Notes for "Oak Guilds"
Jul. 19th, 2021 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThese are the notes for "Oak Guilds."
On this map, North Bottoms (in brown) is the worst neighborhood immediately around the gray triangle for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. To the left, the slightly better neighborhood around the lake (in orange) is not distinguished in L-Lincoln. T-Lincoln calls that Lake Bottoms. So Faster Blaster's territory begins with the neighborhood of North Bottoms, where he buys an empty lot to make a park; and Lake Bottoms, where he buys a house to make a lair. That puts Stone Soup Park to the east of the lair. The poisoner's house, obtained later, is east of the lair and west of the park.
Look just above that and you can see a yellow triangle and a tall orange rectangle, directly across a major road from the large cream crescent marking a good neighborhood which is probably L-Highlands. The tall orange rectangle is T-Long Arm. (It's just under 1 mile tall and about 1/4 mile wide. It's bounded by Cornhusker Highway to the south, North 1st Street to the west, I-180 to the east, and the intersection of I-180 and I-80 to the north. Inside the poverty block but without houses directly south is a patch of farmland and Oak Lake Park. The nearest park to the west is West Lincoln Park across North 1st Street; the nearest to the east is Roper Park; there is zero parkland actually in the neighborhood. The best way to subdivide it is with two quarter-mile circles near the south end where the houses start, touching each other.)
Parks should be within walking distance, but various factors can influence what people consider a reasonable distance to walk. Half a mile, or about a 10-minute walk, is a common national standard. A quarter-mile standard is better, and used by some cities as a goal. However, these are unequally distributed -- even in Terramagne, rich white neighborhoods average more and better parks than poor ethnic neighborhoods. Adding parks in underserved neighborhoods can improve equity.
A walkable neighborhood aims to have important goods and services within close enough range that people can walk or bike there. They may use a 5-minute, 10-minute, 15-minute, or 20-minute range based on average walking speed.
Multi-modal travel involves different shed levels of walkshed, bikeshed, etc. An interactive map can tell you how far you can travel by each mode.
Walkability depends on street layout. Some features such as cul-de-sacs undermine walkability.
Fewer and fewer L-Americans travel by walking. A key reason for this is that children are forcibly prevented from doing so, or punished if caught roaming, so they never develop the habit. Then society whines because so many are sedentary and fat. Higher rates of walking and cycling correlate with lower rates of obesity.
Distance standards are typically set based on a variety of factors, from available space to health concerns. These cannot be made universal, because some people have extremely limited mobility and suffer from long distances, while others benefit from room to move and suffer from sedentary pressures. A large space that encourages healthy activity may be good for more-mobile people but inaccessible for less-mobile people, while a compact space that ensures access for the less-mobile may feel cramped and undermine healthy activity for more-mobile people as well as difficult to maneuver for wheelchair users. It is not reasonable to change public space to accommodate a few if this would make it less comfortable and healthy for the majority. Even accommodations for one group (wheelchair users) may lower accessibility for another (short-distance walkers). However, a number of things can be done to expand usability:
* Extra seating benefits many people. Sidewalks and parks can place benches at frequent intervals. Businesses can put seating just outside and inside doors, as well as waiting and service areas. Bus stops should include a shelter with accessible seating.
* Temporary-use assistance equipment broadens accessibility for people who don't use it routinely but can't walk long distances. Many large facilities offer motorized scooters for this purpose.
* Facilities should design for their target audience. A gym that caters to physically fit people may incorporate natural opportunities for motion through spacious construction. A clinic for mobility-impaired people may benefit from a very compact design.
* Subset facilities improve accessibility. A large hospital could place its mobility department near the door. A park could put a small garden near the parking lot.
* A mix of activity venues with diverse features helps resolve conflicts between incompatible needs. People can choose whichever works best for them.
* A mix of transportation options maximizes usability. Carless areas can be completely inaccessible to less-mobile people, where car-only ones can be inaccessible to those who don't drive. Best access provides comfortable walking, biking, and at least enough at-door parking for handicapped people.
* If nothing else, thinking about urban design across multiple parameters of time and distance improves the chance of finding solutions that work for more people. So does consulting a diverse range of planners and residents.
Compare the walkshed on foot and in a powered wheelchair.
