Landscape design and planning

I started as a landscape design and planning intern early last month for the Blue Cities program, and so far it's been really terrific. I'm getting knee deep in green infrastructure projects: a cost benefit analysis for the city of Chelsea, and a green infrastructure opportunities analysis for Louisville, KY. You might be wondering- does Kentucky have a Charles River Watershed? CRWA's Blue Cities approach is one that could definitely be applied to other watersheds, so we're giving it a shot at Louisville.

While I spend most of my time in the office doing research, report writing and GIS mapping, I've also been able to get outdoors a bit. I accompanied Pallavi Mande, the Director of the Blue Cities program, to Peabody Square in Dorchester. We met with a WBUR reporter to discuss the green infrastructure elements of the square- the rain garden, infiltration trench, and permeable pavers. Peabody Square is.a recently completed "Complete Streets" project.  There will be a segment on green infrastructure featuring CRWA projects on WBUR sometime soon, so keep your ear out for it!

Last month, I also helped out at a tree planting at St. Anthony's Catholic Church on Brentwood Street in Allston. CRWA has been involved in greening projects in that neighborhood, and it's the final phase of the Everett Street Green Street project (see the Green Street recommendations in the Blue Cities report). Pallavi, Kate (the previous landscape intern), and I went out to the site prior to the planting to determine tree placement and to decide on tree species. We planted 6 trees- 2 red maples, and 4 serviceberry that morning. We had a great turnout- about 20 community members came out to pitch in and it was great fun!