TOOLBOX / BSLA
burning of fossil fuels, we are first bringing up
from the ground and then placing in the air the
carbon sequestered during the Jurassic period.
Ongoing Experiments
Admittedly, this is a slow and quiet
revolution, but these changes are measured
in epochs. Stoss has tucked away a couple of
cold hardy cultivars on a recent project for
Boston Parks called Sweeney Playground.
It is not the signature idea, but rather one
of many agendas that we observe, test and
learn from. Will it thrive? Will it survive?
Will it prosper?
Other S. giganteum experiments launched
include Binghamton, New York, and Cayuga
Lake in the Finger Lakes region. Future
test sites include the dune forests of Lake
Michigan and the highway carbon forests
of Detroit. Some of these experiments are
related to forestial emergence in relation
to decline of the hemlock forest, with the
speculation that the declining hemlocks will
nurse these seedlings. Others, like Sweeney
and Detroit, are more directly related to the
actual carbon interface and will test the
capacity, soil conditions, and microclimate of
the urban realm.
This is not to propose a singular solution
in the Sequoia giganteum. It is one of many
species we as landscape architects have pulled
from the ancient reserves like Metasequoia
glyptostroboides and Ginkgo biloba. In addition,
we have utilized newer species like bamboo
that can function and respond to our
constructed environment.
It is clear that there is an inherent capacity
within the vegetal world to retool itself to
our human land uses as made evident by
the salt tolerant emerging highway forest
of Robinia pseudoacacia and Ailanthus
altissima. Intentional or not they are all
part of human ecology. In the 200 million
year lifespan of the Sequoia forest we are
just a blip in time, but like glaciers, we can
facilitate global change. We must consider
to what extent we make our human
interactions productive.
So: wait and watch, but it should be
understood that much of the potential
of Sequoia experiment could take
thousands if not millions of years to be
realized. However, it is done with a hybrid
of artistic and scientific intention; an
understanding that our climate, our world,
is not static. It is shifting as it has for the
entirety of its existence.
LEFT
Sweeney Playground,
South Boston
Metasequoia at
Lands Sake Farm,
Weston
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Bishop, ASLA