It is easy to see why it is important to consider trees when we select, plan and construct buildings.  But preserving trees can often be a challenge, particularly during the hustle and bustle at the construction site.  There are many things we can do to help ensure the survival of the maximum number of trees, starting with how we choose the building site and place the building, to follow-up after construction. 

Consulting arborist Dennis Brown, owner of Urban Forestry Resources, has been caring for trees for over 17 years.  He deals with various tree-related issues such as health management, hazard assessment, preservation during construction, appraisal, and education.  Dennis, a member of Austin's Green Builder Program, will help educate us on the value, care and preservation of trees, with an emphasis on protection from construction.  He will describe the difference between "saving" trees and "preserving" them, and he will give us information to use while we all plan and build with trees in mind. 
 
 
 
 
 

Texas Natives, Ornamental Trees. Native Plant Society of Texas.  

Ecological Design and Planning. George F. Thompson, and Frederick Steiner, ASLA, Eds. 1997.  Collection of essays stressing the preservation and enhancement of the ecological function of site. Proposes that the best design harmonizes aesthetic form and ecological function.   

Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: The Resource Guide. Wesley Groesbeck and Jan Streifel, ASLA. 1996.  Offers sources for landscape materials that are either re-used, recycled, energy -efficient, non-toxic and/or made from sustainable resources.  

Noah's Garden. Sarah Stein. 1993.  This book defined the field of ecological gardening, describing Stein's attempt to reverse the "suburbanization" of her own yard using techniques such as planting natives and restoring woodland areas.  

Planting Noah's Garden. Sarah Stein. 1997.  Practical information on achieving balance in one's own backyard.  

Green Nature/Human Nature: The Meaning of Plants in Our Lives. Charles A. Lewis. 1996.  Lewis analyzes the psychological, sociological and physiological responses of people to vegetation in urban and forest settings.  

Ecological Design. Sim van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan. 1996.  By placing ecology in the foreground of design, one can create revolutionary forms of buildings, landscapes, cities and technologies. 

Invitation to the SA SBC June Meeting 

The use of constructed wetlands to treat domestic wastewater from single family residences is a rapidly emerging bio-technology. Such systems are called micro-wetlands or rock/reed filters because they have a media filter in which special plants grow to enhance treatment and create a desirable landscape. 

Micro-wetlands can be permitted in Texas and are relatively low cost and easy to maintain if installed according to certain guidelines. The wetlands seminar on June 23rd will provide a homeowner, installer, or an architect, with guidelines for site evaluation, system design and plant selection and installation to create a low maintenance treatment system. 

Plants play an important role in achieving high quality effluent. Their principal function is to provide additional substrate on which microbial populations attach.  Wetlands plants are special in that they transport oxygen from the leaves through the stems to the roots.  Some oxygen leaks out of the roots to create an oxidized zone or rhizosphere which enhances chemical and biological reactions that breakdown the waste in the water as it passes through the media and the roots. 

Both aerobic and anaerobic zones should be constructed for the most complete treatment.  Microbes will adapt to each zone and populate the media.  So will mycrorrhizal fungi and beneficial protozoa.  Such dense populations and varieties of micro-organisms ensure that most contaminants in the waste stream will be rendered harmless. 

Micro-wetlands work as waste treatment systems much like the mechanical systems they can replace, yet they have no need for electricity or chemicals.  The plants pump in oxygen and the root zones create chemicals that breakdown pollutants.  A properly designed system can be expected to last 30 years and requires very little maintenance each year. 

The quality of effluent achieved will be determined by the particular design, but efficiencies of up to 99% are documented.  A micro-wetlands should be designed to achieve at least post-secondary quality effluent or a biological oxygen demand of less than 20 mg/L and total suspended solids of 20 mg/L with a fecal count without chlorine of under 200 colonies. 

Disposal of this eflfuent, regardless of the quality, must be by a permitted method and where possible through some soil contact to remove any remaining pathogens and nitrogen. 
 
 
 
 

Farewell Claire, Welcome Elliot 

We are extremely fortunate that a new newsletter person came forth at just the right time.  The SBC heartily welcomes member Elliot Johnson as the new publisher.  Elliot is a home designer who embraces energy-efficient and sustainable design practices.  He can be contacted at imagesof@eden.com or 282-3359. Website http://www.eden.com/~imagesof. 

Cobbing In Arkansas 

Latest Edition of Cobber's Companion 

This project was begun in the summer of 1996, followed by a week-long cob workshop in November lead by Ianto Evans and culminated in an Open House in July 1997.  Gayle Borst was instrumental in the design of this stunning cottage, and Frank Meyer, Thangmaker, contributed his skills and aesthetics to many aspects of it.  Many local cobbers devoted time and energy over many months.

The Ancient Science of Geomancy, by Nigel Pennick. CRCS Publications, Sebastopol, CA) 

Earth Harmony, by Nigel Pennick (Century, London) 

The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight Into Beauty, by Soetsu Yanagi (Kodansha, Tokyo) 

Studies In Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in 19th and 20th- Century Architecture, by Kenneth Frampton (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) 

The Lesson of Japanese Architecture, by Jiro Harada (Dover, NY) 

Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture, by Christian Norberg- Schulz (Rizzoli, NY) 

The Ship as Symbol in Prehistoric and Medieval Scandinavia (National Museum of Denmark)