DCTC Rosemount Campus Initiative:The Beauty of Green

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The Beauty of Green Table of Contents Sustaining the commitment~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7 The campus gets physical~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~8 Goalkeeping~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~9 Beauty does matter~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~10 What exactly is an arboretum?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~13 Colleges and universities on a high-arb diet~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~14 Going green is growing grand~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~16 Trees rock!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~17 Green infrastructure benefits~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~17 Public health benefits~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~18 Roads and traffic benefits~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~20 Business benefits~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~21 Property value benefits~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~21 Climate change and carbon benefits~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~22 Energy use benefits~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~25 Community benefits~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~25 Wildlife and biodiversity~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~25 Canopy cover facts~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~25 Official arboretum status is more than doable~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~26 Morton Register of Arboreta: Level I Accreditation~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~26 Arbs in Minnesota~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~27 Minnesota Landscape Arboretum~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~27 Cowling Arboretum~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~28 Linnaeus Arboretum~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~29 Northland Arboretum~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~30 Saint John’s Arboretum~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~31 Muriel Sahlin Arboretum~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~32 Horton Park~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~32 Lyndale Park Gardens~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~32 What exactly is a botanical garden?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~34 What’s the official take on botanical gardens?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~35 Best of the best~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~36 Dearth of botanical gardens in Dakota County~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~37

Beauty: most cogent feature: characteristic insuring effectiveness: climactic detail <the ~ of it is that everyone can play> — Webster’s Third New International Dictionary The Beauty of Green | Page 2

Front cover: Orange Sulphur | Linnaeus Arboretum | Gustavus Adolphus College | St. Peter, Minn.

North Carolina Arboretum | Asheville, N.C.

Botanical gardens in a bottom-line world~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~39 Fine gardening laboratory~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~43 Urban farming aesthetics: Beauty and the Feast~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~44 Less space, more people~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~45 Eat, drink and be leery~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~46 Permaculture can be drop-dead gorgeous~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~47 Permaculture on campus~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~48 UMass Permaculture: A History~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~49 Community farming: The freshness factor~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~50 Farmers’ market madness~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~52 Certified sustainable~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~54 Setting our sights on SITES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~55 Rosemount campus genesis projects~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~56 Productive Landscapes for a Sustainable Future~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~58 Interpretive Center~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~64 Conservatory~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~66 Library Atrium Entrance~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~70 Rooftop Garden~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~74 Student Life Center Patio~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~78 Main Front Entrance & Monument Signage Gardens~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~80 Snowmelt Purification Wetland~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~82

Green: the one of the four psychologically primary hues that is evoked in the average normal observer under normal conditions by radiant energy of the wavelength 530 millimicrons— Webster’s Third New International Dictionary The Beauty of Green | Page 3

Table of Contents (cont.)

A dynamic convergence~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~84 U of M New Sustainable Community at UMore Park~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~85 Vermillion Highlands Greenway~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~88 Proposed YMCA on campus~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~91 New residential developments near Rosemount campus~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~93 The athletics connection~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~94 Robert Street Corridor transit status~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~97 Zip Rail~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~98 Powering up partnerships~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~100 University of Minnesota collaboration...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~100 Proposed arboretum on UMore Park property~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~102 The psychology of gardens...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~106 Earth ed...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~107 Garden club connections...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~108 Garden clubs in Minnesota~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~110 Other green players~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~111 The color of industry...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~112 Industry standouts in Minnesota~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~113 And don’t forget green, red, yellow and white~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~113 Say hello to fundraising~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~114 Ideas are dollars in disguise...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~114 Funding supermodels...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~118 Grants in your pants...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~119 A few funders more...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~120 Foundation station...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~121 Dragon the “fun” back into fundraising~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~122 Taking the LEED~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~124 The upside of upkeep~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~126 Just add sun, soil and water...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~126 DCTC teamwork~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~126 Matt Brooks~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~126 Jeff Kleinboehl~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~127 Catherine Grant~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~127 The Green-Carpet Treatment~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~132 No oaks without acorns~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~132

“We need to redefine green in order to reorganize America. We need to define it as geopolitical, geostrategic, geoeconomic, capitalistic, patriotic.

Green is the new red, white and blue, oh yes it is.” — Thomas Friedman | Three-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist The Beauty of Green | Page 4

Written and compiled by Chris Hayes DCTC Grants and Sustainability Coordinator

Singapore Botanic Gardens | Singapore The Beauty of Green | Page 5

Japanese Garden | Washington Park | Portland, Oregon

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Sustaining the commitment Like so many terms that become the vogue in technical and professional realms, sustainability has devolved into a buzzword that sounds impressive, but often loses traction in terms of everyday applicability. Problems surface when people must decide between what is sustainable and what is realistic, although that distinction yields its significance when a so-called realistic practice proves unsustainable, or a practice geared for sustainability pans out as unrealistic.

Even so, the term still serves as a vast green umbrella for projects and initiatives that serve to protect natural resources and the planet. Sustainability

in practice is simply wise stewardship of systems vital to human prosperity, including such societal mainstays as the environment, economics, health care, education, agriculture, international relations and technology. Sustainability in essence is the inescapably decisive means to support life in every nook and zone of the global ecosphere.

Colleges and universities approach sustainability from a variety of angles.

For nearly 680 institutions that involves confronting the danger of global warming through the American College & University Presidentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Climate Commitment. In 2007, Dakota County

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Technical College became an original signatory of the ACUPCC. Five years later, college administrators determined that purchasing the carbon offsets needed to reach climate neutrality in a reasonable timeframe was not feasible due to the college’s small size, the absence of public transit options, massive cuts in state allocations, and the pressing need to develop alternative revenue streams.

DCTC continues the responsible management of energy resources championed in concert with the ACUPCC, but a new green-minded goal is needed that meshes with the financial capacity of the college.

By discovering a realistic sustainability solution that can benefit the entire campus population as well as residents in surrounding communities, the college will have the means to realign and revitalize its Green Campus Commitment.

Linnaeus Arboretum | Gustavus Adolphus College | St. Peter, Minn.

The campus gets physical One asset that immediately stands out is the college’s Rosemount campus. Situated in an exurban setting on County Road 42, one of the busiest thoroughfares in Minnesota, the 177.13-acre campus is anchored by a solitary central edifice built in the early 1970s in the Brutalist architectural style. Concrete—blockish, stark, totalitarian concrete—was the mantra of Brutalism, and more than 40 years later, the college’s main campus building still radiates the dubious vibrations of a cost-effective fortification.

In fact, the building has been likened to a women’s prison as well as The Beauty of Green | Page 8

a shopping mall, the latter concept actually filtered into the final design as a fallback in case the higher education proposition fizzled out.

Obviously, the college’s centerpiece structure will never challenge the splendor of the Spanish Renaissance marvels at the University of San Diego, or the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpieces at Florida Southern College, or the Collegiate Gothic rarities at Duke.

Nonetheless, the building does have a weird charm that surely clings as a carryover from the utopian outlook that defined the pioneer Brutalists.

Four decades of tireless use have given the building a gruff integrity. Even casual observation will uncover potential in the building’s ivy-splashed walls and oasis-making mechanical pods. The redesigned front entrance clamors for a landscaping overhaul as does the library atrium entrance.

As it happens, the entire campus—with its hundreds of mature trees, both deciduous and coniferous, rolling lawns, and 22-acre prairie grass and wildflower zone—is made to order as the launching pad for a sustainability initiative centered on establishing an arboretum, botanical garden and urban agriculture center.

Goalkeeping An initiative of this magnitude has conspicuous strategic implications. Fortunately, an officially accredited arboretum, Minnesota-centric botanical garden, and groundbreaking urban agriculture center align with DCTC Strategic Goals, specifically Goal 3: Engagement: Dakota County Technical College will increase opportunities for its students and employees to participate in service learning, sustainability, and civic engagement activities at the local, regional, national and global levels.

Doubly beneficial, the Beauty of Green Initiative also supports two related system office goals: • Support regional vitality by contributing artistic, cultural and civic assets that attract employees and other residents seeking a high quality of life.

• Develop each institution’s capacity to be engaged in and add value to its region.

Institutional Advancement Strategic Goals are also advanced in line with Goal 1.5: • Increase DCTC’s presence in internal and external communities.

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Mud Maid | Lost Gardens of Heligan | Saint Austell, Cornwall | United Kingdom

Beauty does matter Recognized worldwide for its standardized test preparation and admissions consulting services, The Princeton Review places major emphasis on the purpose an exceptionally beautiful campus serves not only in heightening the prestige of a given institution, but also in strengthening the overall educational experience of its students.

Each year, The Princeton Review publishes a guidebook called The Best 377 Colleges, which features 62 college rankings based on student surveys conducted at 377 colleges and universities across the country.

For each ranking, The Review compiles a top 20 list. The ranking for “Most BeautiThe Beauty of Green | Page 10

ful Campus,” which falls under the category “Quality of Life,” routinely receives far more publicity than nearly all the other rankings in the survey.

When Florida Southern was ranked number one for campus beauty in The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition, the FSU official media release headlined the story and led with it in the copy even though FSU had also been named one of the nation’s top institutions for undergraduate education.

In her Forbes article, “America’s Most Beautiful College Campuses,” freelance contributor, Bethany Lyttle, notes that

“choosing a school shouldn’t—and rarely does—come down to what it looks like.

And treating campuses like candidates in a beauty contest is about as far as you can get from academic consideration. That said, prospective students consistently cite campus aesthetics as a school-choice consideration. And schools, aware that this is the case, acknowledge that shaping enrollment demands both looks and brains.”

In June 2012, Amit Mrig, president of Academic Impressions, a nationwide company working with higher education institutions to solve strategic challenges, published a letter stressing

the importance of maximizing college grounds and buildings as critical assets and opportunities.

“Improvement and stewardship of the physical campus are keys to your institution’s competitiveness,” Mrig writes, adding that forward-thinking enhancements will “positively impact college choice (for students and faculty), foster learning, foster a sense of community and pride in the campus, and ensure a reduced environmental footprint.”

Beauty in the case of campuses is more than grass deep. The definition of beauty extends beyond looks to The Beauty of Green | Page 11

include “meaningful design” and, more informally, to a “quality or feature that is most effective, gratifying, or telling.” The Beauty of Green for DCTC shines in the potential of the college’s main campus to become a premier environmental presence, both enduring and engaging, that advances the stalled Green Campus Commitment while accomplishing other significant objectives as well, including: • • • • •

Enhancing student recruitment and retention Strengthening faculty and staff morale Attracting area residents to the campus Creating welcoming and peaceful meeting places and study areas Forging partnerships with area businesses, particularly landscape design firms, retail garden centers and wholesale nurseries • Building powerful bonds with alumni • Providing educational opportunities through access to a masterplanned sustainable landscape Rick Fedrizzi, the president, CEO and founding chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, underscored the crucial function beauty performs in a sustainable environment in an April 2012 article in the Green section of the Huff Post. Fedrizzi had just returned from London on USGBC business and during his trip he had visited two of England’s finest gardens, the Lost Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project.

“We worked hard in London on ideas and strategies that could help us expand and inspire others to engage in our efforts to make green buildings and communities more available and accessible everywhere,” Fedrizzi writes. “But it was in these lovely gardens where we were reminded that resilience and regeneration must also factor into our work. With new ideas and hope for the future of green buildings, communities, schools, it’s our gardens that can show us a way forward.”

Munsinger Gardens | St. Cloud, Minn.

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What exactly is an arboretum?

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines an arboretum as “a botanical garden devoted to trees.” Merriam-Webster expands on that tight-lipped concept with the following explanation: “a place where trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes.”

The National Directory of U.S. Arboretums, created by Jaime Lynn Smith, ranks arboretums as treasured havens where science, beauty and recreation meet to form a matchless synergy: “Arboretums runneth over with verve, are rife with natural beauty and fresh air, and some are brimming with tropical or exotic flowering plants and flowers, hundreds of butterflies, thousands of live exotic species, birds and small animals, waterfalls, colorful fish, sculptures, fragrant flowers and more. Quite simply, arboretums and their sister attractions, botanical gardens, are paradise.”

other parts of the world capable of growing in their climate zone.

Many if not most arboretums enhance their tree collections with magnificent gardens devoted to various champions of the floral domain, including orchids, roses, peonies, clematis, azaleas and you can pretty much name it. Mazes, home landscape displays, urban agriculture models, rain gardens, butterfly gardens, wildflower gardens and other themed gardens are also quite common.

DCTC Campus | Rosemount, Minn.

Arboretums come in all shapes and sizes with widely divergent missions and modes of operation. Some are exceptionally specialized such as fruticetums, which focus on shrubs, viticetums, which focus on vines, pinetums, which focus on conifers, or quercetums, which focus on oaks. Arboretums can stick with trees native to their geographical location, or they can branch out to exhibit trees from

“Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.”— Rabindranath Tagore | First non-European to win Nobel Prize in Literature (1913)

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Colleges and universities on a high-arb diet Arboreta are keystone attractions on myriad U.S. campuses. Some are worldrenowned such as Arnold Arboretum at Harvard and Davis Arboretum at Auburn. Others might not be household words outside botanical circles, but they still serve as linchpins for some of the most gorgeous college and university campuses on the planet. In fact, of the top 15 beautiful campuses ranked by The Princeton Review in 2012, eight feature officially designated arboretums. Some like Holy Cross and Mount Holyoke, both in Massachusetts, have their entire campuses designated as arboreta.

Three of the top-10 colleges and universities in Minnesota feature an on-

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum | Chaska, Minn.

