Texas Tech University

After Design

Monitoring + Managing the
Texas Landscape

April 05, 2019

09:00-17:00

COA GALLERY + COA RM 102

Texas Tech University
Department of Landscape Architecture

Participants:

Fred Beach PHD is the Assistant Director for Energy + Technology Policy at The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute, where he conducts research and supervises studies related to the development of energy policy, environmental policy, and technology policy.

Jim Blackburn is a Co-Director for the Rice University Severe Storm Prediction, Education, + Evacuation from Disasters Center. He is an environmental lawyer and Professor in Practice in Environmental Law in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty Scholar at the Baker Institute, and directs the undergraduate minor in Energy and Water Sustainability.

Melissa Currie PhD is an Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University's Department of Landscape Architecture. Her research interests include community resiliency, how neighborhoods respond to disaster, and the impacts of the built environment on health.

John Davis PhD is an environmental and architectural historian and assistant professor of architecture at Texas Tech University. He is currently working on a book about the history of engineering and environment during the Reconstruction Era in the United States.

Matt O'Toole is the Director of Ecosystem Research + Design at The University of Texas at Austin Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, where he leads consulting projects that involve developing and implementing sustainable designs for seminal landscapes in urban and rural settings

Kristin Pipkin PE is the Waller Creek District Program Manager and a civil engineer with the Stream Restoration and Stormwater Treatment Program in the City of Austin's Watershed Protection Department.

Andrew Russell PhD is Professor of History and Dean of the SUNY Polytechnic University College of Arts + Sciences. He is a co-founder, with Lee Vinsel, of The Maintainers, a network of scholars and professionals focused on maintenance, repair, upkeep, and the everyday labor that keeps the world going.

Jason Sowell is a registered architect and an Associate Professor at Texas Tech University‘s Department of Landscape Architecture. His research and practice focus on the intersection among architecture, landscape architecture, and technology in urban regions.

Kristine Stiphany PhD, is a registered architect and an Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University's College of Architecture. A Fulbright Fellow and founder of Chapa Urban Lab, Stiphany's research and practice have focused upon the intersection of computational thinking for social equity in urban built environments, especially large Latin American cities.

Marianna Trevino-Wright is the Executive Director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas. Since encountering federal contractors on Center land, she has taken a central role combating the Trump adminstration's attempt to usurp property rights, environmental regulations, and Congressional appropriations in its construction of the border wall.

Charles West PhD, is the Thornton Distinguished Chair at Texas Tech University's Department of Plant + Soil Science. His specialization in forage systems research currently concentrates on quantifying the water use of forage crops as affected by grazing management in an effort to improve forage utilization and increase water resource efficiency.

Claire Williams PhD is a Research Professor in Environmental Sciences at American University. A recipient of a DAAD to Germany, and Fulbright awards to Canada and Russia; and a science advisor on energy and environment and an AAAS fellow to the US Department of State's Bureau of European and Eurasian affairs, her work and research in forestry, genetics, and environmental sciences spans academic, government, and corporate sectors.

TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Management for landscape performance is often conceived as a set of procedures undertaken after construction or when a landscape fails. Less understood is management's ongoing role in design and planning as a series of operations that monitor, assess, and direct the landscape's transformation. Examining design through management therefore emphasizes not only how a landscape is measured relative to other systems, but how it is sustained in specific contexts over time.

This symposium unites scholars and practitioners working in and around the issue of management across a range of landscapes. Its primary objective is to explore the role of management in landscape architecture and planning through three related concerns. The first evaluates emerging methods and techniques to collect and calibrate data for making management decisions. The second assesses how we experiment or test management innovations to foster sustainable outcomes long-term. The third examines obduracy of approaches or organizational structures that prevent the implementation of best management practices.

