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Feature from Environmental Building News
February 1, 2001
Development and Nature:
Enhancing Ecosystems Where We Build
The Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland, California covers 12 acres (4.9 ha) with carefully restored wetlands, oak-savanna habitat, organic gardens, and edible landscaping. Where once there were flash-flood-prone gullies almost devoid of soil, today visitors to the demonstration center can listen to songbirds as they walk along the paths or sit under the shade of an artistically sculpted canopy of gray poplar trees—one of seven “living structures” on the site that will grow and change over time. Visiting here, it’s hard to imagine that, just nine years ago, this was the site of a California Department of Transportation dump. Decades of misuse had scarred the site and turned the stream running through it into an erosion-prone channel that leached hazardous chemicals into nearby surface waters. As part of the development of the Solar Living Center, this brownfield was transformed from an eyesore into a vibrant, blossoming habitat that helps support biodiversity in Northern California’s Central Plain—and helps visitors understand the ecosystems around them.
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