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campus arboretum—Carleton, Gustavus Adolphus and Saint John’s. In 2010, The Princeton Review, in partnership with the USGBC, published its first Guide to 276 Green Colleges, listing Linnaeus Arboretum at Gustavus as a “stunning example of Minnesota’s natural history.”

The University of Minnesota operates one of the finest arboreta in the world, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska. The arboretum’s website gives a succinct account of an inherently sustainable project’s dramatic success: “In 1958, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum was a little-known horticultural research station sitting on 160 acres of remote marshland. Today, 50-plus years later, the Arboretum has blossomed into an international research center and cultural destination that contributes to the horticultural, economic, and intellectual lives of people all over the world.

“Named as one of the ‘10 great places to smell the flowers’ in America by USA Today, the Arboretum boasts 21,699 member households, 856 volunteers and more than a 317,900 visitors each year. With its 1,137 acres, 28 gardens, 17 displays and model landscapes and 45 plant collections and more than 5,000 plant species and varieties, the Arboretum has become one of the premier horticultural field laboratories and public display areas in the country, reaching out as a living, vibrant extension of the University of Minnesota.”

The editor of College Planning & Management magazine, Ellen Kollie published an article called â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Benefits of a Campus Arboretumâ&#x20AC;? that summarizes both the purpose and benefits of establishing and managing a campus arboretum. Kollie notes that national organizations such as the American Public Gardens Association, or APGA, in Kennett Square, Penn., do not certify arboretums, but offer guidelines to universities and colleges with an arboretum: 1. Be open to the public, at least on a part-time basis 2. Function as an aesthetic display, education display, or site research 3. Maintain plant records 4. Have at least one professional staff member, paid or unpaid 5. Allow garden visitors to identify plants through labels, guide maps, or other interpretative materials

Chicago Botanic Garden | Chicago, Ill. The Beauty of Green | Page 15

“If you ask freshmen why they chose their colleges, they usually say one of two things. Either they got a good financial aid package or they thought the campus was beautiful.” — Adam Gross | Principal architect, Ayers Saint Gross in Baltimore | Worked on projects at the University of Virginia and Swarthmore College

Growing green is going grand Arboretums naturally create several advantages for a college and its surrounding communities. Significant objectives for any college can be achieved through the serenity, beauty and scientific wealth provided by arboretums and botanical gardens.

Below is a list with the just the first wave of benefits: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Enhancing student recruitment and retention Strengthening faculty and staff morale Attracting area residents to the campus Creating welcoming and peaceful meeting places and study areas Producing local produce through an urban agriculture program with a focus on landscape design aesthetics Partnering with a local farmers’ market to bring community members on campus Providing an interpretive teaching center on the natural world to inform and inspire students in DCTC science classes, students from area schools and community members Forging partnerships with area businesses, particularly landscape design firms, retail garden centers and wholesale nurseries, but other corporations as well Forging partnerships with other arboretums to expand knowledge and professional networks Engaging national and regional foundations focused on environmental enrichment and community outreach Building powerful bonds with alumni Providing educational opportunities through access to a masterplanned sustainable landscape Creating revenue streams as a desirable site for weddings, business meetings, anniversaries, family reunions and more Serving as an attractive outdoor location for spring commencement Boosting the status of the existing Landscape Horticulture program by offering strong learning and professional opportunities Establishing a growable resource that only gains value over time to ultimately emerge as a priceless gift to posterity

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Trees rock!

In August 2011, the Alliance for Community Trees, or ACTrees, compiled a comprehensive list of the benefits of trees and urban forests—all based on professional scientific research. The ACTrees report lists hundreds of supporting facts with all citations noted. See below for the ACTrees benefit categories with only a small fraction of the compiled facts.

Green Infrastructure Benefits Economic Benefits

• Urban forests in the United States contain about 3.8 billion trees, with an estimated structural asset value of $2.4 trillion.

• Urban forests in the U.S. provide essential services to more than 220 million people (supporting 79 percent of the population).

• Trees in Minneapolis, MN, produce total annual net benefits of $15.7 million or $79 per tree.

Reducing Stormwater Run Off and Maintenance Costs

• Urban forest can reduce annual stormwater runoff by 2–7 percent, and a mature tree can store 50 to 100 gallons of water during large storms.

• Green streets, rain barrels, and tree planting are estimated to be 3-6 times more effective in managing stormwater per $1,000 invested than conventional methods.

• Street trees in Minneapolis save $9.1 million in stormwater treatments annually.

Improving Air Quality

• Trees clean the air by absorbing carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides and other pollutants, and also shade cars and parking lots, reducing ozone emissions from vehicles.

• A big tree removes 60 to 70 times more pollution than a small tree.

• Net air pollutants removed, released, and avoided from Minneapolis’s urban trees average 2 lbs per tree and are valued at $1.1 million annually. Avoided emissions of NO2 and SO2 total about 150 tons, valued at $830,000.

Improving Water and Soil Quality

• Trees and other plants help remediate soils at landfills and other contaminated sites by absorbing, transforming, and containing a number of contaminants.

• Trees divert captured rainwater into the soil, where bacteria and other • microorganisms filter out impurities. This reduces urban runoff and the amount of sediment, pollutants, and organic matter that reach streams.

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Public Health Benefits Improving Attention

• College students with more natural views from their dorm windows scored higher on attention tests.

• Trees help girls succeed. On average, the greener a girl’s view from home, the better she concentrates and the better her self-discipline, enabling her to make more thoughtful choices and do better in school.

Decreasing Asthma & Obesity

• Trees filter airborne pollutants and reduce the conditions that cause asthma and other respiratory problems.

• In a study, residents of areas with the highest levels of greenery were three times as likely to be physically active and 40% less likely to be overweight or obese than residents living in the least green settings.

Improving Physical and Mental Health

• Green environment impacts worker productivity: in one study workers without nature views from their desks claimed 23% more sick days than workers with views of nature.

• Park users report lower levels of anxiety & sadness after visiting parks.

• The longer park users stay in park settings, the less stress they report.

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• Visual exposure to settings with trees helps recovery from stress within 5 minutes, as indicated by changes in blood pressure & muscle tension.

Reduced Hospital Days

• Patients recovering from surgery in hospital rooms with window views of natural scene had shorter postoperative hospital stays, received fewer negative evaluations in nurses’ notes, and took fewer potent analgesics than matched patients in similar rooms with windows facing a brick wall.

Protection from UV rays

• A person standing in direct sunlight takes 20 minutes to burn. However, under a tree providing 50% coverage it takes 50 minutes to burn, and under full shade it takes 100 minutes before one to get a sunburn.

Noise Reduction

• Trees reduce noise pollution by absorbing sounds. A belt of trees 98 feet wide and 49 feet tall can reduce highway noise by 6 to 10 decibels.

• Planting big enough trees and earth berms can cut traffic noise by up to half.

• Trees absorb high frequency noise that are most distressing to people.

• Planting “noise buffers” composed of trees and shrubs can reduce 50% of noise to the human ear.

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Roads and Traffic Benefits Traffic Calming and Accident Reduction

• Trees improve driving safety. One study found a 46% decrease in crash rates across urban arterial and highway sites after landscape improvements were installed.

• The presence of trees in a suburban landscape significantly reduced the cruising speed of drivers by an average of 3 miles per hour. Faster drivers and slower drivers both drove slower with the presence of trees.

Reducing Road Maintenance Costs

• Tree shade has been proven to reduce pavement fatigue, cracking rutting, shoving and other distress, saving on repair costs.

• Street trees prolong the live of pavement. Shaded roads can save up to 60% of repaving costs. That’s a lot of savings considering the four million miles of roadways in the US.

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Business Benefits Business Districts: Increased Sales, Desirability and Rents

• Shoppers will travel further and longer to visit a district with high quality trees, and spend more time there once they arrive.

• People have more favorable perceptions of communities with green roads.

• Visitors to well-treed central business districts will spend 9 to 12 percent more for products.

Jobs

• The environmental horticultural industry—including all businesses and government units involved in distributing, installing, and maintaining plants, landscapes, trees, and related equipment—in 2002 was estimated at $147.8 billion in output, 1,964,339 jobs, $95.1 billion in value added, and $64.3 billion in labor income.

Property Value Benefits Increasing Property Values

• Studies have found general increases of up to 37% in residential property values associated with the presence of trees and vegetation on a property.

• In Minnesota, a 10% increase in tree cover within 100 m increases average home sale price by $1371 (0.48%) and within 250 m increases sale price by $836 (0.29%).

• Minneapolis street trees add $7.1 million to aesthetic and property values.

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Climate Change and Carbon Benefits Storing carbon and reduction of carbon emissions

• Urban trees in the U.S. store 700 million tons of carbon valued at $14 billion with an annual carbon sequestration rate of 22.8 million tons per year valued at $460 million annually.

• Planting 100 million urban trees can store and avoid up to 357 billion tons of carbon over the next 50 years.

• Each year an acre of trees absorbs the amount of carbon produced by driving a car for 26,000 miles.

• Individual urban trees contain about four times more carbon than individual trees in forests.

• Streets in Minneapolis, MN, reduce CO2 emissions by 27,611 tons through energy savings and 29,526 tons through sequestration, at a total value of $857,000.

Carbon Mitigation Programs

• The NFL strives to make the Super Bowl a carbon-neutral event; carbon emissions from the game in Jacksonville, FL, were offset with the planting of more than 1,000 trees. For the Super Bowl in Detroit, the NFL planted 2,400 trees to combat greenhouse gas emissions from over 100 events associated with the game.

Reducing the Heat Island Effect

• Trees and vegetation lower surface and air temperatures by providing shade and through evapotranspiration. Shaded surfaces may be 20−45 °F cooler than the peak temperatures of unshaded materials. Evapotranspiration, can help reduce peak summer temperatures by 2−9 °F. • Tree planting is one of the most cost-effective means of mitigating urban heat islands. Air temperature differences of approximately 2−4 °C have been observed across urban areas having variable tree cover, with approximately 1 °C of temperature difference being associated with 10% canopy cover difference.

• The indirect cooling effect of evapotranspiration is greater than the direct effect of shading. As the number of trees in an area increase, relative contribution of evapotranspiration to overall cooling goes up, mitigating the urban heat effect.

• Trees cool city heat islands by 10 degrees to 20 degrees, thus reducing ozone levels and helping cities meet the air quality standards required for disbursement of federal funds.

• Mature tree canopy reduces air temperatures by about 5−10 °F.

“Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, it’s common sense.” — Ronald Reagan | State of the Union address, Jan. 25, 1984 The Beauty of Green | Page 22

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Belle Prairie County Park | Little Falls,Minn.

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Energy Use Benefits Energy Efficiency • • • •

Just three strategically placed trees can decrease utility bills by 50%.

The net cooling effect of a healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.

Evergreens serve as windbreaks and in the winter save 10−50% on heating costs.

• Electricity saved annually in Minneapolis from both shading and climate effects of street trees totals 32,921 MWh, for a retail savings of $2.5 million ($12.58 per tree).

Community Benefits Less Violence and Crime

• There is less graffiti, vandalism, and littering in outdoor spaces with natural landscapes than in comparable plant-less spaces.

• Apartment buildings with high levels of greenery had 52% fewer crimes than those without any trees. Buildings with medium amounts of greenery had 42% fewer crimes.

Improves Neighborhood, Connectivity

• Older adults who have more exposure to green common spaces report a stronger sense of unity among residents within their local neighborhood, and experience a stronger sense of belonging to the neighborhood.

• Researches are finding signs of stronger communities where there are trees. In buildings with trees, people-report significantly better relations with their neighbors. People report a stronger feeling of unity and cohesion with their neighbors; they like where they are living more and they feel safer than residents who have few trees around them.

Wildlife and Biodiversity

• Urban forests help create and enhance animal and plant habitats and can act as “reservoirs” for endangered species. Urban forest wildlife offers enjoyment to city dwellers and can serve as indicators of local environmental health.

Canopy Cover Facts

• How much tree cover a city needs depends on local climate.

Eastern cities ideally need 40% cover and western cities need 25% canopy cover.

• An estimated 634,400,000 trees are currently missing from metropolitan areas across the United States as the result of urban and suburban development.

• Increased urban canopy cover, leads to reduced ozone concentrations in cities.

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Official arboretum status is more than doable The Morton Register of Arboreta provides a database of named arboretums and public gardens that focus on woody plants. The Morton Register offers an Arboretum Accreditation program with four levels of accreditation, creating a clear, standardized pathway for establishing a bona fide arboretum. As an HLC-accredited technical college, DCTC will view the Morton Register program as a valuable resource.

Morton Register of Arboreta Level I Accreditation

The base level of accreditation requires achievement of the following basic standards: • An arboretum plan: Documentation of some sort, such as an organizational plan, strategic plan, master plan, or other that defines the purpose of the arboretum, its audience, the types of plants that are to be grown to achieve that purpose and serve that audience, provisions for the maintenance and care of the plants, and provisions for continuing operation of the organization through time.

• An arboretum organizational group of people or governing board or authority that is dedicated to the Arboretum Plan and its continuation beyond the efforts of a single individual. Such an organizational/ governance group can affirm fulfillment of standards and authorize participation as an accredited arboretum.

• An arboretum collection with a minimum number of 25 kinds (species or varieties) of trees or woody plants having been planted and growing in accordance with the Arboretum Plan. Plants in the Arboretum Collection must be labeled in some way as to their identity, and documented in some way as to their acquisition (source or origin, date, etc.).

