Two-thirds of the fairgrounds site is currently covered by either asphalt, concrete, or the footprint of a building. This turns the site into a vast heat sink during the summer months and a barren expanse of parking lot during the winter. So the greening of the fairgrounds site is more than the addition of green building techniques and alternative sources of energy. It is a literal greening, the conversion of a vast urban space into a garden park and a demonstration of the principles of permaculture design.
Ecological Landscapes and Permaculture Design
Overview: The accumulation of carbon emissions in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels is cited as the primary cause for global warming. Deforestation and the steady incursion of asphalt and concrete into undeveloped land also add unwanted positive feedback to the biosphere's carbon cycle. Reforestation, sustainable forest management, and a general re-greening of the planet are common sense ways to sequester carbon and can be as important as cutting fossil fuel emissions when it comes to mitigating climate change.
Currently two-thirds of the fairgrounds site is either covered by asphalt or the footprint of a building. Functionally, it acts as fifty-five acre heat sink—representing a microcosm of what we have done to Earth's photosynthetic respiration process as a whole. One primary objective of the repaired fairgrounds will be the re-greening of the grounds through the demonstration of ecologically sustainable forestry principles and environmental landscape design.
When complete, the Lane County Commons will, in effect, become a garden park, a fifty-five acre prototype for an environmentally sustainable economy and culture, demonstrating how living spaces and large structures can be integrated into green spaces in a mutually supportive manner.
Implementation: Because a large portion of the fairgrounds site is covered with asphalt, the conversion of the current grounds into a garden park cannot be done overnight and must be carried out in deliberate transitional steps over several years. The intention will be to remove as much asphalt from the site as possible and still retain adequate parking for large public events. (See Parking Structure.)
In general, the soil quality at the fairgrounds site is fair at best. Thus the early stages of the fairgrounds' landscape repair will be directed at organic soil building, mitigation of existing chemical residues, and transitioning some asphalted areas to green spaces. This will be done in conjunction with the whole system recycling program, which will be diverting large portions of waste to compost and the creation of soil amendments which would then be used at the site.
At the same time, again as part of the philosophy of holistic management, water catchment systems will be part of the overall landscaping scheme. Cisterns, ponds, and run-off irrigation systems will be strategically placed to minimize site water costs, non-point pollution, and run-off in general.
As garden plots and landscaping areas come of age in terms of soil fecundity, some of the most critical plantings will be the larger trees and shrubs which need many years to mature. Because the landscaping will be intimately connected to the passive thermal design of on-site structures and the overall comfort and beauty of the entire campus, particularly in summer months, it is absolutely critical to understand that the planting scheme will be based on a long-term view–the time it takes for a multiplicity of tree and plant species to reach maturity and perform the tasks they are intended to perform.
Descriptions of some of the Lane County Commons' specific landscaping features are compiled at Ecological Landscapes. These landscape applications will create a lovely and sensational effect when spread out over fifty acres. The entire character of the fairgrounds will be changed. A broken stretch of asphalt will become a plush open park and native plant library.
