Overlook Field School 2016: Animals as Landscape Agents of Change

AS LANDSCAPE AGENTS OF CHANGE O V E R L O O K

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ANIMALS AS LANDSCAPE AGENTS OF CHANGE The 2016 Overlook Field School focused on animals as landscape agents of change, seeking to consider both animals and landscape architects as form-makers, place-makers and ecosystem engineers; and to question our role and capacity as design collaborators with other organisms.

Site visits, which included kayaking the Susquehanna River with a naturalist and touring the ornithological collection at the Everhart Museum, helped students to understand the world as an animal perceives it; our demands on animals as co-inhabitants and co-creators of landscapes; and the conflicts and unintended consequences of our relationship with animals as we design and steward landscapes.

In the four-week design studio, graduate and undergraduate landscape architecture students used research and design work at the Overlook property to explore the role animals play in shaping the current and future landscape at multiple scales, from puddles to forests. This inquiry ended with the creation of 8 student-designed, site-specific art installations that either artfully monitored an animal’s actions in the landscape, or were co-created over time with the animal as collaborator.

[3 NEWTS : 180 MINUTES]

Notophthalmus viridescens | Eastern Newt Eastern Newts are unique among salamanders. They spend an entire life stage (the Red Eft) on a journey from water to water, which lasts from three to five years. This life stage is marked by vibrant orange coloration.

Due to the reclusive nature of these salamanders and their small size they are typically very well hidden in the forest. During rain events the forest suddenly comes alive with multitudes of little, bright orange efts. This captures a brief glimpse into the lives of three efts by tracing their paths in the forest and subsequently giving them permanence with stone. This project asks you to stop and ponder the mysterious unseen around us.

Justin Kau

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IN TRANSITION

Agrilus planipennis | Emeral Ash Borer + Sciurus carolinensis | Eastern Grey Squirrel The Northeastern American forest has seen numerous fluctuations. From a Native American managed landscape, to clear-cut farm fields and subsequent regrowth, to the present-day loss of ash trees, the forest is constantly taking new form. The Emerald Ash borer infestation is significant in scope and provides yet another opportunity for change. Around 70% of northeast Pennsylvania’s forests are made up of Ash trees. After the Ash Borer moves through, canopy loss will allow for new species to move in.

In Transition looks backwards and forwards- to the past and future- simultaneously. By removing the bark of the dead ash tree and painting the trails of the Emerald Ash Borer, we render the invisible visible, marking the act that killed the tree. The other side of the marked ash tree holds seed boxes for squirrels. As squirrels cache the nuts, they are planting seeds that can grow, thrive, and change the shape of our forests once again.

-Rachel Spencer & Jill Stone

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Project Photo (Wade)

Project Photo (Wade)

PIG-NICKING

Sus domesticus | Berkshire pig The domestic pig is an omnivore which forages for much of its food. Pigs graze on readily available grasses and clover in the late spring and early summer. Once these food sources are gone, they use their snouts to dig in topsoil for roots, bulbs, tubers, earthworms, insects, frogs, eggs, and small rodents. If left unattended, pigs will leave only dirt mounds as a product of their eating and rooting.

Pig-Nicking harnesses the power of the pigs’ eating and foraging habits to clear a path that frames a view of a legacy tree at a convergence of fence lines. It also connects current pig grazing area to past pig grazing area. After the pigs have cleared out the area and created a formal view, winter wheat is planted. When the wheat grows in, animals in the future will browse this area first, recreating the framed view.

-Wade Hanson

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BROWSING HISTORY

Odocoileus virginianus | White-Tailed Deer The browse line is a distinct volume of space, five feet off of the forest floor, that is devoid of most plant life. Land development and human removal of natural predators have created safe, ideal habitat for the White-Tailed Deer to thrive and exacerbate the browse line. In an attempt to establish a healthy understory and ensure long term forest success, a deer fence has been constructed, encircling most of Overlook. After the anticipated removal of the remaining deer trapped on the inside of the fence, there is an excellent opportunity to monitor and measure the forest’s return to health.