• Arboretum staff or volunteer support that ensures fulfillment of the Arboretum Plan and provides for the basic needs of the Arboretum Collection and functions of the arboretum.

• An arboretum public dimension that includes some level of public access, and at least one public event or educational program each year focused on trees or arboretum purposes (e.g., Arbor Day observance).

• Participation in ArbNet.

“Tree planting is always a utopian enterprise, it seems to me, a wager on a future the planter doesn’t necessarily expect to witness.” — Michael Pollan, Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education The Beauty of Green | Page 26

Arbs in Minnesota Minnesota has eight named arboretums. The first six that follow are listed on the Morton Register of Arboreta website. No Minnesota arboretum appears to have received accreditation from the Morton Register.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum University of Minnesota in Chaska, Minn.

• • • • • • • •

1,137 acres Ranked 12th in U.S. on National Directory of U.S. Arboretums Weddings generate tremendous annual revenue Formal and demonstration gardens Walking trails Home to the Andersen Horticultural Library housing 15,000 books Entrance fee No pets

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Cowling Arboretum

Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.

• • • • • • • • •

900 acres Restores native plants originating within 25 miles of Carleton campus No formal gardens Strong student worker volunteer force XC ski trails and hiking trails Adjacent to Cannon River Separate from campus; semi-independent groundskeeping No entrance fee Pets welcome

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Linnaeus Arboretum

Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn.

• • • • •

125 acres Interpretive center Formal and demonstration gardens Manmade wetland area installed after 1998 F4 tornado Hosts full schedule of weddings, graduation parties, business meetings, anniversaries, birthday parties, family reunions without advertising • Separate from campus; semi-independent groundskeeping • No entrance fee • No pets

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Northland Arboretum Baxter, Minn.

• • • • • • • • • • •

983 acres Interpretive center financed through bank loan Membership driven Formal and demonstration gardens Nature preserve Strong focus on community education Strong focus on renewable energy, including solar and wind power Nature Conservancy owns nearly 200 acres within arb boundaries Volunteer groundskeepers Entrance fee Pets welcome

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Saint John’s Arboretum

Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.

• 2,830 acres • Largest arboretum in the state • 8,000 local K–12 students visit annually as part of Environmental Education Program • No formal or demonstration gardens • Separate from campus • XC ski trails and hiking trails • Seven lakes, prairie, oak savanna and woodlands • Game refuge • No entrance fee • No pets

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Muriel Sahlin Arboretum Roseville, Minn.

• • • • • • •

8 acres Building and pavilion Formal and demonstration gardens Hosts weddings Volunteer groundskeepers No entrance fee Pets welcome

Horton Park

St. Paul, Minn.

• • • • • •

1 acre Tiny arboretum near Hamline University 10,000 visitors annually Supported by area residents No entrance fee Pets welcome

Lyndale Park Gardens Minneapolis, Minn.

• • • •

61 acres Located on Lake Harriet Formal and demonstration gardens Includes small arboretum with several Heritage Trees, which are the largest specimens within the city limits • Thomas Sadler Roberts Bird Sanctuary • No entrance fee • Pets welcome

Muriel Sahlin Arboretum The Beauty of Green | Page 32

Lyndale Park Gardens

Alphems Arboretum | Västergötland, Sweden

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What exactly is a botanical garden?

Botanic Gardens Conservation International, better known as BGCI, is the largest organization of its kind in the world with more than 700 members and partners— mostly botanical gardens—in 118 countries. BGCI compiled a fundamental list of criteria to define the nature and purpose of a botanical garden (also called botanic garden). Over time, a botanical garden on the DCTC Rosemount campus, one with plant collections grown in concert with an arboretum (technically a botanical garden) could easily meet the following requirements: • • • • • • • •

A reasonable degree of permanence An underlying scientific basis for the collections Proper documentation of the collections, including wild origin Monitoring of the plants in the collections Adequate labeling of the plants Open to the public Communication of information to other gardens, institutions and the public Exchange of seed or other materials with other botanic gardens, arboreta or research institutions • Undertaking of scientific or technical research on plants in the collections • Maintenance of research programs in plant taxonomy in associated herbaria

BGCI reports that 148 countries operate 2,500 botanical gardens and arboreta equipped with more than 4 million living plant collections featuring representatives from 100,000 vascular plant species—about one third the world total. Western Europe has 500+ botanical gardens with North America and Asia having 350+ and 200+, respectively.

VanDusen Botanical Garden | Vancouver, Canada The Beauty of Green | Page 34

Botanic Garden of the Jagiellonian University | Kraków, Poland

What’s the official take on botanical gardens?

The American Public Gardens Association, or APGA, offers this informative perspective on obtaining official botanical garden status.

“Since no agency gives legal accreditation to botanic gardens, anyone can call any garden a botanic garden. There are, however, some generally accepted criteria for defining the terms ‘botanic gardens’ or ‘botanical gardens’ that APGA asks our members to follow: • The garden is open to the public on a least a part-time basis.

• The garden functions as an aesthetic display, educational display and or site research.

• The garden maintains plant records.

• The garden has at least one professional staff member (paid or unpaid).

• Garden visitors can identify plants through labels, guide maps or other interpretive materials

“Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.”

— Rudyard Kipling The Beauty of Green | Page 35

Best of the best The Royal Botanic Gardens, perhaps better known as Kew Gardens, is an example of a botanical garden testing the extremes of excellence. With annual revenues topping £56 million, or about $90 million, Kew Gardens employs some 650 scientists to oversee more than 30,000 different kinds of plants—the greatest collection on Earth. The Kew herbarium holds around 7 million plant specimens. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001, Kew might be humankind’s most famous and popular garden with a scientific and conservation mission to match. Kew is 10 miles from central London.

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York is often ranked as the top botanical garden in the U.S. (Denver Botanic Gardens in Colorado and the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Fla., are typically named in the same breath.) BBG was founded in 1910 and today features 13 different gardens, including Fragrance, Herb, Rock and Rose gardens, five conservatories, including a Bonsai Museum and Desert Pavilion, six popular collections, including the Tree Peony and Orchid collections, and six feature attractions, including the Bluebell Wood and Celebrity Path.

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Kew Gardens | Richmond, Surrey | United Kingdom

Dearth of botanical gardens in Dakota County The official 2011 Parks, Bikeways & Recreation Map of Dakota County lists 126 parks operated by the county itself along with 11 different communities. Each park is divided into three usage categories: Social Uses, Recreational Uses and Trail Uses.

Social Uses covers things like amphitheaters, gardens, picnic shelters and restrooms.

Recreational Uses covers numerous facilities and opportunities for various activities from archery to disc golf to fishing to horseshoes to playgrounds to soccer to volleyball.

Trail Uses covers trails for horses, mountain bikes, walking and more.

The Gardens subcategory under the Social Uses category is of particular interest to the college. Public gardens are in short supply in Dakota County, which is surprising because the county is the third most populous in Minnesota with nearly 400,000 residents, according to the 2010 census. Dakota County occupies the southeast section of the seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, the 16th largest in the nation with roughly 3.3 million residents.

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Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden | Minneapolis, Minn.

Here’s the breakdown of public gardens in Dakota County: • The 61 parks in Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eagan, Farmington, Mendota Heights and West. St. Paul are listed as maintaining no gardens.

• Dakota County, Inver Grove Heights, Rosemount and South St. Paul, with a combined 42 parks, maintain one garden each.

• Rosemount, the college’s host city, has 10 parks, but only Central Park is listed with a garden.

• Hastings has nine parks, three with gardens. Tops on the list, Lakeville has 14 parks, six with gardens.

• All told out of 126 parks, only 13 maintain gardens.

• None are designated as botanical gardens.

In fact, in all of Minnesota, only six botanical gardens of note exist not associated with an arboretum: • Como Park Zoo and Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in St. Paul • Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Minneapolis • Munsinger Gardens and Clemens Gardens along the Mississippi River in St. Cloud • Olcott Park Greenhouse in Virginia • Bergeson Gardens at Bergeson Nursery in Fertile The Beauty of Green | Page 38

Botanical gardens in a bottom-line world Botanical gardens are not just for show. They are lush with benefits stemming from their three central purposes of conservation, research and education. Botanical gardens are jewels of their communities, inherently providing the following advantages: • • • • •

Green and recreational space in urban and suburban areas Economic resurgence due to tourists and visitors attracted to the area Psychological and spiritual restoration Chances to enjoy rare, endangered and even common flora and fauna Educational avenues for people interested in horticulture, landscaping, living plants and biological communities • Elevated community awareness on biodiversity and plant conservation

But how do these benefits stay relevant in an uncertain world with shifting priorities?

In April 2010, the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, or RCMG, the University of Leicester and the BGCI partnered to assemble a report titled: Redefining the Role of Botanic Gardens–Towards a New Social Purpose. The research showed that botanic gardens were chiefly focused with development in seven critical areas: • • • •

Broadening audiences (audience development) Enhancing relevance to communities (meeting the needs of communities) Education Conducting research which has socio-economic impact locally and globally • Contributing to public (and political) debates on the environment • Modeling sustainable behavior • Actively changing attitudes and behavior

Bergeson Gardens | Bergeson Nursery | Fertile, Minn.

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One interesting conclusion of the research centered on the advantages of merging the benefits of a traditional, science-centric botanic garden with the benefits of a more innovative, community-conscious botanic garden to create what can be called the socially relevant botanic garden.

The Eden Project, the garden that so impressed Rick Fedrizzi during his trip to London (see page of this prospectus), served as the modern, social enterprise model. The DCTC model would be wellserved to explore the hybrid approach with an even stronger emphasis on Eden’s community-first objectives.

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Victor Kuzevanov and Svetlana Sizykh, the director and deputy director of the Botanic Garden of Irkutsk State University in Irkutsk, Siberia, connect biodiversity to human health and happiness in their review, “Botanic Gardens Resources: Tangible and Intangible.” The review notes that botanic gardens have from their inception served as indispensable bridges between nature and humankind by introducing plants as renewable resources for food, fuel, medicine, health and beauty, shelter, clothing, aesthetics and more.

“Botanic gardens (BGs) are innovative institutions that can help local people

in many ways,” Kuzevanov and Sizykh write. “BGs have a special environmental, scientific, cultural, aesthetic, and recreational importance. Both tangible (material) and intangible (not-material) resources of BGs are equally valuable for the sustainable development and linking biodiversity with public education, secure environment, nutrition, healthcare, poverty alleviation, socio-ecological and economical benefits for communities, including commercialization.”

H. Bruce Rinker, Ph.D., the director of scientific advancement and development at the Biodiversity Research Insti-

tute in Gorham, Me., reports that many modern botanic gardens were established when ecological threats were not as thoroughly documented by researchers. Rinker takes an even stronger stand on the benefits of gardens in society: “Botanical gardens can change the world as flagship institutions for research and education about the plant kingdom.

Plants represent the basis of most life on the planet. Like the weight of a petal, a handful of botanical gardens across the globe can help us steward earth’s green mantle and, thereby, ensure our own survival in an age of ecological crisis.”

The Eden Project | Bodelva, Cornwall | United Kingdom

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The Barn Gardens | Hertfordshire, England

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Fine gardening laboratory Catherine Grant, a Landscape Horticulture instructor at the college, teaches the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Greenhouse Production specialized interest area. Grant views fine gardening as a wide open fieldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and a perfect fit for students with both artistic talent and technical aptitude.

She looks at the DCTC Rosemount campus as an ideal laboratory for her students to master fine gardening design and maintenance skills while creating a beautiful, sustainable landscape that engages not only staff, faculty and other students, but also area residents and businesses, creating many opportunities for partnerships.

Grant believes the outreach potential is enormous for a botanical garden on campus in conjunction with a well-established Landscape Horticulture program and a very active Hort Club. The campus space is made to order for any number of niche and demonstration gardens that will attract and inspire students while captivating community visitors and volunteers looking for ways to enhance their home gardens. The programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newer, state-ofthe-art greenhouse will be a must-have asset for advancing and maintaining those gardens. The senior greenhouse could be transformed into a conservatory, another important asset for a botanical garden.

The Barn Gardens | Hertfordshire, England The Beauty Beauty of of Green Green || Page Page 43 43 The

Urban farming aesthetics: Beauty and the Feast In her September 2012 article in Urban Farming, “Garden Lessons from Arboretums,” Jean M. Fogle encourages her readers to explore arboretums as great resources for networking with other urban gardeners while learning how to master the art and science of edible landscaping.

“Today’s arboretums and botanical gardens offer a lot to urban farmers,” Fogle writes. “They strive to connect people with plants. Hands-on and educational experiences hosted by arboretums give gardeners the tools they need to live sustainably in an urban environment.”

Fogle goes on to say, “Most arboretums are close to major urban centers. Find one in your city, and get a schedule of its classes, workshops and events. Arboretum activities can be a great way to learn how to make your urban oasis flourish.”

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The Landscape Horticulture program at DCTC is already preparing to add urban agriculture—augmented by landscape design aesthetics—to the program’s curriculum. Instructor Matt Brooks is on sabbatical during the 2012– 2013 academic year with that aim as his core focus.

As a registered landscape architect with a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, Brooks has a passion for bringing the beauty of artistic landscaping to homegrown produce gardens. He sees the urban ag component of the DCTC Arboretum and Botanical Garden as a perfect conduit for teaching these concepts to students pursuing the program’s Landscape Design emphasis as well as to urban agriculturists, permaculturists, orchard owners, backyard gardeners and community farmers, both new and established, who want beauty and the feast.