LOCATION:

COA GALLERY  Keynote
COA ROOM 102 Panel Presentations

DATE:

APRIL 05, 2019 09:00-17:00

SCHEDULE:

09:00-09:15
Welcome – Prof. Eric Bernard, Chair

09:15-09:30
Introduction: After Design – Prof. Jason Sowell

09:30-10:30
Keynote Lecture – Dean Andrew Russell, SUNY Polytechnic

10:45-12:15
Panel 1: Calibration

12:15-13:00
Lunch

13:15-14:45
Panel 2: Experimentation

15:00-16:30
Panel 3: Obduracy

16:30-17:00
Closing Comments + Discussion

KEYNOTE LECTURE: “THE MAINTENANCE MINDSET”

Andrew Russell PhD + Dean
SUNY Polytechnic Institute College of Arts + Sciences

PANEL 1: CALIBRATION

Melissa Currie PhD (Respondent)
Texas Tech University Department of Landscape Architecture

Wenxuan Guo PhD
Texas Tech University Department of Plant + Soil Science

Matt O'Toole Director
The University of Texas at Austin Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Ecosystem Research + Design

Kristin Pipkin PE
The University of Texas at Austin Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Ecosystem Research + Design

PANEL 2: EXPERIMENTATION

Kristine Stiphany PhD (Respondent)
Texas Tech University College of Architecture

Fred Beach PhD
The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute

Jim Blackburn Co-Director
Rice University Severe Storm Prediction, Education, & Evacuation from Disasters Center

Charles West PhD +Thorton Distinguished Chair
Texas Tech University Department of Plant + Soil Science

 

PANEL 3: OBDURACY

John Davis PhD (Respondent)
Texas Tech University College of Architecture

Jason Sowell RA
Texas Tech University Department of Landscape Architecture

Marianna Trevino-Wright Executive Director
National Butterfly Center™

Claire Williams PhD +  Research Professor 
American University + Fulbright Program


 

ABSTRACTS

KEYNOTE LECTURE
The Maintenance Mindset
Andrew Russell, PhD + Dean
SUNY Polytechnic College of Arts + Sciences

We live in an era where innovators are idols and disruption is a virtue. But our celebration of novelty comes at a steep cost: the belittling the people, technologies, and work ensure our society stays in good working order. In this talk I will begin by describing the features and flaws of the contemporary obsession with innovation. These observations are not merely a set of criticisms, but rather a starting point for understanding the profound value of maintenance, upkeep, and care. The bulk of the talk will explore examples of the maintenance mindset—a rich understanding that maintenance is a key ingredient for long-term success. Examples will include diverse realms such as software and information management, industrial engineering, and architecture. My goal is to show that a maintenance mindset can be applied to great benefit in all walks of life—and particularly in areas where there is a need to pay greater attention to sustainability and flourishing over the long term.

PANEL 01: CALIBRATION
Precision Soil and Crop Management Using Sensor Data
Wenxuan Guo, PhD
Texas Tech University Department of Plant + Soil Science

An increasing world population and limited land and water resources requires sustainable agricultural intensification to optimize resource utilization and management. Precision agriculture is a management strategy that uses spatial data for optimum profitability, sustainability, and protection of the environment. A study was conducted on a commercial farm in the Southern High Plains to assess the application of precision agriculture to optimize crop production. Sensor data including crop yield, soil physical and chemical properties, topography, and remote sensing imagery were collected to quantify the spatial and temporal variability of soil and crop growth conditions. Preliminary results showed that these sensor data could provide valuable information and decision support for site-specific water and nutrient management, and precision soil conservation.

Interpreting Landscapes: A Process-Oriented Approach Towards Functioning Landscapes
Matt O'Toole, Director, Ecosystem Research + Design 
The University of Texas at Austin Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center 

The Wildflower Center's Department of Ecological Research and Design is focused on designing and implementing functional landscapes throughout its project portfolio. The department uses a process-oriented approach towards assessing a site's potential to accept and maintain intact plant communities, and the beneficial ecosystems functions that follow. Case studies demonstrate how this is being applied to contemporary landscape design and ecological restoration, firmly based with long-term management in mind.

