The constructed landscape plays a major role in water use in the semi-arid west. Ornamental Landscaping in Colorado can consume as much water per acre as an acre of agricultural cropland. Our designed water use largely stems for a historic landscape precedent that started in England and Europe, came across the Atlantic with the original colonists, and then worked its way west as pioneers gradually expanded into the western regions of the country. England, with an annual rainfall of 36 inches represents two to four times the average rainfall of locations such as Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.The historic landscape design approach for the western region of the US has largely been represented by a re-creation of the European landscape, including the typical plant palette found in European countries. As settlers moved across the United States they brought with them the same styles and plants the colonists knew from their home country. Bluegrass lawn became the standard turf and the typical residential and commercial landscape was covered in water loving shrubs and trees which were not native to the western United States. The result has been the development of a landscape dependent on substantially more irrigation water than our typical rainfall provides each year.
The burden of providing this additional water has translated as added infrastructure in many ways. Water resources have had to be developed from new sources such as expensive and environmentally challenging diversion projects or significant pipelines and dams. Water treatment plants have been constructed and sized to meet water demand and water pipes to neighborhoods have required sizing to meet almost twice the demand that would have been required with a purely native landscape. Additionally this landscape approach has necessitated additional maintenance including mowing, fertilization, herbicides and aeration, all of which are detrimental to the environment. The irony is that it is not necessary and can be accomplished at a fraction of the cost both in real dollars and environmentally.
Approaching the design of landscape by considering the use of natives can greatly enhance the chances for a landscape that is low in water use and hardier. Through an appropriate western landscape we can create unique and distinctive landscapes which reduce infrastructure demand, lower water use, eliminate mowing, and eliminate the need for fertilizers and herbicides. At the same time we can make our landscape aesthetically and ecologically more pleasing. How much more interesting would it be to live in a land that feels indigenous and requires little or no maintenance?
BHA Design today is making significant strides in the natural landscape. Through incorporating Xeriscape principles, biomimicry, permaculture, LEED, and other sound installation practices, BHA is redefining the constructed Colorado Landscape. Our integrated approach to the design of the land brings us together with architects, horticulturists, botanists, reclamation specialists, and ecologists in developing landscape designs which respect the needs of the developing world while simultaneously protecting, restoring, and even enhancing the land. And we do this while reducing our client’s needs for expensive maintenance activities and our community’s needs to add expensive water infrastructure.
Through the processes described above our dependence on water for irrigation can easily be reduced in half over the typical landscape, thereby protecting and preserving this precious resource.
Bruce A. Hendee, ASLA, RLA
BHA Design, Inc.