Less space, more people Even though the 7 billion people alive today do not outnumber the roughly 106 billion people who have lived and died throughout human history, the living do come out ahead of the dead on one critical count: They eat. That habit of eating puts immense pressure on the global agricultural system, leading to habitat absorption, freshwater depletion and pesticide proliferation in concert with massive energy consumption.

Even then the mass-produced food is often nutritionally suspect, alarmingly processed and quite expensive. Urban agriculture is a flourishing alternative that is not only viable, but also smarter, cheaper, better tasting, more healthful and far more amenable to social bonding.

“More people around the world are taking a look at urban farming, which offers to make our food as ‘local’ as possible,” writes Brian Clark Howard in his National Geographic article, “Urban Farming Is Growing a Green Future.” “By growing what we need near where we live, we decrease the ‘food miles’ associated with long-distance transportation. We also get the freshest produce money can buy, and we are encouraged to eat in season.”

Howard goes on to write: “Another benefit of urban farming is that it can add greenery to cities, reducing harmful runoff, increasing shading, and countering the unpleasant heat island effect. Garden plots can help people reconnect with the Earth, and

gain a greater appreciation for where our food comes from (hint: not from plastic packages).”

A July 2012 Conservation Law Foundation article reports how an urban farming project in Boston is assembling some remarkable data. One 50-acre plot in Greater Boston is set to generate at least 130 direct farming jobs. The number could jump past 200 with the right business model. The same 50 acres will provide enough fresh produce to feed more than 3,600 people over a six-month season. All told, the acreage will produce 1.5 million pounds of fresh food annually, food that’s not only healthier and tastier, but also boosts the local economy while building a strong sense of community .

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Eat, drink and be leery As a topic of discussion, global food security is a dinner with many courses except, perhaps, for dessert. The Community Food Security Coalition defines food security as: All persons in a community having access to culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate food through local, non-emergency sources at all times.

Janine Yorio,the founder of NewSeed Advisors, a New York City-based investment bank, acknowledges the danger of mass famine overtaking the human condition, but believes workable, entrepreneurial solutions are in the works.

“Venture capital investors are already hunting for companies that can solve the food system’s complex problems,” Yorio writes. “Meanwhile, research initiatives driven by the U.S. Department of Agriculture tend to support the tried-andtrue, multinational agribusiness companies that have both improved global food security and perpetuated dependence on petrochemicals, pesticides, and phosphate-based fertilizers. I prefer to place my bets on small companies, university spinouts, and farmers, to commercial-

ize resource-efficient ways of producing food without destroying the planet.”

Urban agriculture is certainly one miracle-grow solution with the means to conserve energy, reduce costs, enhance nutrition, relieve chronic food insecurity, beef up local economies, provide employment and income, salvage wastewater and organic solid waste as fertilizer, convert unproductive urban space into cornucopias, and much more.

During his sabbatical, Matt Brooks investigated one of the best urban farming models in the U.S., Growing Power in Milwaukee, Wis. Will Allen, Growing Power CEO, equates farming with engineering and medicine in terms of significance and level of expertise.

“It takes a lot of skill to be able to grow food sustainably,” Allen says. “It’s an art form. We need to raise agriculture up to another different level like they do in Europe where farmers are on the same level as engineers and doctors because the food that we eat is the most important thing in our lives.”

The street sense of staying down on the farm in the big city • 50 percent the global population resides in cities • 800 million people grow food in urban settings, producing 15 percent of the world’s food supply • In three years, nearly 30 global megalopolises will have populations exceeding 10 million people • Roughly 6,600 tons of food must be imported daily to feed a city that size The Beauty of Green | Page 46

Permaculture can be drop-dead gorgeous “Permaculture is a theory of ecological design which seeks to develop sustainable human settlements and agricultural systems, by attempting to model them on natural ecosystems.” — Toby Hemenway | Author of Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture From the outset, function has reigned as the crucial force behind all permacultural designs. Practical use is everything, and beauty has rarely been considered a use.

For the most part, public gardens have steered away from showcasing permaculture gardens because high-eco gardens you can eat have a rep for being messy.

That perspective opens up a world of possibilities for permaculture as a keynote component of the DCTC Arboretum and Botanical Garden. Presenting practical, full-function urban farming and permaculture as visually spectacular is a wonderful challenge with significant opportunities for community engagement.

The Urban Farmer, a top-deck Canadian organization devoted to virtually every aspect of farming and gardening in urban environments, considers aesthetics an integral constellation of the permaculture design universe.

“The scope of permaculture can range from small systems on balconies, in households or urban yards, to acreages, farms, eco-villages, communities, municipalities and beyond. There is no single template for a permaculture system or design and there is no one way that a permaculture system ‘looks.’ What drives the design is the careful observation of the particular place in which it is located and the specific outcomes or ‘yields’ desired from the system. For most permaculture practioners, beauty is an imporatant consideration and is one ‘yield’ that is designed into the system. The aesthetics of a given design are as diverse and as unique as the creativity of the designer.”

Welch Permaculture Gardens | Welch, Minn.

Permaculture is a Vision, a Design System, and a Community.

The Vision is of resilience and abundance, with vibrant local economies, healthy ecosystems, and thriving communities. People support each other to provide food, energy, shelter, and needs in a socially just and ecologically regenerative way.

The Design System is a holistic set of teachings that allow us to plan and create productive, cost-effective, and regenerative systems for our own families and communities.

The Community is a global movement – There are over 1 million practitioners, with over 5,000 projects in more than 140 countries.

— David Holmgren | Co-originator of the permaculture concept The Beauty of Green | Page 47

Permaculture on campus In the realm of higher education, permaculture in action is best exemplified by the UMass Permaculture Initiative, a sustainability program on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus that converts space- and energy-inefficient lawn plots into â&#x20AC;&#x153;ecological, socially responsible, and financially sustainable permaculture landscapes that are easy to replicate.â&#x20AC;?

The New York Times, Boston Globe and mtvU have done features on the UMass Permaculture Initiative, which also took first place in the White House Campus Champions of Change Challenge, beating out more than 1,400 competitors.

The UMass model leverages social media, including a Facebook page with nearly 1,200 friends. Photo galleries document permaculture activities, including the installation of two new permaculture gardens on campus. Also promoted via Facebook, the Weekly Student Farmers Market, which is held at the UMass Amherst Campus Center, is a popular offshoot of the Permaculture Initiative.

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UMass Permaculture: A History (from the UMass Amherst website) The UMass Permaculture Initiative was originally proposed by a group of passionate UMass students. In 2009, these students presented their idea to Director of UMass Auxiliary Enterprises Ken Toong. Their proposal was simply to install edible and ecological landscapes right on campus.

Permaculture landscapes, the students explained, are perfect for a campus setting because they: • Are replicable, scalable, and adaptable to anyone, on virtually any budget, in almost any climate; • Provide nutritious foods to the dining commons; • Improve the quality of the environment; • Create service-learning opportunities to students and volunteers.

• Toong fully embraced the idea, and in 2010 hired Ryan Harb to oversee UMass Amherst’s first permaculture project.

Since 2009, the UMass Permaculture Initiative has grown to include three full-time staff members, a revolving 12-member student committee, several student garden leaders and interns, and more than 1,000 volunteers from the local community.

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Community farming: The freshness factor Community-shared agriculture, perhaps better known as CSA, is an alternative model of agriculture and food distribution that provides locally grown, ultra fresh, in-season produce to consumers.

A CSA is often an association or network of people pledged to support one or more local farms, allowing growers and consumers to share the advantages and hazards associated with food production.

CSA subscribers pay at the start of the growing season for a share of the forecasted harvest. During the harvesting season, subscribers receive weekly shares of vegetables and fruit boxed and delivered to prearranged locations.

Shares for subscribers frequently include herbs, cut flowers, honey, eggs, maple syrup, dairy products, poultry, meat— just about anything fit for the supper table (the flowers can go in a vase).

Subscribers often have the option to perform production-related labor to offset subscription fees.

Tangletown Gardens in Minneapolis, a frequent tour site for students in the college’s Landscape Horticulture program, runs a popular CSA in concert with a garden center and restaurant, all supported by a working farm and greenhouses in Plato, Minn.

Tangletown offers the following selling points for its CSA on the company’s website: “‘In season’ is what food shares are all about. Whatever is ripe and delicious for the week goes into your box picked at The Beauty of Green | Page 50

the peak of flavor and nutrition, washed, and carefully packed. Delight in the challenge of seasonal eating through our Tangletown Gardens Farm Fresh Food Share program and you’ll be making a commitment to your health at a far lessthan-retail cost!

“Grocery stores know no seasons. What we have gained in convenience, we have lost in flavor, freshness, nutritional value, and our connection to each other and to the land. At our farm we have 130 acres to play with and we grow 100s of new and old varieties of vegetables each season to test and try. We are always conducting trials to determine which varieties are truly the best. We look for varieties with outstanding flavor and nutrition that will excite your palate and beautify your dinner plate rather than for uniform size, shape, color, and long shelf life.”

Tangletown Farm 18-Week Food Share Package Full share of produce for a household of four or two vegetarians = $550.

Half share of produce for a household of two or one vegetarian = $350.

Tangetown’s innovative, entrepreneurial approach to the green industry has earned the company inclusion on Minneapolis Saint Paul Magazine’s “Best of the Twin Cities” list every year since 2003.

That same approach makes Tangletown an excellent prospective partner as the college develops its own plan centered on urban agriculture, permaculture and green engagement of the community.

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Farmers’ market madness Farmers’ markets give consumers the chance to purchase fresh food directly from local farmers, growers and producers. Consumers learn who grows their food, and where and how it’s grown. Established in 1974, the Northfield Farmers’ Market sells products grown within 15 miles of the city. Consumers access an amazing variety of farm- and home-fresh items at such markets, including: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Herbs Fresh flowers Perennials Annuals Veggie plants Cut flowers Asparagus Herb plants Lettuce Radishes Maple syrup Jams Jellies Pickles Honey Strawberries Raspberries Tomatoes Green beans Peppers Onions Potatoes

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Sweet corn Melons Apples Squash Pumpkins Gourds Beef Poultry Pork Lamb Cheese Eggs Milk Butter Ice cream Sauces Mushrooms Breads Pastries Beer Wine And more

The built-in benefits of farmers’ markets help build robust communities. Producers enhance profits by selling directly to their customers, which in turn opens doors to developing long-term networks The Beauty of Green | Page 52

and relationships. Consumers learn to eat in season, leading to diets with more healthful foods, including organic fruits and vegetables from USDA certified organic farmers. Farmers’ market products feature other USDA labels, including free-range, cage-free, grass-fed, natural, pasture-raised and humane. Consumers can hear directly from farmers why such practices are important. By regularly shopping at farmers’ markets, consumers naturally diminish their intake of problematic processed foods while keeping more capital in their communities.

Farmers’ markets operate in virtually every country in the world, often serving as windows to an area’s cultural and economic constitution. They can be huge like the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market, which covers 54 acres with 1,700 stalls, or as small as a church parking lot.

As the urban ag component grows, DCTC should consider becoming a satellite location for the Saint Paul Farmers’ Market, which currently operates eight locations in Dakota County, including one on Tuesdays in Rosemount.

Gov. Mark Dayton declared Aug. 5–11, 2012, Farmers Market Week in Minnesota. More than 150 farmers’ markets operate statewide, taking advantage of greater public awareness of healthier eating alternatives and the wisdom of supporting local growers. The Saint Paul Farmers’ Market was voted best in the state by WCCO-TV viewers.

Northfield Farmersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Market

Saint Paul Farmers Market The Beauty of Green | Page 53

Certified sustainable SITES Certification The Sustainable Sites Initiative™, or SITES™, also provides excellent avenues to pursue in the quest to achieve campus sustainability goals. As a technical college with a robust stake in a greener economy with more green jobs, SITES certification offers a powerful support system based on “voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices.”

SITES recently completed a pilot certification project that incorporated a four-star rating system based on a 250-point scale. Open enrollment for SITES Certification will commence in mid-2013 with the formal release of the ratings system reference guide. To learn more about the benefits of sustainable sites, read “Landscapes Give Back,” or review Pilot Projects in Canada, Iceland and 29 U.S. states, including a greyfield residential project at Cobblestone Creek in Winona, Minn.

See below for more information about SITES: “The Sustainable Sites Initiative is a partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the United States Botanic Garden in conjunction with a diverse group of stakeholder organizations to establish and encourage sustainable practices in landscape design, construction, operations, and maintenance.

“The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES™) was created to promote sustainable land development and management practices that can apply to sites with and without buildings including, but not limited to the following: • Open spaces such as local, state and national parks, conservation easements and buffer zones and transportation rights-of-way.

• Sites with buildings including industrial, retail and office parks, military complexes, airports, botanical gardens, streetscapes and plazas, residential and commercial developments and public and private campuses.

“SITES will provide tools for those who influence land development and management practices and can address increasingly urgent global concerns such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, and resource depletion. They can be used by those who design, construct, operate and maintain landscapes, including but not limited to planners, landscape architects, engineers, developers, builders, maintenance crews, horticulturists, governments, land stewards and organizations offering building standards.”

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Setting our sights on SITES Several projects that successfully documented and achieved SITES Certification during the Sustainable Sites Initiative’s Pilot Program pursued goals with great relevance to the DCTC Beauty of Green Initiative. The scale of the projects varies, but many are a handful of acres or less. See below for details.

Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden at Sarah P. Duke Gardens Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 0.96 acres, Open Space - Garden / Arboretum Certification Level: Two Stars

Cleveland’s Public Garden: Modeling Sustainability in the Rustbelt Cleveland, Ohio 10 acres, Open Space - Garden / Arboretum Certification Level: Three Stars

Cornell University’s Mann Library Entrance Ithaca, New York 0.134 acres, Educational / Institutional Certification Level: One Star

Meadow Lake / Main Parking Lot at The Morton Arboretum Lisle, Illinois 27.7 acres, Open Space - Garden / Arboretum Certification Level: One Star

Novus International Headquarters Campus St. Charles, Missouri 9 acres, Commercial Certification Level: Three Stars

The Green at College Park at The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, Texas 2.6 acres, Educational / Institutional Certification Level: One Star

Victoria Garden Mews Santa Barbara, California 0.25 acres, Residential Certification Level: Two Stars

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Rosemount campus genesis projects A number of Rosemount campus landscape projects directly related to the Beauty of Green Initiative are in the concept or planning stages. As the college advances toward the goals of establishing an arboretum, botanical garden and urban agriculture center on campus, all landscape-related projects should be part of a sustainable campus landscape strategic master plan with each individual project designed and implemented to achieve SITES certification.

ing, comprehensive, campus-wide, centralized sustainability objective.

That evidence will go a long way in securing future support for campus landscape master plan projects via grants, donations, sponsorships, voluteerism, partnerships and in-kind services. External support is indispensable for launching, developing and maintaining projects of this scope. Arboretums and botanicals gardens are defined by their community support.

The campus landscape master plan must sync up perfectly with the collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Strategic Directions & Goals 2012â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2016 and the Facilities Master Plan.

For the most part, the design work for the following projects could be accomplished in-house via faculty and students in the Landscape Horticulture program. Students could also take part in the installation process to gain valuable, on-the-job experience. Critical groundkeeping and maintenance requirements and duties are covered later in the prospectus.

Achieving nationally recognized SITES verification of sustainability performance benchmarks will provide clear evidence of a robust, forward-think-

Gothenburg Botanical Garden | Gothenburg, Sweden The Beauty of Green | Page 56

Dakota County Technical College campus | Rosemount, Minn.

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Productive Landscapes for a Sustainable Future Matt Brooks, a member of the Landscape Horticulture program faculty, has drawn up a proposal for creating an active learning environment for teaching advanced sustainable and productive landscape practices. Brooks proposes redeveloping the area south of the LAHT wing, which is currently used as a collection site for hedge plots, flower beds and wood construction projects, as a lab area and demonstration gardens based on 10 established sustainable design principles. The project got underway fall 2012.

Brooks and his fellow instructors, Jeff Kleinboehl and Catherine Grant, believe alternative, holistic landscape systems are becoming more and more important in the quest to protect the environment while improving the human condition. The LAHT program’s enhanced, innovative approach to design and craftmanship reflects the accelerating change taking place throughout the green industry. The new curriculum will overlap permaculture education, which emphasizes developing self–sustaining systems that accomplish the following objectives: • • • • • •

Capture and store energy Obtain a yield Produce no waste Function on multiple levels Restore the health of our ecosystems Create a more equitable society

Ten Principles for More Productive and Sustainable Landscapes

Productive, sustainable landscapes that are beautiful and socially appealing will be the natural outcome when designers adhere to the following overriding principles: 1. Reduce the amount of traditional lawn area 2. Use native plants 3. Reduce the amount of impervious surfaces 4. Capture and store storm water on site 5. Use vegetation to modify micro climate 6. Protect and restore existing soils 7. Reduce waste through composting 8. Plant a vegetable garden, fruit and nut bearing trees and shrubs 9. Fully consider environmental impacts of building materials 10. Spread the word and educate the public

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

— Native American Proverb The Beauty of Green | Page 58

Click the image above to read the full Productive Landscapes for a Sustainable Future proposal by Matt Brooks

View north of project site

Master Plan The Beauty of Green | Page 59

Site Analysis The Beauty of Green | Page 60

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Project C

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Concepts

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Interpretive Center One project that will add critical mass to the overall Beauty of Green Initiative is an on-campus interpretive center. Often called a visitor center, an interpretive center is defined as a building or group of buildings that provides information regarding the natural world or a particular cultural heritage or historical events. An interpretive center is a gathering place, office space, classroom, exhibition hall, fun room, dining area and new-style museum all rolled into one.

One idea that has gained some traction involves moving a barn to campusâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;intact or disassembledâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and renovating its interior and exterior to serve as the DCTC Beauty of Green Interpretive Center. Renovating barns as living spaces is a cottage industry throughout the U.S. Finding a suitable barn inside Dako-

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ta County would garner cultural and historical merit. Disassembled barns retain their vintage integrity, but are typically reassembled as much sturdier structures using modern building practices.

The installation and renovation process could engage students and faculty from a number of academic programs, including Civil Engineering Technology, Architectural Technology, Interior Design, Wood Finishing Technology, Concrete and Masonry, Electrical Construction and Maintenance Technology, Welding Technology and, of course, Landscape Horticulture. The center could be used by all programs and departments as an attractive alternative for holding symposia, seminars, workshops, forums, roundtables, discussion sessions and other educational activities.

In terms of community outreach, an interpretive center designed from the outset for broad usability and aesthetic appeal is at some point an essential component for the overall arboretum, botanical garden and urban agriculture project.

With the right design and layout, including intense attention to surrounding fine gardens, the center could become a revenue stream as the host site for weddings, graduation parties, business meetings, anniversaries, birthday parties, family reunions and more.

Catherine Grant suggested locating the interpretive center just west of the Sustainability Lab and Demonstration Gardens on a flat, easily accessible tract of land adjacent to the west parking lots.

The center would be visible from the Ames Soccer Complex and to all traffic arriving at the college via the Library Atrium entrance.

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Conservatory The simplest definition of a conservatory is a â&#x20AC;&#x153;greenhouse, usually attached to a dwelling, for growing and displaying plants.â&#x20AC;? Conservatories at top botanical gardens amplify that definition exponentially, creating alien hothouses with spectacular jungle and rainforest microcosms. The Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Las Vegas elevates the concept to the nth degree, turning a beautifully illuminated space into a themed botanical extravaganza that changes with the seasons.

Conservatories do not have to be huge to be entrancing, however. Even small spaces can generate the wow factor with the right plants and right design. The LAHT programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s senior greenhouse is more than large enough to serve as a superb conservatory, adding another educational color to the DCTC botanic spectrum.

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Seymour Botanical Conservatory | Wright Park Arboretum | Tacoma, Wash.

Phipps Conservatory | Pittsburgh, Penn.

Enid A. Haupt Conservatory | New York Botanical Garden | The Bronx, N.Y. The Beauty of Green | Page 67

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Phipps Conservatory | Pittsburgh, Penn.

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Library Atrium Entrance One of the premium landscaping opportunity areas on campus, the Library Atrium entrance receives a tremendous amount of foot traffic on a typical school day. Most of our students and a sizeable number of faculty and staff use the west parking lots on a routine basis.People enter the college following the rounded driveway or taking the sidewalk with the wood-post retaining walls.

on lawn tracts near the greenhouse. The buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s west-facing walls framing the entrance teem with ivy. A spacious grassy area above LAHT classrooms and overlooking the greenhouse was at one point designated as the site for a sustainable rooftop garden, a superb addition to any botanical garden. Those rooftop plans could be revisited and expanded to meet SITES certification (see next section).

Years ago, the space contained a Japanese garden. Today, the space features an elevated brickwork picnic area, a large concrete patio area (formerly the designated smoking area), a tall, lawntopped rectangular berm with woodbeam steps, a secluded courtyard garden with pond (adjacent to a Landscape Horticulture classroom), numerous trees, shrubs and flowering plants, and assorted tracts of mowed lawn.

Because of its high visibility and relatively large area, the Library Atrium entrance stands out as a hugely advantageous location to design and install a core botanical garden, possibibly themed, but definitely equipped with walking paths, relaxation and study areas, and labeled trees and plants. A high-end water feature would be ideal, particularly considering the abundance of elevated earth needed to create spectacular waterfalls and running water. The locationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proximity to the Landscape Horticulture program area is a major plus factor.

Retaining wall gardens were recently constructed alongside the building and

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Chanticleer Gardens | Wayne, Penn.

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Rooftop Garden From Chicago’s City Hall to the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo to the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, rooftop gardens are a growing trend around the world. Landscape Horticulture Instructore Matt Brooks reported that the advantages of a creating a cuttingedge rooftop garden on campus are too good to pass up.

• Creates beautiful outdoor commons for social interaction, relaxation and studying • Serves as design, production, installation and maintenance laboratory for Landscape Horticulture students • Makes sound use of underutilized space • Improves air quality while reducing CO2 emissions • Mitigates stormwater runoff • Cools ambient air temperature • Insulates building below • Increases value of facility overall DCTC’s rooftop garden is proposed for the west side of the main building just to the north of the new greenhouse. Brooks’ plan calls for flowing and rounded lines to contrast with the hard lines and edges of existing structures. The garden will incorporate vertical elements such as gabion walls to create separation of space. The gabions are cages that can be filled with a growing medium for living walls or other eye-catching materials for visual interest.

Brooks’ plan also includes a pergola, which is pillared passageway with a lattice roof.

Pergolas provide shade and a place to grow climbing or trailing vines. Rooftop gardens come in two distinct varieties: intensive or extensive. The latter has only four to six inches of topsoil, requires minimal maintenance and isn’t suitable for heavy foot traffic. With 18 inches of topsoil—plus one four-foot-deep trench fit for planting trees, the DCTC rooftop garden will be extensive, opening the way for increased human activity along with greater landscaping and upkeep opportunities for LAHT students.

The project will unfold gradually as students from other programs participate in the building process, including work for Welding Technology and Concrete and Masonry students, the former making galvanized steel raised planters that will match the look of the existing greenhouse.

“We did a lot of research on this project,” Brooks said. “Our students worked on the design and will be involved in the installation and eventually the maintenance of the garden, which will have spaces for individuals and small groups as well space for classes with 30 or more students.”

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Minter Gardens | Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada

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Student Life Center Patio Looking through the north-facing windows of the Student Life Center reveals an area currently designated as future patio space. Although unable to provide sunshine levels ideal for a patio,the site does have potential as a spacious, beautiful, quiet and secluded gathering place for students, staff and faculty.

With the right design, the view from inside Student Life could replicate a courtyard gardens or amphitheater effect. The gradual slope lends itself to a signature water feature, including a creek, waterfalls and pond. Fireplaces and outdoor heaters would be essential as would atmospheric lighting. The space appears large enough to work as a uniquely attractive outdoor annex to the central commons. Creative stonework, imaginative plant selection and innovative sustainable design combined with a strong focus on ergonomics and usability give the site the means to become a crown jewel of the entire Beauty of Green Initiative. Student Life Director Nicole Meulemans and her staff would be vital contributors to the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purpose and design.

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Main Front Entrance & Monument Signage Gardens The college flagship buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main front entrance could showcase sustainable show gardens at their finest. The current planting could be revisited with the objective to install gardens that maximize the aesthetic, creative and sustainability standards of a world-class botanical garden.Design, stonework, lighting and plant selection would be wide open for reimagination. Adjacent lawn sections could be replaced with native plants to enhance the overall effect.

Campus monument signs are also focal points for spectacular sustainable gardening.

They are ripe for landscaping overhauls following the same reimagination guidelines as the main front entrance. Plans are already in the works to install new monument sign sustainable landscaping in spring 2013. Preliminary earthwork has been completed.

Scott Arboretum | Swarthmore College | Swarthmore, Penn.

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Snowmelt Purification Wetland In the winter of 2009, DCTC switched to in-house snow removal with great success, saving thousands of dollars annually. Customized Training trained four operations personnel to use snowremoval vehicles. Plowed snow is hauled to locations remote from the lots to avoid spring flooding.

Environmental Science Instructor Dan Stinnett proposes using piled snow from the west parking lots to create a wetland area between the Railroad Conductor Technology training area and the lots.

Wetlands filter out surplus nutrients and hazardous pollutants in rain, storm water runoff and snowmelt while trapping natural sediments and organic matter.

Wetlands function as sieves, or nature’s kidneys, helping purify the water before it reaches streams, lakes and rivers or

store 300 to 700 billion tons of carbon.

Wetlands are also potential sources of methane, a big-time greenhouse gas.

Researchers are finding ways to maximize carbon sinkage while mitigating methane emissions.

Ultimately, wetland ecosystems are an invaluable resource essential for controlling seasonal flooding, storm surges and landmass erosion. They provide exclusive habitat zones for countless plants and wildlife species. And they purify what is possibly the Earth’s most precious commodity: water.

Hundreds of manmade wetlands across the country currently treat wastewater, storm water runoff and snowmelt economically and effectively. Stinnett learned about a manmade wetland in

“Water is the driving force of all nature.” — Leonardo da Vinci infiltrates the soil to become groundwater. Parking lot snow is notoriously loaded with contaminants.

Wetland habitat destruction is a major environmental concern. Roughly 60 percent of the world’s wetlands have been expunged over the last century to make room for urban and agricultural development. As critical actors in the global carbon cycle, wetlands are under intense scrutiny. Wetlands serve as massive carbon sinks by holding a tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide.

Scientists estimate the planet’s wetlands The Beauty of Green | Page 82

Burnsville, Minn., specifically designed to contain and purify snowmelt from a public parking area. He visited the site and saw firsthand how the project funnels snowmelt into a channel that drains into a sizeable wetland habitat.

