Sustainable Landscaping
Research
Research at New England Land Grant Universities is developing and evaluating "smart" landscaping techniques including rain gardens, low-input lawns, and optimal amounts and timing of fertilizers, that reduce runoff and minimize leaching of nutrients and pesticides to foster water resource protection.
Landscaping for water quality protection research within
CSREES New England falls into these categories:
Turfgrass Management
Watershed Best Management Practices
Integrated Pest Management
Turfgrass
Management
Turfgrass areas are perceived to contribute significantly
to the pollution of ground and surface water. Researchers
at the New England Land Grant Universities study the turfgrass
best management practices (BMPs) that integrate pest resistant
germplasm, cultural practices, biological agents, biorational
compounds, and the judicious use of pesticides.
Universities of Connecticut
,
Massachusetts, Rhode
Island
researchers are developing a better understanding of the
fate of fertilizers and pesticides in turfgrass systems
in order to develop and evaluate BMPs that protect water
quality.
As an official site of the National
Turfgrass Evaluation Program ,
UMaine researchers are evaluating turfgrass species
to determine which cultivars
are adapted to the rigorous climatic conditions
experienced in ME. Recommendations will be developed to ensure that applied
nutrients and pesticides are absorbed by the plant and not released to the soil and groundwater.
Researchers at URI are evaluating
biorational
strategies to manage numerous pests
in Rhode Island turfgrasses. UConn researchers are conducting
a similar study along with evaluations
of turfgrass cultivars genetically transformed
by New Jersy researchers.
UMass researchers are identifying variables,
such as turfgrass species, soil types, and management practices,
contributing
or diminishing the biological control activity
of the test agent. By understanding these variables, IPM strategies
can be adjusted to minimize ground and surface water contamination.
Watershed
Best Management Practices (BMPs)
The
Jordan Cove Urban Watershed Project
of the University of Connecticut is designed to determine
the water quality and quantity benefits of using pollution
prevention best management practices (BMPs) by utilizing many sustainable landscaping techniques in a residential
subdivision. Section 319 National Monitoring
Program Projects began in 1995 and will continue for ten
years. The study uses the paired watershed approach
over two different time periods – calibration and treatment
– and three different watersheds – one control
and two treatments (traditional development and development
with BMPs).
Typpical hydrologic alterations due to construction activities, such as increased runoff volume, were not found in the BMP watershed. On the contrary, a reduction of stormwater runoff was observed. This reduction can be attributed to both excavation of all basements in a relatively short time and proper location of earthen berms to retain and infiltrate stormwater onsite. Decreases in runoff continued in the BMP watershed during the post-construction period. The project issued a final report that makes recommendations to protect water resources for future residential developments.
Researchers
at the URI Watershed
Hydrology Laboratory 
have worked in riparian zones, streams and reservoirs to refine the understanding of nitrogen removal in watersheds.
Their results are translated
into methods that can be adapted to available spatial
databases and enhance our ability to target
high value areas
for protection and restoration to improve or maintain
water
quality.
New England Land Grant researchers have establishmed several landscape demonstration sites to illustrate residential BMPs. At UConn, three demonstration/research sites have been
established at Connecticut Extension County Offices through
a partnership between faculty in the Turfgrass
Science 
program
and Master
Gardeners .
Research faculty have integrated their turf research findings
into outreach materials used by Extension and their master
gardener volunteers. Research on rain gardens at these sites has been expanded and incorporated into programs
throughout the New England Regional Water Program's Sustainable Landscapes and
New England NEMO focus areas. For instance, URI's
Cooperative Extension and URI Master Gardeners built a rain garden in a local community.
A UVM demonstration site is being developed to educate residents and town officers in bioengineering approaches to erosion control and shoreline stabilization. Lake Champlain Sea Grant (UVM) and others completed field research on shoreline characterization, soil mapping, and identification of erosion prone environments, cost analyses and needs assessment. This data was the basis for the bioengineering techniques selected by an engineering firm.
UConn's Branford River Stewardship Project (contact: Karen Filchak) evaluated the impact of residential landscape best management practices (BMP’s) and found that educational programming focused on runoff reduction, proper fertilizer application, and pet waste management resulted in a 75% decrease of nitrate and 62% reduction in fecal coliform bacteria in stormwater runoff from the treatment neighborhoods.
An Integrated Project between UNH, Portsmouth State College, UConn, URI, UVM, and UMaine applies environmental and behavioral research results to extension efforts to reduce the application of excess nutrients by homeowners in targeted, urbanizing neighborhoods throughout New England.
Integrated
Pest Management
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a multi-disciplinary approach
to managing insect, disease, and weed pests of plants. Researchers
at the New England Land Grant Universities develop and promote
sustainable plants resistant to disease and insects thereby
reducing the need for home pesticide application.
Researchers from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment
Station conducted a project to protect natural habitats while
successfully producing and maintaining ornamental plants.
Through the adoption
of IPM practices, commercial nurseries protected plants and saved money compared to conventional
pesticide usage. The use of these IPM practices
will reduce pesticide contamination to ground and surface
water.
A project at URI introduced
the U.S. ornamental nursery industry to sustainable, pest-resistant
trees and shrubs .
Major growers and landscapers in the northeast attended
workshops and cooperated in growing trial production blocks.
A related project at URI developed
and evaluated novel alternative methods of plant propagation
and production that
will lead to reduced chemical inputs, thereby protecting
water resources.
Indicates work supported by the
USDA-CSREES National
Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program .