The City of Austin's Functional Assessment: From Regulatory Mechanism to Design Tool
Kristin Pipkin, PE + Waller Creek District Program Manager
The City of Austin Watershed Protection Department

The City of Austin's Functional Assessment of Floodplain Health is a regulatory mechanism for measuring ecosystem function where development is proposed to modify the active channel and adjacent riparian zone within the 100-year floodplain. The purpose is to establish baseline data and then quantify improvements following restoration activities. Notably, as seen in a recent application in the Waller Creek District, this regulatory mechanism can become a tool for guiding channel design beyond minimal compliance, leading designers to innovative solutions that achieve maximum functional lift in challenging urban streams.

This case study highlights a stream restoration effort in lower Waller Creek, part of a park improvement project in Waterloo Park, where the Functional Assessment was applied for regulatory compliance. Waller Creek runs from north-central Austin through the heart of downtown Austin into Lady Bird Lake. This hard-loved and much neglected creek and its associated watershed has significant impervious cover, with the lower section of the watershed having the highest ranked water quality and erosion problems in the City, plus frequent flooding. The recently completed Waller Creek flood control tunnel and the on-going Waller Creek District projects and its chain of projects including parks, and stream and trail improvements will help abate these issues. Core to this effort, the Functional Assessment provides the criteria needed for considering functional lift in the design process and as part of a long-term management plan.

PANEL 02: EXPERIMENTATION
U.S. Energy Infrastructure: "what's past is prologue"
Fred Beach, PhD
The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute

The Energy Infrastructure of the US is immense, complex, old, new, aging, and slowly evolving. From a financial perspective, our electric power infrastructure alone has a replacement cost of over $5 trillion (but a depreciated value of $2 trillion) and our natural gas infrastructure over $8 trillion. There are multiple visions of how our energy infrastructure should evolve in the coming decades to enable an equal number of visions over what our future energy portfolio should look like. All of these visions however must, to some degree, build upon elements of the infrastructure we have today. This presentation explores the degree to which various futures are technologically and economically possible given the obdurance of what we already have.

Landscape-Scale Ecological Services Markets
Jim Blackburn, Co-Director
Rice University SSPEED Center

Through Rice University's SSPEED Center, two systems for buying and selling ecological services from private ranch and farmlands have been developed. These are the Texas Coastal Exchange (TCX) and the Soil Value Exchange (SVX). TCX is focused on the Texas coast and has been formed as a non-governmental organization, and SVX is focused on Texas and the midwestern United States. TCX evolved out of research on coastal flooding and resilience and was designed to protect 2 million coastal acres across the Matagorda and Galveston Bay systems. TCX currently is focused on local sales of carbon storage in coastal wetlands and prairies. In December, 2018, the first transaction of 770 tons was made to Kirksey Architecture of Houston at $18 per ton, with subsequent sales to individuals. TCX transactions will soon be made via blockchain technology on the web site at www.texascoastalexchange.org. By contrast, SVX is evolving as a for-profit corporation focused upon carbon storage and other ecological services provided by ranch and farmlands from Texas throughout the midwestern United States. Both of these systems were developed for voluntary sales in red states that are unlikely to adopt carbon regulations in the near future. These systems are based upon scientific studies and monitoring. The TCX transactions are based on literature values and the SVX transactions will be based upon field testing. Landowners must retain the carbon in their soils for a minimum of ten years for each transaction. These systems could transform the landscape of Texas and the midwestern United States.

