Example applications.pdf - Google Drive

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS Primary University Affiliation: Faculty Proposal Summary: We propose to create a “Community Connections” garden on the west side of Skok Hall (St. Paul campus). The name community connections refers both to the connections between the plants in the garden and the insects and other organisms that use them, the university and broader community members that use the garden as place for relaxing, learning, and meeting. This native plants buerfly and pollinator garden will complement our existing garden on the south side of Green Hall. It will serve as a space for members of the university and surrounding community to learn about pollinators, buerflies, and pollinator gardens and enjoy nature. Like our existing garden, it will be used during summer courses for K-12 teachers (ongoing Summer Ecology Institutes taught by Oberhauser and FWCB faculty member Rob Blair) and regular UM courses. Budget: We hope that the UM Sustainability Commiee will support site preparation, mulch and mulch installation, necessary watering during the first year, and sign installation. We do know that the soil in that area is very hard, and has a high pH (8.2), so the site would benefit from activities to decrease soil compaction. The UM Monarch Lab will plan the garden layout, order plants, and recruit volunteers for planting. We will pay for other costs, as detailed below: 1. Plants: $1000 2. Bench: $2000 3. Sign (using UM signs, as in existing garden): $2000 Alignment with Existing Campus Plans and/or Sustainability Priorities: The proposal complements many features of the Campus Master Plan: it will promote community connections, strengthen connections to the adjacent community, help to create a cohesive system of memorable spaces, optimize the use of campus land applying best practices, help to develop a campus that is environmentally sustainable, and use the campus as a living laboratory. By providing a calming and beautiful resting point on campus (with benches and signage) the garden will provide a comfortable, safe, and accessible environment that encourages involvement with programs and services. It will support teaching and service learning connections between the campus and surrounding communities by providing opportunities for student involvement in interpretation and maintenance activities and a space for community members, who oen walk through the St. Paul campus, to learn about native plant gardening. It will provide a flexible learning, living, working, and gathering space, and its proximity to the summer youth programming activities will make it accessible to those campus visitors as well. The garden will support continued enlivening of the St. Paul campus, which has a number of beautifully landscaped spaces, but few native plant spaces and few gardens set up specifically for learning. We will use best practices for supporting pollinators and native plants in a garden that will require lile watering aer establishment, thus making the campus more environmentally sustainable. Proposal Activities: Planting, Use of Power Tools or Equipment, Monitoring and Data Collection Support of University Mission: This garden will be used for teaching and outreach. It will be an integral part of ongoing summer courses for K-12 teachers, and will serve the surrounding community as a learning garden. It will also become a Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (www.mlmp.org) site, thus supporting a University of Minnesota citizen science project. Location: We propose to create the garden on the west side of Skok Hall, abuing the enclosed walkway between Skok Hall and Green Hall. This space is accessible to both the U of M and surrounding communities, very visible, and will provide a beautiful complement to the plantings on the east side of the Skok/Green walkway Long-term Responsibility: UM MonarchLab (FWCB) Outreach to University: As noted above, the garden will be a beautiful space for individuals using surrounding buildings - Green Hall, Skok Hall, and the St. Paul gym. The bench will make it a relaxing place to sit and talk with friends and colleagues, and the path will make it accessible. We have talked with Gary Johnson, a faculty member in Forest Resources who uses the surrounding lawn area for courses on tree identification. We particularly contacted him about an ironwood (Ostrya virginiana) that would be on the very edge of the garden. He said “Probably the best thing that could happen to it would be to have an understory of anything but turfgrass, mulch and additional watering! Project Implementation Start Date: Late spring 2013 Project Implementation Completion Date: Summer 2014 Project Duration: Indefinite College or Administrative Unit: CFANS