The Rosemount campus wetland would serve that important function while doubling as a research project and enviromental education tool. Civil Engineering Technology students would be heavily involved in the wetland’s installation.

The wetland’s aesthetic appeal would be built into its development and upkeep.

Proposed site for DCTC campus snowmelt purification wetland area

Burnsville manmade wetland (above) Snowmelt drain (below)

Restored USDA Wetlands Reserve Program site | Mahnomen County, Minn.

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A dynamic convergence The Beauty of Green Initiative is taking shape during a period in the college’s history marked by what might be called a perfect storm of favorable developments. Several prodigious projects are unfolding in the DCTC neighborhood that make establishing an arboretum, botanical garden and urban agriculture center a shrewd endeavor that expedites the college’s emergence as an innovative, community-based showground for educational, cultural, athletic and environmental excellence.

Arboretums and botanical gardens are strategic projects designed to enhance and educate communities over the long haul. Urban agriculture centers are established to bring communities together in more healthful ways. By their very nature, all three investments grow more valuable and appealing over time. Few other physical assets can claim a similar immunity to depreciation. Fifty years

from now, a mature, scrupulously administered arboretum will be priceless.

The sustainable, high-visibility projects represented in the Beauty of Green Initiative would create a destination environment benefiting from and benefiting the following list of active facilities and promising enterprises on or near our Rosemount campus: • University of Minnesota’s New Sustainable Community at UMore Park • Vermillion Highlands Greenway • Proposed YMCA on DCTC campus • New Rosemount residential developments • Ames Field • Ames Soccer Complex • New Rosemount Fastpitch Softball Fields • Robert Street Corridor Transitway • Zip Rail

Garden Circle | Matthaei Botanical Gardens | University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, Mich.

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U of M New Sustainable Community at UMore Park Located due east, west and south of the collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rosemount campus, the University of Minnesota Outreach, Research and Education Park, better known as UMore Park, covers 5,000 acres, much of it agricultural land. UMore is dedicated to generating a â&#x20AC;&#x153;wealth of academic, intellectual, economic and social benefits for the University, the local region, the state of Minnesota and the world.â&#x20AC;?

two projects would feature essentially parallel development timelines as well as a shared vision with an uncommonly harmonious foundation.

DCTC is currently partnering with the U of M as a member of the Eolos Wind Energy Research Consortium. A 50-acre tract of UMore Park southeast of the college hosts a research station that includes a 2.5 MW Clipper Liberty wind turbine.

As central to that legacy, the U of M commissioned a Concept Master Plan for UMore Park that includes the following main components: A master planned community with housing for as many as 30,000 people, neighborhood commercial, retail centers, civic buildings, and community amenities interspersed with man-made lakes and open space.

An Eco-Industrial Park in which businesses collaborate with the community to reduce waste and pollution, share resources, provide opportunities for job creation and help achieve sustainable development.

Surrounded on three sides by the new community, which will be established over the next 20 to 30 years, the DCTC Arboretum, Botanical Garden and Urban Agriculture Center would be a huge resource for a far-reaching U of M project devoted to natural site development and leading-edge sustainability. Partnership opportunities would be myriad, especially in terms of community outreach. The The Beauty of Green | Page 85

Concept Master Master Plan Plan

Concept Master Plan Summary | For the University of Minnesotaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New Sustainable Community at UMore Park

CR 42

Vermillion Highlands A Research, Recreation and Wildlife Management Area 2,822 Acres

Legend Single Family Residential (small lot) Single Family Residential (large lot) Single Family Residential (attached) Multi Family Residential Mixed-Use

Commercial/Retail Commercial/Office Light Industrial/Office

Civic/Institutional/Education Parks and Parkways Open Space Water Wetlands Forest

The Concept Master Plan offers guidelines for development over 25 to 30 years while accommodating flexibility for new opportunities and innovation. The plan is anchored by the University research and education that will add value to the community and the surrounding region.

VERMILLION HIGHLANDS Highest Intensity Use Moderate Intensity Use Low Intensity Use

* The shades of color on the Vermillion Highlands indicates intensity of use, with lowest intensity being lightest uses of all kinds to preserve the environmental character of the land and allow for habitat restoration.

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Concept Master Plan Summary | October 2008

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Concept Master Plan Summary | For the University of Minnesotaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New Sustainable Community at UMore Park

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Vermillion Highlands Greenway The 2008 Dakota County Park System Plan describes a future 200-mile-long interconnected system of regional greenways through developed areas of Dakota County. The proposal moves beyond a simple trail system to create enhanced open-space corridors performing multiple functions while providing multiple community benefits in four key areas: water quality, habitat, recreation and nonmotorized transportation.

The 11-mile regional greenway segment from Rosemount to Empire Township will link Lebanon Hills Regional Park to the Vermillion River AMA/WMA and Whitetail Woods Regional Park.

The greenway’s walking and bicycle connections provide invaluable transporta-

tion options to both the community and the college. The proposed underpass on County Road 42 will significantly improve safety for people wishing to walk or bike to the DCTC Rosemount campus.

A first priority of the entire project, Segment 2 of the greenway is slated to run on a north-south trajectory through the DCTC campus with a potential 1.75-mile loop trail that offers visitors (faculty, staff and students, too) a closer look at the college.

The greenway could not be a more advantageous asset for the community-centric projects championed by the Beauty of Green Initiative. The trail will also pass through a tract of UMore land just south of the new Rosemount softball ballfields.

That tract has been proposed as the site for a U of M/DCTC Arboretum.

“Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.”

— Pedro Calderon de la Barca | Poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age The Beauty of Green | Page 88

Vermillion Highlands Greenway MASTER PLAN 2012 The Beauty of Green | Page 89

The typology, or systematic classification of types, shakes out in three different ways for the Vermillion Highlands Greenway. Greenway Typologyâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Urban Setting is the type designated for Segment 2, which passes through the DCTC Rosemount campus and is a first priority of the entire project.

Greenway: A linear corridor planned, designed and managed to provide multiple benefits to water quality, habitat, recreation and transportation. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; The Greenway Guidebook: The Dakota County Greenway Collaborative

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Proposed YMCA on campus DCTC has been working with YMCA officials, including the executive director of the Eagan YMCA and representatives from the St. Paul and Minneapolis YMCAs, to build a state-of-the-art YMCA facility on the collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rosemount campus. Several institutions have partnered with the college, including the city of Rosemount, the University of Minnesota and TRIA Orthopaedic Center, to commission a feasibility study that will be complete the first part of 2013.

The new YMCA will be an unqualified boon to the college and area communities. The facility will elevate the visibility and prestige of the entire institution while increasing visitor traffic to the camus. Student recruitment and retention will benefit substantially. Faculty and staff will have ready access to a superb wellness center, creating highly convenient opportunities to enhance their health and job satisfaction. The community engagement potential provided by a new YMCA is virtually unlimited.

As the YMCA project moves forward, one crucial feature of the facility to be con-

sidered is landscaping design. The new Y will be located at a premium location on campus currently supporting a coffee tree grove and 22-acre natural prairie grass and wildflower restoration area.

The Y will be a prominent landmark for motorists passing by the college on County Road 42.

As a major component of the forthcoming sustainable campus landscape strategic master plan, the new YMCAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s landscaping should aim for SITES certification and incorporation as showpiece gardens for the arboretum and botanical garden. Irrigation, walkways and outdoor patio space should be built into the design as well efficient means to perform landscape maintenance.

The YMCA and the Beauty of Green Initiative are perfect complimentary elements that combined can generate the type of synergy needed to lift the college above the clutter of nearly 50 institutions of higher education in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area alone. DCTC would be the only college in Minnesota with both a YMCA and accredited arboretum on campus.

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Renderings of YMCA on DCTC Rosemount campus | Courtesy of TKDA

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New residential developments near Rosemount campus 1. Glendalough Lennar has developed Glendalough 4th Addition to construct 25 new single-family lots along an extension of Carlingford Lane. This property is the final development in the Glendalough neighborhood and the larger Evermoor development.

2. Harmony Townhome and single-family lots are available in the Harmony development. The Harmony development includes a neighborhood pool, a clubhouse, and Brockway Park.

3. Prestwick Place 3rd Lennar has developed Prestwick Place 3rd Addition to construct 27 single-family lots. Prestwick Place 3rd is located west of Akron Avenue and south of Connemara Trail and is directly south of the future Prestwick Place Park. Future commercial / retail development will be located between Prestwick Place 3rd and Akron Avenue. Prestwick Place 3rd is Phase I of this development of a total 64 lots.

4. Prestwick Place 2nd DR Horton has developed Prestwick Place 2nd Addition to construct 29 singlefamily lots. Prestwick Place 2nd is located west of Akron Avenue and north of Connemara Trail. The future Prestwick Place Park is located to the southwest, across Connemara Trail. Future commercial / retail development will be located directly south of Connemara Trail. Prestwick Place 2nd is Phase I of this development of a total 127 lots.

5. Greystone Ryland is developing Greystone 1st Addition to construct 23 single-family lots.

Greystone 1st Addition is located east of Akron Avenue about a half mile north of County Road 42. Greystone 1st Addition is Phase I of this development of a total 54 lots.

Rosemount is a growing community in a growing county. State projections have Dakota County increasing in population by more than 100,000 by 2035, the third highest numerical rise in Minnesota. Three new developments are going up just north of the college. The city also commissioned a 2010 marketing study that recommended building a 70-room, mid-priced hotel within the city limits.

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The athletics connection Two of the best two-year college athletic facilities are located on the DCTC Rosemount campus, the Ames Soccer Complex and Ames Field. The former was completed in 2009 in partnership with the city of Rosemount and with a significant in-kind donation from Ames Construction. The latter was completed in 2012 with even more significant inkind donations from Ames, Cemstone and Albers Mechanical.

Both facilities represent important milestones in campus development and propel DCTC beyond the image of the stereotypical technical college. As time goes on, the promise of competing on topnotch venues like Ames Field and the Ames Soccer Complex will allow coaches to recruit higher caliber players. As a result, the Blue Knights baseball and soccer teams will be better positioned to win NJCAA championships. The ensuing publicity will go a long way in advancing the facilities as recreational destinations of choice for area residents as well as members of the campus community.

The arboretum, botanical garden and urban agriculture center proposed by the Beauty of Green Initiative can help expose more people to the soccer complex and ballpark. The arb and gardens can actually extend into the grounds surrounding both facilities, a design strategy that will raise awareness of both attractions.

People will come for the game and stay for the trees and flowersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or vice versa.

Either way, they are finding more and stronger reasons to visit our campus.

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DCTC offers three other NJCAA sports, men’s basketball, women’s volleyball and women’s fastpitch softball. The latter team plays home games on a field directly north of the Rosemount campus on County Road 42. Basketball and volleyball will have home courts on campus with the arrival of the new YMCA.

On land donated by the University of Minnesota, the city of Rosemount has built two new softball fields off Akron Avenue just south of the Ames Soccer Complex and just north of UMore Park property. The fields, which should be ready for play spring 2013, will draw a substantial amount of traffic to the area.

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Robert Street Corridor transit status Public transportation has been absent from the DCTC experience since the college’s inception in 1970. Federal, state and local transportation dollars are typically divvied up to other projects. Propects of public transit reaching DCTC in the near future remain murky.

The 2010 Rosemount/Empire/UMore Area Transportation System Study does hold out some long-range promise with the following observation: “The UMore Park Concept Master Plan shows that light rail, commuter bus, and internal bus service may some day service the development. Additionally, the Robert Street Corridor Transit Feasibility Study’s Long Term Corridor Vision shows a ‘potential transitway’ extending down Highway 3 (to just south of CSAH 42) and providing transit access into UMore Park. None of the above mentioned transit concepts have been planned or funded.

“However, Dakota County will continue to coordinate with the University of Minnesota, the Metropolitan Council, and local communities regarding any future transit concepts that would service the study area.”

The 2008 Rosemount Transit Plan held out a similar view, formulating the following relatively positive observations regarding the value of public transit in the Rob-

ert Street Corridor, also known as Trunk Highway 3: “From the perspective of Rosemount residents, the most significant features of the Corridor Vision are: • Light Rail Transit (LRT) or Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in railroad right-of-way adjacent to TH 3 and TH 149 to the north, with connecting service to downtown St. Paul and the Hiawatha LRT line via express bus service on TH 55.

• Limited stop Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along CSAH 42 “With the anticipated development of the UMore site and growth in the City of Rosemount, the City would encourage the Metropolitan Council to extend any future transitway investigation and/or designation to the UMore site.

This would provide opportunities, not only for the City, but for the University of Minnesota to develop and fund transit facilities in the corridor.

“It may be noted that the Metropolitan Council’s 2030 Transportation Policy Plan does not identify any intensive transit investments in the Robert Street Corridor between now and 2030. It does call for a study of arterial BRT for Robert Street operating in mixed traffic.”

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” — Oprah Winfrey The Beauty of Green | Page 97

Clearly, the most important aspect of the Transit Plan would be Rosemount’s belief that the Met Council should “extend any future transitway investigation and/or designation to the UMore site.”

DCTC and the University of Minnesota are opening discussions about collaborating on plans for community gardens, tree nurseries, an arboretum, wetland restoration, urban agriculture and related activities on UMore Park property and the DCTC campus. The two institutions visualize the collaboration as wholly expansive with complementary enhancements the key to success. Those same sustainable enhancements could go a long way in hastening the arrival of public transit for both Dakota County Technical College and UMore Park.

Zip Rail Another significant development for public transit near the college is Zip Rail, a proposed high-speed passenger rail service between Rochester and the Twin Cities.

