstown Elm – Johnstown, NY
Circumference = 16 feet (196″)
Age = 200 years
Growth rate of Circumference = 0.96″ per year

The math shows us that an elm can increase its circumference somewhere between 0.71 and 1.03-inches per year – which at first glance doesn’t seem like a lot. But consider that each strand of light wraps around the circumference of the tree 30 to 40 times! To prevent strangulation, a string of lights would have to increase its length by 30 to 40 times the annual growth of the tree’s circumference. That’s between 1.5 and 3.5 feet per year! 


Though most trees can handle a few years covered in decorative lighting, lights can’t accommodate 1 to 4 feet of annual growth it’s a matter of time before they tighten, bite into the bark, and interfere with the flow of sap. The only way to prevent this is to remove and rewrap the tree at regular intervals or to run the lights vertically – a technique called tracing.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Edmonton’s decorative tree lighting – it seriously adds something to the city – especially during long, dark winters. But I also love trees, and the math doesn’t lie – a string of lights can go from loose to snug, to deadly in a few short years.

Protecting Edmonton’s Trees

In the grand scheme of things, Edmonton’s elms are juveniles and could live for another two centuries. Considering that elms are already under threat from Dutch Elm disease and Elm Scale, it seems cruel to add strangulation into the mix. That being said, Edmonton’s not the fist municipality to use decorative lighting on trees. So in the interest of preserving our lights AND our urban forest, let’s see what other cities are doing.

The following decorative tree lighting guidelines are hand-picked  from the City of Portland’s Department of Parks and Recreations and Cincinnati’s Department of Urban Forestry:

  • Non-seasonal lighting can not exceed three years.

  • Lighting can not interfere with the routine pruning of trees.
  • “The preferred method of installation is ‘draping’ or ‘tracing’. These methods have been found to be the least harmful to trees.”
    • “The draping method may be used throughout the canopy” on branches one inch in diameter or larger.
    • The “tracing” method involves running lights vertically and attaching them with an expanding tape such as nursery tape or poly-chain-lock.
  • Cincinnati requires that lights are attached using the tracing method and fixed to the trees with eyelet screws rather than tape. “While it may be more time consuming to install the screw eyes and lights the first year, it is much faster to remove them and reinstall them the following years.”
  • “All work on the lighting shall be performed while the trees are dormant.”

Reporting A Tree (Update)

If it sounds like I’m being tough on the City of Edmonton I must apologise – the work they do it beyond exceptional as demonstrated by the fact that they’re caring for and maintaining an inventory of over 267000+ urban trees,  7400 hectares of River Valley, city-wide naturalization, and running Roots for Trees and numerous other community beautification projects! When it comes to nature and urban forestry, you’d be hard-pressed to find a city as ambitious as Edmonton. They wrapped 1000 trees in stunning decorative lighting! 100 trees! How cool is that?! Seriously! But there are many more of us then there are of them and we can help! So if you see a tree that has outgrown its lights, contact the City by calling 311 and they’ll send someone to check it out.

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Botany, Edmonton, Urban Ecology

John Walter Museum’s Edmonton Tree Walking Tours

June 14, 2017 by Dustin Bajer

John Walter Museum Edmonton Tree Walk - Dustin Bajer

Interesting and Historic Trees of Edmonton

On July 25th and August 8th, the John Walter Museum will be hosting a walking tour of interesting and historic trees of Edmonton.

Both tours will begin at the museum at 6 pm with stops in the river valley and Legislature grounds before heading towards Jasper Avenue. This walking tour will cover approximately 5km (2.5 hours) with a break at the halfway point.

Reserve Your Place

You can register a spot on either tour by visiting the City of Edmonton’s Online eReg or by calling 311 with the respective course codes below:


(Sold Out/Finished)

July 25, 2017, pm – 9 pm 
Register Online or Call 311 with Course Code 605478


August 8, 2017, 6pm – 9pm
Register Online or Call 311 with Course Code 
605479


Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Events Tagged With: Botany, Edmonton, Urban Ecology, What Grows Here?

Reintroducing The World’s Best Lawn Mower

November 24, 2016 by Dustin Bajer

The Orignal And Best Lawn Mower On The Market

When it comes to getting that perfect cut and keeping a healthy, natural lawn, you can’t beat one of these. Seriously, this is a grass powered lawn mower with a fertilizer attachment.

Worlds Best Lawn Mower. Bison and other large herbivores co-evolved with grasses.

Reintroducing The World’s Best Lawn Mower. Bison and other large herbivores co-evolved with grasses.

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Biophilic Design, Gardening, Quora, Urban Ecology

5 Ways To Water Your Garden

November 19, 2016 by Dustin Bajer

If you’re continually using the garden hose, there’s a chance that you’re doing it wrong. Actively and continuously needing to water your garden is a sign that you may have overlooked some simple but powerful water harvesting techniques. Here are [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Biophilic Design, Gardening, Quora, Urban Ecology

11 Reasons Why The Magpie Defines Edmonton

November 13, 2016 by Dustin Bajer

Edmonton Magpie. The Bird We Love To Hate

I Magpie YEG. Picture of a Edmonton magpie on a green and blue backdrop.