LOW IMPACT TURF GRASS Primary University Affiliation: Student Proposal Summary: This project will focus on the implementation of low-input turfgrasses in specific areas of the St. Paul campus, in an effort to reduce the resources, mainly water and fertilizer, required to maintain an aesthetically pleasing and functional campus landscape. Through the collaboration between the U of M Turfgrass Science Program and U of M Landcare, we have identified three areas that will serve as models for this low-input turfgrass initiative. The areas chosen represent three unique environments for turfgrass species adaptation and management. During the growing season of 2013, all areas will be converted from the existing turfgrasses, to the best adapted and low-input species for that particular environment. Conversion will involve non-selectively controlling the existing vegetation with an environmentally sound post-emergent herbicide, and overseeding with the new turfgrass species. The models will be evaluated for water use reduction and fertilizer savings over multiple years, and this data will then be correlated to the entire campus grounds. These areas will also be used for teaching, research, and outreach. The long term goal for this project is to create a model for the U of M campus grounds that exemplifies the vision of our Turfgrass Science Program, which is to demonstrate and encourage environmentally responsible turfgrass management through the utilization of beer adapted, low-input turfgrasses. This project will also serve as a foundation to strengthen the working relationship between U of M Landcare and U of M Turfgrass Science Budget: Partial funding for this project has been secured through the Minnesota Turf and Grounds Foundation (MTGF) as part of a research grant titled “Conversion to Low-Input Turfgrass Species.” Future funding for this project would be sought through the MTGF, North Central IPM, Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and other organizations. Most of the material for this project will be donated, including seed, herbicide, and fertilizer. Equipment to be used is currently owned by the Turfgrass Science Program and U of M Landcare, or will be borrowed from manufacturers. Erosion control blankets will be purchased at $60.00 per roll, with 25 rolls covering all areas, for a total cost of $1500.00. Alignment with Existing Campus Plans and/or Sustainability Priorities: This project is directly in line with the University’s Sustainability Priorities and the main principles that guide these priorities. For example, this project will put the U of M in a position to demonstrate the benefits of low-input turfgrass species. We’ve been recommending low-input turfgrasses for over a decade, and our current campus grounds management program stems to benefit from the introduction of these improved species. With the implementation of this project the U of M will be seen as a leader in reducing resources and costs used to maintain campus grounds and improving the environmental impact our turfgrass areas, while preserving aesthetics and functionality. This project will serve as a model not only for the rest of the U of M campus, but for other University campuses as well. The education and outreach component will allow for this same model to be utilized in landscapes throughout world. Proposal Activities: Planting , Use of Power Tools or Equipment, Removal of Existing Plants, Test and Control Spaces, Monitoring and Data Collection Support of University Mission: Turfgrass areas for utilization with this project surround the Department of Horticultural Science’s Alderman Hall, which is home to the Turfgrass Science Program. Specific classes taught by this program include HORT 1942 ‘The American Lawn’, HORT 4061 ‘Turfgrass Management’, HORT 4062 ‘Turfgrass Weed and Disease Science’, and HORT 4063 ‘Turfgrass Science’. The new demonstration and research areas will be used to support these classes through the teaching of practical turfgrass implementation and the management of low-input species. This project supports and expands on current research initiatives within the Turfgrass Science Program. Specifically, our program has been awarded four grants that align with this project: 1) USDA Specialty Crops Research Initiative ($2.1M) “Germplasm improvement of low-input fine fescues in response to consumer aitudes and behaviors,” 2) Minnesota Local Road Research Board ($194,000) “Best management practices for establishment of salt-tolerant grasses on roadsides,” 3) Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station ($15,500) “Exploring new research areas in sustainable, low-input turfgrass germplasm improvement,” and 4) Minnesota Turf and Grounds Foundation ($4,000) “Conversion to low-input turfgrass species- the easy approach.” While these grants don’t directly support this project, they have provided the opportunity to define some of the more improved and low-input turfgrasses for use in campus seings. The main research goal from this project is the modeling of a low-input turfgrass landscape in comparison to the current higher-input landscape. This will follow tracking of irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticides used throughout the growing season on each area in this study. Aer successful establishment of the low-input areas, research will be conducted to evaluate the maintenance practices best