Vernal Pool Restoration - American Society of Landscape Architects

Verna al Pool Restorat R tion on the t Interrstate
800
and Caaliforniaa
Highw way 113 Intercha ange
Location n: Davis, CA A
Client: Caltrans C
Design Firm(s): F KJ Dawson Ass sociates
Landsca ape architec ct/Project co ontact: Kerr ry J Dawsonn,
ASLA
Email: kj jdawson2@g gmail.com
ASLA Ch hapter: Geo orgia
Project t Specifica ations
Project Description
D n: This projec ct combined d stormwaterr
managemeent,
highwayy
landscaping,
endange ered species mitigation and a research h. An interchhange
at thee
intersectionn
of Interstatte
80
and High hway 113 in Davis, Califo ornia was se elected becaause
of the nneed
to sloww
stormwaterr
drainage e entering the e Putah Creek
Nature Reserve; R beccause
Caltrans
had startted
a policy of
replacing g exotic highway
landsca aping with na atives; becaause
vernal ppools
in Caliifornia
contaain
the great test concentration
of (an nd more) end dangered floora
and fauna
than any oother
native
California a landscape;
and because,
being the
first large scale installation
of vernnal
pools on a
Caltrans project, ther re was a nee ed to docum ment design, constructionn
and monitoor
the projecct
to
determine
the succes ss of new co onstruction techniques
aand
which sppecies
were most succeessful
in adapting
to a cons structed land dscape and which w were least successsful.
Project Type: T
Transpor rtation corrid dor/streetsca ape
A retrofit of an existin ng property
Design features: f Bio oretention fa acility and bioswale.
This pro oject was de esigned to meet m the fol llowing speecific
requirrements
or mandates:
State sta atute, Federa al statute
Impervio ous area ma anaged: gre eater than 5 acres
Amount of existing green spac ce/open spa ace conservved
or presserved
for mmanaging
stormwa ater on site: : greater tha an 5 acres

Case
No. 038
The regu ulatory envi ironment an nd regulator
was suppoortive
of the project.
Did the client c reque est that othe er factors be b considereed,
such ass
energy savvings,
usabble
green sp pace, or pro operty value e enhancem ments? No
Cost & Jobs Ana alysis
Estimate ed Cost of Stormwater
S r Project: $1 100,000-$5000,000
(Public
funding: SState)
Was a green
vs. gre ey cost analysis
perfor rmed? No
Cost imp pact of cons serving gre een/open sp pace to the ooverall
costs
of the sitte
design/d developmen nt project: Surprisingly,
S
natives are more cost eeffective
thann
exotics even
with a pro oject as com mplex as the Vernal Pools
on Interstaate
80. Beccause
nativees
are adapteed
to
the local environmen nt, their cost t, energy inp puts and envvironmental
iimpact
are rreduced
bothh
short term m and long term. t Althou ugh a grassland
ecosysttem,
vernal ppool
speciess
are low
growing and a don't ne eed mowing. . The casca ading drainagge
system shown
in the LAM article for
the pools s serve to slo ow and store e stormwater
without thee
need for neew
drainagee
systems noor
irrigation.
Exotics do o not slow or r store storm mwater and, tthey
requiree
massive ammounts
of
irrigation.
In addition n, exotics typ pically requir re fertilizer, hherbicides
aand
landscappe
managemment
such as pruning p and disease con ntrol. The California C nattives
of these
vernal poools
require no
environm mental or ma aintenance in nput.
Cost imp pact of cons serving gre een/open sp pace for stoormwater
maanagementt
over
tradition nal site design/site
dev velopment approaches
a
(grey infrastructure)?
? Significanttly
reduced costs (10% or greater savings).
Number of jobs cre eated: 5
Job hours
devoted to project:
Planning P and Design: 300 0
Construction:
C : 600
Annual A Maint tenance: 0
Other: O 9,000 (research an nd education n)
Perform mance Me easures
Stormwa ater reduction
perform mance analy ysis:
20%
Commun nity & economic
benef fits that hav ve resulted from the prroject:
Restoration R te echniques now n applied state-wide s
Pagg
e | 2

Case
Training T work kshops for engineers
Vernal V pool ecosystem e in nside the Davis
communnity
for enjoyyment
and edducation
Minimal M long term mainte enance costs s
Preservation
P
of Endangered
Flora an nd Fauna
Project t Recognit tion
Research h Merit Award,
ASLA (19 989); Resea arch Honor AAward,
Califoornia
Counccil
of ASLA
(1989)
No. 038
Additio onal Inform mation
Pagg
e | 3
Links to images: La andscape Ar rchitecture Magazine M (LAAM).
Americcan
Society oof
Landscappe
Architect ts. Washin ngton, D.C., Vol. 79, No.
9, Novembber
1989. p. 106.
Last Fall,
I took an ea arly retireme ent incentiv ve as Vice PPresident
withh
the Hudsoon
River Park
Trust in Manhattan M (N NYC). Prev viously, I was
a professoor
for twentyy
years at at number of
universiti ies, mostly the
Univers sity of Califor rnia (UC). Thhe
project toook
place in the late 19880s
and early y 1990s while
I was wit th UC. I apologize
that I don't have immediate
aaccess
to prooject
information
but can provide p prov vide more de etails, imagess,
updates, etc if the prooject
is seleccted.
This project
has prov vided 25 yea ars of outstanding
stormwwater
management;
aessthetics
for tthe
Interstate e 80; habitat t for endange ered species s; and, counntless
hours of educationn,
research and
public se ervice opport tunities for K-12, K univers sity, adult annd
communitty
members. . The Vernaal
Pools of the Interstat te 80 and Highway
113 interchange look and peerform
beauutifully
thesee
days!