Water Decline and Climatic Stress Impacts Agricultural Land Use in the Texas High Plains
Chuck West, PhD
Texas Tech University Department of Plant + Soil Science

The Ogallala Aquifer provides irrigation water to support a multi-billion dollar crop and livestock industry in the Texas High Plains. Center-pivot irrigation circles decorate the landscape with green and brown circles, interspersed with grasslands, towns, and cattle feedlots. Large-scale irrigated agriculture underpins a highly integrated, economic habitat for people. Water levels of the aquifer are dropping at around one foot per year, which is already forcing declines in irrigated land area and shifts to lower water-consuming crops and vegetation cover. Climatic extremes, especially droughts and heat waves, will exacerbate the demand for water and economic risk of farming. The agricultural landscape will have to develop greater resilience and diversity of land use to maintain an economically viable agricultural economy and rural habitat. I visualize intensification of small-scale, high-value specialty crops with highly efficient, focused water input, greater use of improved grasslands for grazing and wildlife habitat, and integration of agricultural land use with renewable energy capture such as wind and solar.

PANEL 03: OBDURACY
Managing Change: Framing Landscape at the McDonald Observatory
Jason Sowell
Texas Tech University Department of Landscape Architecture

In April 2011, burnouts were conducted on hillsides adjacent to The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory to safeguard the site's critical astronomical equipment and residential community from the Rock House Fire, which ultimately consumed 315,000 acres in the Davis Mountain region. Although the firing technique ensured the preservation of a leading international astronomical research facility, the event revealed weaknesses in the facility's fire protection infrastructure and approach. However, despite proposals that advocate management regimes that mitigate fuels, ensure safety, and increase resilience, the Observatory and its institutional management structure remain constrained by perceptions and traditions that impede the meaningful uptake of contemporary wildfire and ecosystem science. Drawing from Science and Technology Studies, this study examines: 1] the different actors and the dominant frames that shape an understanding of the Observatory's landscape; and 2] how a reconceptualization of these frames could expand the scope of institutional land management practices to integrate
management infrastructure with social and ecological programs; and, by extension, establish the Observatory as a model for managing satellite facilities as a network of public landscapes.

Lost Behind the Wall: Seizing Property and Sacrificing Land Along the Rio Grande
Marianna Trevino-Wright, Director
National Butterfly Center

The morning of July 20, 2017, the reality of President Trump's plan to cleave the U.S.-Mexico borderlands became clear. More than nine months before a Congressional mandate or appropriation was made for new border wall construction, a five-man work crew wielding chainsaws and brush hogs began eliminating native habitat set aside for species conservation at the National Butterfly Center, in Mission, Texas. This de facto seizure of private lands foregrounded administration policies indifferent to ecological function (let alone property rights) and the devastating fragmentation of the Center. The center anchors one 2,000-acre section of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Conservation Corridor, where 3.35 square miles of an ecologically-vibrant but fragile life support system will be sequestered between the river and wall.

This presentation outlines the series of events that have forced the Center to become reluctant experts in the legal implications, social consequences, and environmental impacts of the wall's construction. With the center designated for destruction by the administration in the name of "national security," the talk describes the challenges inherent to resisting the exercise of eminent domain that severs the center, communities, public lands, private properties, and natural resources, on one hand; and significantly decreases ecological resilience, increases flooding, and imperils lives, on the other.

Replanting the Lost Pines: Forest Ecology, Novel Systems + Cultural Identity
Claire G. Williams, Ph.D. + Research Professor
Dept of Environmental Sciences, American University Washington D.C

The Lost Pines area is far more than a group of pine islands. Here is one of the best documented forests in North America, complete with a distinct cultural identity. The cultural identity is both supported and contradicted by its unusual depth of records: history, archaeology, anthropology, ecology, geology, water, climate, timber resources, and nation-building economics. While the Lost Pines area was once a wild place, this is not so any longer. As such, its survival is challenged by urban water demands converging with its proximity to the Southern Great Plains, the continental backbone of North America where climate change is felt first. Thus, Lost Pines area serves as a research landscape, perhaps a scientific laboratory. Here one can study how time is out of joint between humans and forests. Climate changes on a scale of decades while the Lost Pines forests adapt, migrate or die on the scale of centuries, assuming no further losses to fire. As such, Lost Pines area is a new type of managed research landscape.