The Offshoots Team spent the day doing safety training at Hood Park:
The bike pavilion’s roof in the park is a PHYTO Air Pollution Buffer. The planted roof addresses the air pollution caused by the congested highway traffic on the interstate immediately to the west; particulate matter that impacts human health (capable of traveling up to two hundred meters) is captured in an air pollution buffer on the bike pavilion’s roof. Plants with waxy, hairy leaves, shown to reduce particulate matter concentrations in peer-reviewed studies, dominate the ‘Coastal Ledge’ Plant community, including Populus tremuloides, Morella pensylvanica and Juniperus virginiana. These native plants are also well-adapted to high winds, salt spray, and well-draining soils. In order to maintain these species, the installation team has to train to safely scale the rooft and provide maintenance to the site.
A large component of the horticultural experimentation stems from the design of the site’s soils and irrigation systems. The five-foot soil profile on the roof deck was designed to accommodate the novel plant communities; they are low in fertility with a high PH, favoring the stress-tolerant plants that can thrive in urban conditions. The soils avoid nutrient-rich conditions that generate both weeds and contaminated stormwater runoff. The irrigation system was also carefully zoned to provide each unique plant community with just enough water to enable establishment. Read more about it here.
And check out what the park looked during construction to see how far we’ve come, working with nature!