The trains will travel at speeds of 150–220 mph, making Zip Rail the state’s first authentic high-speed rail line on a par with bullet trains in Japan and Europe.

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The Zip Rail route is slated to run north along new track from Rochester between Highways 52 and 56 into Dakota County and then on to MSP Airport, downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis.

Planners recently indicated a stop is highly likely in Dakota County. Advocates of the Zip Rail project believe the rail line can be developed within the next 10–15 years.

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Powering up partnerships “Friendship is essentially a partnership.” — Aristotle The Strategic Framework for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities underscores the ways the system plays an essential role in growing the state’s economy while opening doors to educational opportunities to all Minnesotans. Commitment #2 of the Framework directly addresses the importance of partnerships: Advance technical education through partnerships and alliances with external stakeholders.

• Our colleges and universities will be the partner of choice for businesses and communities across Minnesota to help them solve real-world problems and keep Minnesotans at the leading edge of their professions.

• Our faculty and staff will enable Minnesota to meet its need for a substantially better educated workforce by increasing the number of Minnesotans who complete certificates, diplomas and degrees.

Master Gardener Education and Research Display Garden | UMore Park

University of Minnesota collaboration...

DCTC is known for forming lasting, productive partnerships with business and industry, civic organizations and fellow institutions of higher education across the state of Minnesota and beyond. The college has already opened discussions with the University of Minnesota via Carla Carlson, vice president and executive director for the UMore Development LLC. Both Carlson and DCTC President Ron Thomas regard an expansive collaboration between the U of M and DCTC based on complementary enhancements as the definitive route to take in advancing sustainability objectives with the strongest positive outcomes over the long term.

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On Oct. 30, 2012, DCTC hosted the first meeting regarding the collaboration between the college and the university. VP Carlson attended the meeting with a full contingent of U of M experts: • Brad Agee | Director of Undergraduate Studies | Department of Landscape Architecture • John Carmody| Director | Center for Sustainable Building Research • Clinton Hewitt | Emeritus Professor | Department of Landscape Architecture • Tim Kenny | Director of Education | Minnesota Landscape Arboretum • Allie Klynderud | Public Engagement Assistant | UMore Development LLC • Steven Lott | Director of Operations | UMore Development LLC

DCTC was represented by President Ronald E. Thomas, Ph.D., Director of Institutional Advancement Erin Edlund, Dean Gayle Larson, Landscape Horticulture faculty, Matt Brooks, Jeff Kleinboehl, and Catherine Grant, and Grants and Sustainability Coordinator Chris Hayes.

Areas of collaboration discussed included site research and landscape architecture, the latter based on the LAHT project: Productive Landscapes for a Sustainable Future. The function of such and future collaborations rests on the idea of turning UMore Park and the college campus into a destination spot in Dakota County.

Stemming from that meeting and future meetings, DCTC and the U of M will work to find collaborative, complementary projects aimed at eventually developing a master plan that can be taken to area green industry leaders to request funding support based on the plan’s overall vision and pressing industry needs for for research, product and training.

UMore Park and next-door neighbor to the south, the 2,822-acre Vermillion Highlands Research, Recreation and Wildlife Management Area, provide the U of M with immense green resources in space as well as sustainable gardening expertise. One prime example is the Master Gardener program, which is coordinated by University of Minnesota Extension and has strong ties to the research and outreach of the Department of Horticultural Science.

The overall Master Gardener program is an internationally recognized endeavor present in all 50 states, Canada and the United Kingdom. In the U.S. alone, almost 100,000 Master Gardener volunteers from all walks of life contribute horticultural know-how and labor to their communities, touching the lives of roughly 5 million peo ple each year. That effort translates into more than $100 million in economic value.

Master Gardeners are required to volunteer 50 hours their first year as interns and 25 hours annually from then on as certified Master Gardeners. Active volunteers are also asked to take continuing education courses of five to 12 hours a year, depending on the county where they perform volunteer services.

Headquartered currently at the Education and Research Display Garden at UMore Park on County Road 46 only a few miles from the DCTC Rosemount campus, the Master Gardeners of Dakota County are scheduled to relocate to the renovated entrance of the Vermillion Highlands Research, Recreation and Wildlife Management Area in the near future. Working in concert with Master Gardener outreach and community service projects would be a principal goal of the Beauty of Green Initiative.

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Proposed arboretum on UMore Park property Just south of the new Rosemount fastpitch softball fields on Akron Avenue is a parcel of UMore Park land with tremendous potential as the site for an arboretum created through a collaboration between DCTC and the U of M. The site could follow the model pursued successfully by the Cowling Arboretum at Carleton College. That model emphasizes the restoration of historically native plant species coupled with state-ofthe-science sustainability practices and public access via well-maintained walking, biking, domestic pet and cross-country ski trails. A superbly planned, executed and maintained arboretum at the proposed site would be accessed by the Vermillion Highlands Greenway and be within easy walking distance of the DCTC Rosemount Campus and the U of M Sustainable Community at UMore Park. As the only one of its kind in Dakota County, the arboretum would offer far-reaching scientific, recreational and aesthetic benefits to its surrounding communities, becoming over time an ecological centerpiece for both the college and the U of M Sustainable Community.

“What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?” — E. M. Forster The Beauty of Green | Page 102

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Proposed UMore Park site for U of M/DCTC arboretum collaboration

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The psychology of gardens...

One great example of a green partnership that took root right in the MnSCU system is the Inver Hills Community College–Metropolitan State University Interdisciplinary Community Garden. The brainchild of two psychology professors, the garden was established behind Heritage Hall on the south side of the IHCC campus in spring 2012.

Maintained by students, faculty, staff and community members, the garden produces fresh vegetables for local community food shelves. Produce is also shared between individual students and community members who tend personal reserved plots.

In fall 2012, students and faculty from Metro State and Inver Hills harvested

more than 1,500 pounds of fresh vegetables from the Interdisciplinary Community Garden, including late-ripening tomatoes, pumpkins and peppers.

In October 2012, as an offshoot of the campus garden, students and staff planted 50 apple trees on college grounds. The orchard’s yield is also slated for local food shelves and will provide more hands-on learning for students. Local arborists will provide instruction on planting, pruning and caring for trees. The orchard was made possible by a grant from the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation.

The IHCC–MSU Interdisciplinary Community Garden and Apple Orchard were covered by the Star Tribune, “Two colleges go back to nature in Inver Grove Heights,” and MPR, “College has big plans for new orchard.”

Inver Hills Community College–Metropolitan State University Interdisciplinary Community Garden The Beauty of Green | Page 106

E2 Earth Education Garden | Hennepin Technical College

Earth ed...

Hennepin Technical College took three years to launch a new E2 Earth Education Garden on campus. The garden represents a collaboration between Hennepin Tech horticulture and culinary arts students and the Highview Alternative Program in Robbinsdale, Minn. The garden will provide an outdoor classroom in spring 2013 with the planting of the first round of crop From the KARE 11 article, “Earth Education Garden takes shape at Hennepin Tech”: “Secondary students will work with the college horticulture students in the spring and summer; both groups will sow the plants, tend to the garden, and harvest the produce. The HTC culinary arts students will use the fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs in their college classes with excess produce being distributed to Highview students and local food shelves. HTC culinary students will also demonstrate fresh produce preparation for the secondary students.

“In Phase 2, Highview and HTC students will construct a duplicate garden at the

Highview site in Golden Valley. We hope to impact the school lunch program by incorporating some of the garden produce into the school menu. Another goal would be to encourage healthy eating after school. In Phase 3, we hope to construct satellite gardens in the community.

“Thus far, the E2 Garden project has been awarded a $3000 Seven Dreams Educational Grant for busing, curriculum writing, substitute teachers, and garden materials. Another Carl Perkins grant purchased tools (wheel barrows, levels, deadblow hammers, shovels, rakes, etc.).

“Anchor Block donated the retaining wall block. We are still writing grants and seeking business/community partners for fencing (animal control) and premixed garden soil.”

DCTC could consider developing a similar partnership with Intermediate School District 917 on the college’s Rosemount campus. DCTC Landscape Horticulture faculty and students could work with their counterparts in ISD 917’s Fundamental Chef Training program, the only program of its kind at the high-school level in Minnesota.

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Garden club connections...

The well-known Japanese Garden at Normandale Community College was constructed by the Bloomington Affiliated Garden Clubs, which made plans for the garden back in 1967 while Normandale’s campus was still under development.

The college donated two acres of land, including a section of an existing pond, with the garden clubs handling a $75,000 fundraising effort for the project.

Takao Watanabe, a professional garden architect from Tokyo, Japan, provided crucial design services modified to meet the demands of Minnesota’s temperate climate. Garden groundbreaking took place in 1972 followed by a dedication ceremony in 1976. Numerous individuals and companies donated money, time, and materials to create and maintain the Japanese Garden, which is open to the public for weddings and events at a rental rate of $250 per hour.

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Zen Stone Garden | Komyozenji Temple | Dazaifu, Fukuoka | Japan

One key to the ongoing success of the Normandale Community College Japanese Garden is the Japanese Garden Committee, which collaborates with the college’s horticulturist to manage garden care and upkeep. Other support aspects include: • Volunteer gardeners take on maintenance and spring clean-up projects • Sukiyaki dinners and other in-garden events attract broad support from the surrounding community • Proceeds from postcard and poster sales in the NCC Bookstore bolster garden maintenance, publicity and improvement measures

Garden clubs and horticultural societies have stood out as traditional partners with arboretums and botanical gardens.

For instance, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum traces its history to the Men’s Garden Club of Minneapolis, which spearheaded the arboretum’s inception by piloting a test planting of warmerclimate trees in the 1950s, and the Lake Minnetonka Garden Club and Minnesota State Horticultural Society, which helped found the arboretum in 1958.

The U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., boasts robust support from several horticultural organizations: • American Nursery and Landscape Association • Friends of the National Arboretum • Garden Club of America • Herb Society of America • National Bonsai Foundation • National Capital Area Garden Clubs, Inc. • National Capital Orchid Society • National Garden Clubs, Inc.

Hummingbird Garden | Webster Arboretum

• Society of American Florists • Woman’s National Farm & Garden Association Another superb example of dedicated garden club participation can be found at the Webster Arboretum in Webster, N.Y. Four area garden clubs take responsibility for four different theme gardens on arboretum property: • Country Gardeners of Webster • Town Colors Garden • Klemwood Garden Club • Seasonal Garden • Mill Creek Garden Club • Hummingbird Garden • Webster Garden Club • Creekside Garden

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Garden clubs in Minnesota As new theme, niche, demo, trial and specialty gardens are proposed for the campus, area garden clubs and horticultural societies must be engaged to secure innovative ideas, community involvement and an experienced, enthusiastic volunteer force. The range of such organizations, both well-established, knowledgeable and connected, is extensive. The Northern Gardener, which is published by the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, lists garden clubs divided into 13 districts across the state. DCTC could even form its own garden club and become a member of the MSHS, which is a cornucopia of resources, including listings for Public Gardens, Plant Societies, Local Community Gardens, and assorted gardening hotspots and brain trusts. The college is located in District 7, which is home to 34 garden clubs aloneâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the most in Minnesota.

Nearby District 5 features 23 clubs. Note: MSHS members save substantial dollars purchasing plants, gardening products, landscaping services and decor from nurseries and garden centers. MSHS enlists 16 participating discount partners at more than 130 locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota.

MSHS State Garden Club Districts

Gardening Powerhouses in Minnesota

Coast Garden | Coos Bay, Oregon The Beauty of Green | Page 110

Living Wall | MusĂŠe du quai Branly | Paris, France

Other green players Various associations both state and national can be explored as topflight resources as the Beauty of Green Initiative unfolds. The DCTC Landscape Horticulture program has strong ties to the Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association, The Land Lovers and the Professional Landcare Network. In fact,LAHT at DCTC is currently the only PLANET-accredited academic program in Minnesota and one of only 26 or so nationwide. The spectrum of associations and organizations dedicated to all things horticultural works overtime to mirror the diversity in the botanical world.

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The color of industry...

Minnesota is home to a $2.1 billion+ nursery, garden and landscape industry. That industry, which covers a huge range of green products and services, represents a bounty of indispensable partnerships based on synergy and mutually beneficial projects and initiatives.

NurseryTrees.com lists by city nearly all the garden centers and nurseries in Minnesota (and the rest of the country), including addresses and contact information, with the total approaching 275.

As the collaboration between DCTC and the University of Minnesota takes shape, a master plan will need to be created to not only frame a cohesive, comprehensive sustainable landscapes design, but to also illustrate the overall vision to prospective industry partners.

Charts courtesy of the Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Associatron

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Industry standouts in Minnesota

And donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget green, red, yellow and white

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Say hello to fundraising Ideas are dollars in disguise...

Even in arboretums, money doesn’t grow on trees. No matter what model a botanical garden employs, fundraising is built into the process—and imagination is the key to successful fundraising. Weirdly enough, imagination is also the one thing we have that isn’t rigged with a price tag. When developing partnerships, planning operations and designing gardens, we need to show up with our imaginations on full tilt. The ideas we bring to our gardens are the ideas that will bring those gardens to life. Dull, drab, mulishly conventional ideas will not fire up funding sources. As Massachusetts entrepreneurial wizard Johnny Cupcakes says: “Strange is good.”

