Great Ecology Makes Another Splash
December 10, 2014
The Best of 2014 Blog Series – Part III
December 19, 2014
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Part II of this year’s best blogs heats up with the environmental impacts of oil spills, the SITES initiative for Ecological Landscape Design, and America’s several-billion dollar problem, invasive species. At the end of the series we invite you to vote for your favorite blog to be this year’s winner!

NOAA oil restoration

Tankers skim oil from the surface of the ocean in an attempt to mitigate detrimental impacts to coastal ecosystems.

Marine Ecosystems Battling Oil Impacts
Ashley Tuggle, M.E.M

Galveston Bay alone, has had an average of 285 oil spills annually since 1998. Ending all oil spills is probably not possible, but designing restoration to try to combat their impacts is.

 

 

 

Bioswales and trails from the Fort Totten Master Plan.     Photo Courtesy of Nancy Owens Studio.

Setting a New Standard for Ecological Landscape Design
Chris Loftus, RLA, ASLA

The SITES initiative aims to evaluate a landscape’s ability to provide ecosystem services and long term economic benefits, similar to the LEED Certification for sustainable building construction.

 

 

 

carp

A hungry carp surfaces for a meal in turbid waters.

Carpe Diem – Seize the Carp
Rick Black, M.S.

Asian Carp are an invasive species that threaten to throttle the Great Lakes ecosystem if allowed to migrate unchecked. So far 13 million pounds carp have been removed from Lake Utah in only 3 years; (An est.18 million pounds of carp remain in the lake).