Two weekends ago I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit the Mountain House for a second time (if you guys thought it was drop dead gorgeous before, check out the backyard view during peak leaf time!).
The beautiful backyard view (Photo credit: Laura Kwasnoski)
In between adventures to the backyard brook and consumption of delicious local food, our Ecology class took part in a round-table discussion. A member of the Wildlife Conservation Society spoke about a topic that is incredibly relevant to this class: ex-urbanization and development of the Adirondacks. We can recall from past readings Bill McKibben’s disgust at the hyper-individualism of extravagant homeowners who plop their McMansions into pristine wildlife. Clearly, this is not the proper way to develop land in the Adirondacks, so what is?
Here are some steps provided by a Wildlife Conservation Society brochure that home builders can take to ensure that their houses leave the smallest ecological footprints:
- Be aware that your house will have an impact on the environment that extends beyond just the developed land. Impacts from development can “extend away from the house, up to 600 feet,” and certain factors like noise, roaming pets, and nighttime lighting can create a “wildlife shadow” of 15-30 acres!
- When you landscape, don’t use pesticides on your lawn and be sure to only plant native, non-invasive plants.
- Build your home closer to your neighbor and keep your driveway short to minimize your “wildlife shadow” as much as possible.
- Protect the valuable natural features on your land like vernal pools and snags that provide habitat for animals.
- Minimize outdoor lighting, because this can be “disorienting to wildlife and adversely affect animals.”
- Clean your grill often and don’t leave garbage out overnight. Both of these things can attract bears and other animals.
These are only a few of the many steps that home builders can take to ensure they develop the land in the best way possible. Ex-urban housing highlights reoccurring issues faced by this incredibly unique park such as the strain between public versus private land and the struggle for humans to live harmoniously with nature.
Sources:
Wildlife Conservation Society. "Make Room for Wildlife: A Resource for Landowners in the Northern Forest." 2013. Print.
The idea of graceful inhabitation and green development is something that I find very interesting. Your blog highlighted the aspects of building a house in the wilderness that I hadn't thought of before. The wildlife shadow of 15-30 acres is much higher than I would have guessed!
ReplyDeleteGreat post with great advice. It really makes me think about the potential for widespread adoption of these practices. While they are definitely beneficial for the environment, they would be called inconvenient by the majority of people. This problem sheds some light on the difficulties of getting people to buy in.
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