As compelling as an idea might be, funding sources will ultimately look for the capacity to execute a favorable outcome. As a technical college with four decades of experience delivering educational programs based on sparking innovation and advancing technology, DCTC has a range of advantages and resources that match up well with the challenges inherent in a project of this type and scope. The college does not require a massive endowment—often the launching pad for arboretums and botanical gardens—to get the Beauty of Green Initiative off the ground. The idea itself is our endowment. Inspiring future partners will represent the depth of that idea’s return.

“All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.”

— Victor Hugo Glass Sculptures by Hans Godo Frabel | Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden | Richmond, Va.

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State Botanical Garden of Georgia | Athens, Ga. The Beauty of Green | Page 115

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Halloween 2012 | Haunted Pumpkin Garden by Ray Villafane | New York Botanical Garden | Bronx, N.Y.

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Funding supermodels...

Arboretums and botanical gardens have numerous fundraising tactics, ranging from membership dues to commemorative trees to themed events. Employers can be encouraged to match employee donations, doubling and even tripling dollar amounts.

The Northland Arboretum near Baxter, Minn., holds several seasonal events throughout the year, including a Blind Wine Tasting Fundraiser and the Sertoma Winter Wonderland, the latter a light festival held in partnership with the Brainerd Area Sertoma Club and area businesses. The festival attracts more than 25,000 visitors annually.

The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Ill., has a comprehensive fundraising model that offers a wide variety of giving avenues plus clearly defined donation levels. Donors are spotlighted at every turn and the results of their contributions are publicized in detail.

• Support Us • Make a Donation • Tribute Gifts • Tribute Trees • Tribute Benches • Tribute Bricks • Tribute Books • Customized Tributes • Plant a Tree • Your Impact • Endangered Trees • Woodland Restoration • Emerald Ash Borer Control • Sustainable Practices • Tree Census • Woodland Stewards • Planned Giving • Arborvitae Society • Corporate Support • Corporate Partners • Sponsorship Opportunities • Corporate Volunteers • Our Donors • Individual Donors • Arborvitae Society • Corporations, Foundations & Government • Memorial & Tribute Donors • Volunteers • Donor Bill of Rights The Beauty of Green | Page 118

Grants in your pants...

Securing grant funds for the Beauty of Green Initiative can be thought of as a form of irrigation. Plants need water; arboretums and botanical gardens need money. Grants come in all sizes from funding for highly specialized, small-scale projects to funding for high-profile, broad-impact projects. For example, Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor received a $79,658 Museums for America grant plus a matching grant to support a “Peony Initiative.” The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden received $5 million from the T. Boone Pickens Foundation to develop the Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden, specifically the T. Boone Pickens Pure Energy Learning Center, “where children learn about energy with a focus on alternative sources such as wind, solar, and water power.”

Botanic Gardens Conservation International has long recognized the critical role of fundraising in the institutional formula. Funding Botanic Gardens and Arboreta in the 21st Century, a BGCI publication, explores the issue in great detail, breaking financial support down in four areas: A) Home Unit, B) Charitable Donations, C) Earned Income, D) Collaborations. Of note: “The sleeper in the future funding mix is collaboration with other institutions and organizations. Collaborative efforts may be within the home unit, with sister institutions and with organizations outside the world of botanic gardens.”

Holiday Train Show | New York Botanical Garden | Bronx, N.Y.

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A few funders more...

The National Tree Trust supports projects that promote and support quality of life enhancement in both rural and urban communities. Grant opportunities occur throughout the year and provide funds, tree seedlings and educational material.

The organization’s primary goal is to add to the number of trees in U.S. one town at a time. Grant award amounts vary. The foundation staff aids with proper tree selection and care.

Three from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: Keystone Initiative Grants provide grant funds for projects that promote four separate aspects of environmental stewardship. The applicant must focus on just one category, with preference given to grant applications featuring multiyear goals and maintenance. Acceptable topics include fish conservation, marine or coastal conservation, bird conservaGarden Lights, Holiday Nights | Atlanta Botanical Garden | Atlanta, Ga.

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tion and wildlife or habitat conservation.

Grants are accepted twice a year, typically in April and September.

The Acres for America grant is a partnership between the NFWF and WalMart Stores Incorporated. Funded projects must create and maintain an environmentally friendly habitat for plants, wildlife or fish. The project must include the purchase or conservation of at least once acre of property. The grants are offered annually, with a routine deadline of April 1 each year.

The Native Plant Conservation Initiative supports conservation projects that restore or grow plants native to the applicant’s respective community. Projects must sustain, create or restore the natural environment through plantings, garden creation or community education.

Preference is given to grant applications which achieve more than one of the organization’s stated goals. Grants are awarded annually with a July submission date.

Pumpkin Village at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden | Dallas, Texas

Foundation station...

Foundations present tremendous fundraising opportunities requiring meticulous research and planning. The Foundation Center lists the top foundations in the U.S. from the Bill & Melinda Gates to the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Below is a list of foundations with a Minnesota presence: Margaret A. Cargill Foundation The Wells Fargo Foundation The McKnight Foundation Medtronic Foundation General Mills Foundation Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation The Bush Foundation U.S. Bancorp Foundation 3M Foundation Minnesota Community Foundation

Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation The Blandin Foundation Target Foundation Ecolab Foundation Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation Jay & Rose Phillips Family Foundation The Dorsey and Whitney Foundation The Pentair Foundation Initiative Foundation F. R. Bigelow Foundation The Beauty of Green | Page 121

Dragon the “fun” back into fundraising Moving forward into the fundraising grind, including forays into Environmental Assistance Grants from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, will require a champion of the first order. Recently, DCTC explored the possibility of creating a college character with expert assistance from the Raymond Entertainment Group. One purpose of a branded character of this nature focuses on cheering up the fundraising process. The plan lost traction, but again finds merit when looking at formulating a branded identity with contiguous relevance to a DCTC Arboretum and Botanical Garden.

The character’s identity must go beyond the Blue Knight mascot of college athletics programs to encompass the entire campus community, yet still find footing with populations at large. If you take a rock, or maybe a baseball or soccer ball, or even a wrench or laptop computer, and bounce it off the Blue Knight’s helmet, that projectile can only land in one place: The lair of a dragon.

Everyone loves dragons—kids especially. The DCTC dragon would be a rascal, a cutup, a gallant jokester, a Wile E. Wyvern, a comic foil for the Blue Knight, not a malevolent nemesis. Our dragon, perhaps an orphan hiding out in the munitions caverns of UMore Park for thousands of years, has emerged to finally get a college education and maybe even a job. When our dragon discovers an arboretum and botanical garden in progress, he decides to make it his living hoard. When he breathes fire, trees are planted and gardens take root. The possibilities are as sundry as plants on the planet.

Topiary Dragon | China Pavilion | Epcot | Walt Disney World Resort

Rain Dragon by Andrew Whitehead | Lockhart, NSW | Australia

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Refuse Dragon | Albany Bulb (former landfill near San Francisco, Calif.)

Sea Dragon | New Hanover County Arboretum | Wilmington, N.C.

Dragon Topiary by Matthew Larkin | Neiman Marcus Online (only $30,000 planted on your property)

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Taking the LEED

Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is the first LEED Platinumâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;New Construction project in Texas. When it opened in 2008,Shangri La was one of only 50 Platinum projects on Earth. The 252-acre site near Orange, a city in southeast Texas, is a lodestar of environmental awareness and education, partcularly in terms of regional landscapes and animal habitats. Shangri Laâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design and programming spotlight the life processes of area fauna and flora in native landscapes, recreated botanical gardens, and an innovative center for environmental learning.

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The upside of upkeep Just add sun, soil and water...

Weeds and pests and drought, oh my!

Groundskeeping chores at botanical gardens and arboretums can seem like a formidable, neverending undertaking. For that matter, taking care of a residential yard can sometimes be a struggle.

A recent interview with Janet Sinner, landscape maintenance supervisor at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, revealed a powerful force behind the upkeep of the 1,137-acre arboretum. Sinner supervises 50 professional landscape gardeners plus a volunteer contingent topping 900.

knowledge is essential for not only getting an arboretum, botanical garden and urban agriculture center off the ground, to also make sure each new project is managed in a cost-conscious, enterprising, innovative, labor-friendly, sustainable, scientific and environmentally sound manner—all in concert with the advancement of the overall Beauty of Green Initiative.

DCTC teamwork...

Matt Brooks

Sinner also pointed out that smart irrigation planning is essential. Every new garden at her arboretum comes equipped with an irrigation solution before the first tree or flowering plant is installed.

While the Beauty of Green Initiative calls for projects nowhere near the size of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the acreage of the DCTC campus does pose ample groundskeeping challenges—especially with the proposed advent of new gardens and plantings.

Matt Brooks teaches the Landscape Design and Sales Specialized Interest Area of his program. Brooks is currently on a two-semester sabbatical to explore urban agriculture operations around the country with the plan to develop a new curriculum that stresses the design aesthetic in edible farming endeavors.

Luckily, the college possesses a built-in advantage in the form of a longstanding Landscape Horticulture program with three exceptionally experienced faculty.

As it happens, each instructor fields expertise in a different specialized interest area. That sweeping, intensive span of

Brooks earned a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He received his bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne. Those professional credentials allow Brooks to take on the

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crucial task of developing the DCTC Rosemount Campus Sustainable Landscape Master Plan. That plan will serve as the blueprint for the Beauty of Green Initiative as well a vital tool when the time arrives to seek additional collaborative partners and external funding sources.

Jeff Kleinboehl

will be sufficient during the first stages of establishing an arboretum. The key will be getting Kleinboehl off the riding lawn mower and into the gardens, where he can put his extensive horticultural knowledge and skills to best use.

Developing an irrigation overview early in the process is essential, Kleinboehl reported. Water, on a par with labor, will be a potential limiting factor in new garden expansion. Both water and labor will be keystone elements in the Campus Sustainable Landscape Master Plan.

Catherine Grant

Jeff Kleinboehl, a DCTC graduate, pulls double duty at the college, serving as a Landscape Horticulture instructor and senior groundskeeper. Kleinboehl noted that DCTC currently employs two fulltime groundskeepers during the summer months. Kleinboehlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teaching duties take him back to his classrooms and labs during the rest of the year. Kleinboehl teaches the Landscape Construction Specialized Interest Area of his program.

Mowing campus lawns takes up the lionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s share of time for both groundkeepers.

The addition of Ames Field and the Ames Soccer Complex on campus has upped mowing requirements significantly.

Kleinboehl is also responsible for tree and garden upkeep, including pest and weed control, pruning, irrigation and planting.

Kleinboehl believes adding one fulltime groundskeeper to the current staff

Catherine Grant teaches the Greenhouse Production Specialized Interest Area of her program. A graduate of UC Berkeley and the owner of a landscape design business, Grant is a strong proponent of fine gardening.

During the summer of 2012, Grant researched the potential of creating an arboretum and botanical garden on the DCTC campus. On her own time and dime, she traveled to various Minnesota arboretums and gardens, interviewing directors and taking notes. Her exhaustive homework added substantially to the content of this prospectus.

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Grant is an adjunct instructor at the college. Her role should be expanded to include service as the director or curator of the DCTC Arboretum and Botanical Garden. A project of this magnitude requires hands-on oversight and coordination. The directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s duties include stewardship of arboretum grounds and projects, supervision of volunteer and work-study staff, educational outreach, community engagement, administrative functions, an arboretum blog, and fundraising support.

Grant noted that DCTC could follow the Cowling Arboretum model, which depends heavily on Carleton College workstudy students for garden upkeep labor.

DCTC students could select outdoor landscaping duties as one of their work-study options, depending on the availability of summer work-study funding.

The college will definitely be in the running for the next round of the MPCA Minnesota GreenCorps program. DCTC was not selected on the last round, but the establishment of an arboretum, botanical garden and urban agriculture center will represent a major sea change and hugely boost the strength and quality of our application. Having a dedicated GreenCorps member on campus for 11 months will be a tremendous asset for the arboretum director. LAHT curriculum can be also developed to direct students to get firsthand experience working on arb-related projects.

The collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grants and sustainablity coordinator in collaboration with the DCTC Foundation will spearhead fundraising activities and public relations efforts.

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Bellevue Botanical Garden | Bellevue, Wash.

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Jardin botanique de MontrĂŠal | Montreal, Quebec | Canada

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The green-carpet treatment No oaks without acorns...

The next stage of the Beauty of Green Initiative involves working with the University of Minnesota to target, clarify and execute ideas for an effective, transformative and sustainable collaboration. Essential to the process is developing a master plan, including a comprehensive inventory of trees, shrubs and flowers on the Rosemount campus, that will illustrate the overarching sustainable vision. Rolling out the green carpet for the college community and residents from nearby cities and towns is by and large underway.

This prospectus, although now complete, is nowhere near finished. Like arboretums and botanical gardens everywhere, the idea fueling this document is a work in progress with no end in sight. Maybe Roy Rogers said it best: “What’s a butterfly garden without butterflies?”

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Cold Oak (Kalte Eiche) | 450 years old | Gera, Germany

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Eastern Tiger Swallowtail | Norfolk Botanical Garden | Norfolk, Va.

The Rosemount Campus Initiatve: The Beauty of Green: Arboretum, Botanical Garden, Urban Agriculture Center: Prospectus 2012 is a production of the Dakota County Technical College Department of Institutional Advancement.

Special thanks to DCTC President Ronald E. Thomas, Ph.D., and DCTC IA Director Erin Edlund for their munificent support of this project.

For more information, contact: Chris Hayes | DCTC Grants and Sustainability Coordinator | 651-423-8266 | chris.hayes@dctc.edu

A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. DCTC is an affirmative action, equal opportunity, employer and educator.

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