I know of no other Edmonton resident more controversial than Pica hudsonia; often referred to as the black-billed magpie or an annoying jerk. While many of us resent its 4 am wake-up calls, others find the Edmonton magpie fascinating. It’s the bird that [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Edmonton, Urban Ecology, YEGPIE

The Walterdale Bat Bridge

June 21, 2015 by Dustin Bajer 2 Comments

Span The Gap Between Urban and Ecological Design with Bat Bridges

Edmonton Waterdale Bridge, Bat Bridge, Biophilic Design

The Walterdate Bat Bridge is an ecologically inspired structure at the edge of Biophilic design. Part bridge, part mosquito solution, the structure places the built environment within its ecological context.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Avantgarden, Biophilic Design, Edmonton, Urban Ecology

The Nature Of Cities. Why Cities are Good For The Environment.

June 14, 2015 by Dustin Bajer 3 Comments

Biophilic Cities Love and Integrate Natural System Into Their Design

When ecologist Edward O Wilson coined the terms biodiversity and biophilia, he opened our eyes to new ways of viewing the world. Now, architects, designers, and academics such as Richard Register, Tim Beatley, and Geoffrey West are using lessons from ecology and network theory to design tomorrow’s resilient urban environment; biophilic cities.

Richard Register, Ecosity Builders. Biophilic Cities

Biophilic/Ecocity design incorporates functional ecology into urban landscapes.
Drawing by Richard Register, Ecocity Builders

What is a Biophilic City?

A biophilic city then embraces and incorporates natural systems into its design.  They integrate the built and natural worlds in beneficial ways. The result? Biophilic cities are more attractive and less prone to floods, droughts, resource shortages, waste, and boredom. Biophilic cities have the potential to save money, resources, and spark the imagination.

Cities Are Natural – And Good For The Environment

We tend to view our built and natural environments as opposing forces. But I would argue that this perceived incompatibility has more to do with poor design than universal law. As it turns out, urban environments already play host to countless organisms. Let’s go a step further and argue that cities are natural. Far from being static, nature is the process of moving from few to many connections. In this successional process, each stage of builds upon the previous stage and creates the conditions necessary for the next. In this way, ecological systems diverge, diversify, and expand over time. What starts off as fragile becomes complex and resilient. As it turns out, cities behave in a similar way. What starts off as a small settlement expands to include many of the needs and services necessary to support the community. At each stage, the future is built on the present. As new connections grow, the system expands, and new possibilities emerge.

Biophilic Cities are Resilient

Resiliency is a property of systems and a measure of how connected its pieces are. As natural and built systems expand, their potential for connections increases rapidly.

Muir web of Manhattan

Each point in a Muir web represents a living or non-living element in an ecosystem. Lines between elements represent relationships. As biodiversity increases, the potential for connections increases. The more relationships there are, the more resilient the ecosystem tends to be.

Networks Under Succession from fragile to resilient to antifragile.

Most systems start with few connections. As new elements emerge the number of potential connections increases. In this way, systems move from fragile to resilient and (at times) antifragile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biophilic Cities Are Ecotones

Ecologists describe the intersection of two ecological systems as an ecotone. Ecotones bring together the biodiversity of each plus a few others (think otters at the edge of a lake). As a result, ecotones are rich in ecological relationships. They are among the most biologically diverse places on the planet. By design, Biophilic Cities are ecotones that connect economy, society and nutrients (money, food, and waste) with ecosystem services. Ex. Waste water runoff or the heat island effect become ecological solutions.

Ecotones contain a flourish of biodiversity.

An ecotone is where two different ecosystems meet. Ecotones contain the connections between two ecosystems.

Layers of an ecosystem (forest). Layers of a City. Biophilic Cities

Cities and Ecosystems build up layers over time. As new organisms or elements emerge, they search out connections within the system. Can analogies be drawn between ecological and urban strata?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles Tagged With: Biophilic Design, Urban Ecology, Urbanism

YEGtrees: Mapping Edmonton’s Favourite Trees

April 30, 2015 by Dustin Bajer 15 Comments

YEGtrees Map: Edmonton’s favourite unique, historic, and delicious plants.

Edmonton historic hearty Capilano Apricot #yegtrees

One of three historic Edmonton apricot trees growing on the West side of 75th Street.

There’s something simultaneously very personal and completely public about having a favorite tree; it’s an interesting intersection between private, urban, and natural history. Trees are rooted in place and to love a tree is, in some small way, to love where you are – to become a part of it.

For anyone who’s walked around Edmonton, you’ll know that the City’s urban forest is pretty impressive. But trees aren’t just beautiful to look at; they cast shade, store carbon, provide habitat for animals, soak up millions of liters of water, and (yes) some even grow food. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Projects Tagged With: Biophilic Design, Edmonton, Maps, Urban Ecology

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Dustin Bajer

Teacher, permaculture designer, master gardener, hobby beekeeper, consultant, and network nerd living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Read More

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