suited for management of these turfgrasses. Outreach of the information gained from this project is crucial to the overall success. The areas chosen for turfgrass species conversion have high visibility on campus, and students and the public all will have the opportunity to view and evaluate these low-input turfgrass areas. Additionally, web publications and videos will be produced and disseminated through various U of M Extension media, including: U of M Extension Turfgrass Management website (www.extension.umn.edu/garden/turfgrass), U of M Turfgrass Science Blog (www.turf.umn.edu), U of M Extension Yard and Garden News (hp://blog.lib.umn.edu/efans/ygnews/), and additional U of M sponsored web outlets. This project will be published in industry journals and in scientific literature. It will also be displayed during the Minnesota Turf and Grounds Foundation Annual Field Day Location: Together with Lester Pos and Jason Grode (U of M Landcare) we have identified three areas on the St. Paul campus that will be suitable for this project: 1) The first location is at the corner of Folwell and Gortner Avenues, approximately 10,000sq.. in size. This area is currently planted with Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and fine-leaved fescues. It receives full sunlight and is controlled by a single irrigation zone. Our turfgrass species choice for this location will be a blend of tall fescue. Tall fescue has the ability to form a more extensive root system than the current turfgrass species at this location, and it will draw water from deeper in the soil profile. By converting this single irrigation zone area, we will be able to track irrigation savings as compared to an adjacent turfgrass area managed under the current program. Fertility and pesticide reduction will also be evaluated at this location. Along the sidewalk we will be plant a one yard strip with a mixture of salt tolerant turfgrasses. This mixture has been identified and studied in the collaborative project with the Minnesota Department of Transportation for salt-tolerant turfgrasses on roadsides. 2) The second location is between Alderman Hall and the Soil Science building on the slope facing east, approximately 10,000sq.. in size. This is a difficult site for Landcare to maintain due to shade, excessive moisture, and mowing constraints. Current turfgrass species composition is Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, fine fescue, and annual bluegrass. We will convert this area to a mixture of slow growing, low-input fine fescues. Fine fescues have been identified in recent years as having the best potential for low-input landscapes in shaded environments. The category of fine fescues includes the five unique species of hard fescue, chewings fescue, slender creeping red fescue, strong creeping red fescue, and sheeps fescue. By converting the existing species to a mixture of fine fescues, Landcare will see a benefit in not only irrigation and fertility savings, but also a reduced mowing requirement. Ultimately, this will increase the safety to Landcare operators on this sloped, high moisture site. 3) The third location is a boulevard north of the heating plant along Commonwealth Avenue. One half of this boulevard will be converted to a salt tolerant mixture with the use of sod. Following establishment, this area will be compared to the existing area for turfgrass quality change over time. Heavy salt loading on this site will demonstrate the superior salt tolerance of the new mixtures compared to the existing turfgrasses being utilized. Upon successful conversion and salt tolerance evaluation, Landcare will have a beer idea going forward of which mixtures will have the best performance in these harsh environments. Long-term Responsibility: Landcare (post 2 years) Outreach to University: Reducing pest pressures is one goal for identifying and implementing low-input turfgrasses in landscapes; for that reason this project will be important for not only the University Department of Horticultural Science, but also Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Agronomy. For example, entomologists will have the ability to evaluate Japanese beetle damage on the new turfgrass species in comparison to the current species. Plant pathologists will be consulted on disease occurrence, and can utilize these areas in their teaching and research programs. Additionally, agronomists will gain a beer understanding of weed management techniques in these unique seings. The University of Minnesota Extension Educators in Horticulture will be involved in the implementation and outreach component of this project. Together we are building a series of low-input landscape educational programs, and this project will be an important component for these programs. The conversion process will be demonstrated through the use of video and wrien publications, and be made available through various online sources Project Implementation Start Date: May 1st, 2013 Project Implementation Completion Date: October 31st, 2014 Project Duration: Indefinite College or Administrative Unit: EFANS