Natural Resources Design

08/10/2023

It amazing !!! As Trevor who works at Lowell said its "A Field of Streams" NRD installed two amphibian habitats, expanded a wetland, installed an observation deck and outdoor classrooms this summer. Both amphibian habitats are filled with frog eggs tadpoles after very productive Green Frog couples made themselves at home . Very exciting!!!

04/01/2019

So excited for my friend and colleague Nancy Striniste new book!!!! Come see her speak about her new book on Nature Play Spaces. She is a national leader on nature play.

Countdown:
2 days to book release! Join the official launch celebration in one week! Tickets: bit.ly/NaturePlayAtHomeApril7

03/15/2019

An amazing day to see so many young activists stand up for the plant and their futures! There is No Plant B.

Children and young adults around the world skipped school en masse Friday to demand action on climate change.

03/14/2019

We are excited to announce a new project with Evergreen Montessori School, Silver Spring MD! We will be working together to design a natural play space where their students will connect with nature, build cooperative play skills, and improve their environmental literacy. We strongly believe every school landscape is as imbued with learning potential as the classrooms indoors!

Check out another natural play space we designed for Constitution Gardens in Gaithersburg, MD. This featured a log scramble, "insect hotel", climbing snag, and lots of native plant life.

03/08/2019

In honor of International Women’s Day this year, we are shining a spotlight on Wangari Maathai Maathai.
Wangari founded The Green Belt Movement, an environmental organization in Kenya that empowers communities, women in particular, to conserve the environment and improve each other’s livelihoods. The organization encourages the women to work together to grow and plant trees that will prevent erosion, store rainwater, and provide food and firewood. These women also receive a small monetary gift for their work.

Check out the organization’s website, to see how you can gift a tree and learn more about this extraordinary woman and her impactful, life-changing work.

The ongoing support of individuals, like you, makes it possible for the Green Belt Movement to continue its core work of engaging women in planting trees, protecting critical forests & watersheds, and empowering communities. Your support helps to conserve soil and ensure food security, to sustain ru...

03/05/2019

Natural Resources Design is proud to announce we have been awarded Department of Energy & Environment 's RiverSmart Schools for 2019!

We are so excited to work with three incredible schools this year. Together, we'll help bring environmental education DC students while cleaning our rivers by capturing and treating onsite stormwater.

Take a look at another RiverSmart School we did in 2016, Ludlow Taylor...

02/22/2019

Chris Sonne, head of our Engineering Division, will be a panelist in the upcoming Stormwater Management Panel Discussion hosted by the Landscape Designers’ Group. Chris is certified as a Master Stormwater Professional by the Center for Watershed Protection, is a U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED Acredited Professional and SITES Accredited Professional, and a Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional (CBLP) Instructor.

RSVP by February 25th to attend the panel discussion on Tuesday, February 26th, 6:30-9 pm, at the McLean Community Center.

Shout out to Association of Professional Landscape Designers!

Tuesday, February 26th 6:30 - 9 pm Mclean Community Center 1234 Ingleside Avenue, Mclean, VA 22100

02/21/2019

In this interactive map, click on any US city to see what the climate will be like in 2080. Washington, DC will be like present day Greenwood, Mississippi. New York City will feel like Jonesboro, Arkansas!
Thanks to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science for producing this easy to use map that helps put climate change into perspective.

02/20/2019

Astounding to see hard evidence that a rich, green landscape around a school can improve students' performance in class. We found this 2016 study by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign while researching for an upcoming DC Public School design project.

The News Bureau, part of Public Affairs, generates and coordinates news coverage of the Urbana-Champaign campus

02/07/2019

The Director of our Civil Engineering Division, Christopher Sonne, lectured this weekend at the Virginia Society of Landscape Designers Winter Seminar Program in Norfolk, VA at the Norfolk Botanical Garden.

His presentation "Calculating Stormwater Inflow" covered determination of stormwater drainage areas, runoff calculations, and sizing for bioretention basins and permeable pavements. Awesome Job, Chris!

02/05/2019

In this video, National Geographic documents how reforestation has effects of an astonishing magnitude.

In urban or suburban settings, we can't regain the forests lost to development, but we can restore some of the benefits lost by working towards creating "urban forests".

Situated in the Zanzibar Archipelago, the island of Kokota has become an example of people adapting to climate change.

01/31/2019

A thought-provoking perspective from gardening columnist Adrian Higgins. In this Washington Post article he considers the benefits, and pitfalls, of gardening with apps.

A noteworthy observation made in the article: “a demanding client had vetoed [a landscape architect’s] proposed tree species for another after looking up the substitute online. Twenty minutes of surfing had trumped decades of expertise and practice. Information is confused with knowledge.”

There has never been a more urgent time to introduce younger folks to the power of the plant kingdom, given the issues of climate change.