Two white strings will visualize the void of the browse line. Tied together like netting, the string creates a grid pattern for clear data collection. The installation runs across the deer fence, providing an opportunity to compare both sides.

It is uncertain what the exclusion of deer will do to the Overlook property, and like the dynamism within the forest ecosystem, the string is held aloft by its own tension. This piece has a lifespan; made of cotton, the string will lose its tension, sag, fall, and eventually disintegrate. Placed adjacent to the ruins of an old fence, the installation reminds us that unlike an ecosystem, our interventions on a landscape will not remain in perpetuity.

-John Maxson

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THE BUFFET GARDEN

Marmota mona / Groundhog Groundhogs are a common and destructive rodent in the landscape at Overlook. Their entry holes are usually spotted by trees and rock outcrops and their goofy, slinky bodies are seen dashing across roads and into fields and forests. The Buffet Garden is a sacrificial garden developed adjacent to the home of a particularly charismatic Groundhog named Larry.

Groundhog burrows help aerate soil, aid in the drainage of water and, when abandoned, act as important habitat for other species. Unfortunately, groundhogs destroy vegetables in the agricultural fields at Overlook. This project was designed to keep Larry close to home and away from the fields.

Plant preference and groundhog behavior, including hibernation, were considered in the design process. The garden is meant to create visual interest in the landscape and serve as a model for other groundhog lairs at Overlook.

-Margo Barajas

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EARTHWORMS EXPOSED Lumbricus terrestris | Earthworm Though earthworms are small, they have a large impact on their environment. Through ingestion, processing, and expulsion of organic materials, they change the nutrient composition of soil while creating spaces for oxygen and water to travel. Because these processes occur underground, they are invisible to us.

Earthworms Exposed makes the invisible visible by displaying the unique patterns worms create while traveling through soil. To achieve this, live worms were placed in a thin layer of soil on top of a piece of glass. Without interference, the worms moved through the soil until several patterns had been made. These patterns were then used to make 22 x 36 inch cyanotypes, or blueprint photos developed through an alternative processing method. Once complete, the cyanotypes were hung gallery style in the Overlook boat house to showcase the unique patterns that we normally cannot see.

-Jamie Willike

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GARDENERS OF THE NIGHT Myotis lucifugus | Little Brown Bat

White nose syndrome is responsible for the death of millions of bats. If the spread of this fungus continues, bat populations across the US could be depleted by 90% in the next 8 years. Bats gobble up insects by the billions every night. If their numbers continue to decrease, farmland will invariably be overwhelmed by an influx of pests.

The shadow box provides an opportunity to restore bat populations at Overlook and display the agricultural benefits they provide. Co-growing occurs as bats living in the habitat chamber create droppings that fall into the guano collection chamber. Guano is a prized fertilizer and can be used to nourish the native vines growing around the box. The direct correlation between number of bats and the health of the garden reminds us of the sanctity of our relationship with our nocturnal friends.

-Grace Ledbetter

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LIKE MOTHS TO A FLAME Noctuidae Family | Owlet Moths

Moths are a significant member of our ecosystems. Noctuidae family, or owlet moths, are pollinators of the night, an important part of the reproduction of night-opening flowers. These nocturnal moths feed on the foliage of trees and their eyes reflect light that casts an orange-like glow.

Nocturnal moths are guided by transverse orientation, a guidance regime that allows them to maintain a constant angle relative to a distant light source, such as the moon. This form of guidance can become dismantled when another light source is introduced and can lead a moth off course. Harnessing the power of their confusion, five lights anchored to five kaleidoscopes across the landscape at Overlook draws the moths in. The light casts a shadow into the kaleidoscopes and the moth silhouettes are reflected across the many facets of the mirrors.

Viewers begin their search as night falls. Upon seeing a light in the distance, they are drawn in to peer into the kaleidoscope. Viewers move across the landscape, deeper into the forest, moving from light to light like moths to a flame.

-Alexis Griffin

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Fuller Center for Productive Landscapes Department of Landscape Architecture University of Oregon http://landarch.uoregon.edu/ 2016

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