Regarding bikeshed, look at how far people will bike to work.
Environmental tax incentives encourage and reward Earth-friendly choices.
Permaculture guilds use diversity to create a mini-ecosystem. This handbook details several examples including an oak guild. Oak forests come in several types and host many species of plants. If you want to plant an oak guild, model it on the oak forests of your area for best results.
Plant guilds customarily include canopy, understory, nitrogen-fixing, mining, groundcover, vining, and insectary plants to create a whole picture of a miniature ecosystem. Each part contributes to the whole. See examples of an oak guild with 1 oak or with 2 oaks, and a guide to plant guilds for the Midwest.
The most common hardwood species of green ash, hackberry, red mulberry, and bur oak make up nearly a third of Nebraska trees. Forest types in Nebraska include eastern redcedar/rocky mountain juniper, oak/hickory, and oak/pine among others. Eastern deciduous forest features bur oak, American elm, black walnut, green ash, basswood, and hackberry with shrubs and vines such as sumac, western snowberry, gooseberry, wild plum, and wild grape.
Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) is common throughout much of the Great Plains. Learn how to grow them and compare typical seedling sizes. Bur oak is a larval host for over 550 butterflies and moths including Hairstreaks, Duskywings, Polyphemus Moth, Blind-eye Sphinx, and Rosy Maple Moth. Over 2,300 species of wildlife use native oak trees, leading to losses as oaks decline. About 150 species eat acorns including blue jays, woodpeckers, fox and gray squirrels, eastern chipmunks, brown thrashers, tufted titmice, common grackles, rabbits, white-tailed deer, gray and red foxes, eastern towhees, rusty blackbirds, Carolina wrens, brown thrasher, dark-eyed juncos, and white-breasted nuthatches.
Wildlife tree value varies considerably by species, of which oak supports the most. While exotic trees may have 1 caterpillar or less, native trees have many more species of caterpillar: oak (557), wild cherry or plum (456), maple (297).
On this map, North Bottoms (in brown) is the worst neighborhood immediately around the gray triangle for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. To the left, the slightly better neighborhood around the lake (in orange) is not distinguished in L-Lincoln. T-Lincoln calls that Lake Bottoms. So Faster Blaster's territory begins with the neighborhood of North Bottoms, where he buys an empty lot to make a park; and Lake Bottoms, where he buys a house to make a lair. That puts Stone Soup Park to the east of the lair. The poisoner's house, obtained later, is east of the lair and west of the park.
Look just above that and you can see a yellow triangle and a tall orange rectangle, directly across a major road from the large cream crescent marking a good neighborhood which is probably L-Highlands. The tall orange rectangle is T-Long Arm. (It's just under 1 mile tall and about 1/4 mile wide. It's bounded by Cornhusker Highway to the south, North 1st Street to the west, I-180 to the east, and the intersection of I-180 and I-80 to the north. Inside the poverty block but without houses directly south is a patch of farmland and Oak Lake Park. The nearest park to the west is West Lincoln Park across North 1st Street; the nearest to the east is Roper Park; there is zero parkland actually in the neighborhood. The best way to subdivide it is with two quarter-mile circles near the south end where the houses start, touching each other.)
Parks should be within walking distance, but various factors can influence what people consider a reasonable distance to walk. Half a mile, or about a 10-minute walk, is a common national standard. A quarter-mile standard is better, and used by some cities as a goal. However, these are unequally distributed -- even in Terramagne, rich white neighborhoods average more and better parks than poor ethnic neighborhoods. Adding parks in underserved neighborhoods can improve equity.
A walkable neighborhood aims to have important goods and services within close enough range that people can walk or bike there. They may use a 5-minute, 10-minute, 15-minute, or 20-minute range based on average walking speed.
Multi-modal travel involves different shed levels of walkshed, bikeshed, etc. An interactive map can tell you how far you can travel by each mode.
Walkability depends on street layout. Some features such as cul-de-sacs undermine walkability.
Fewer and fewer L-Americans travel by walking. A key reason for this is that children are forcibly prevented from doing so, or punished if caught roaming, so they never develop the habit. Then society whines because so many are sedentary and fat. Higher rates of walking and cycling correlate with lower rates of obesity.
Distance standards are typically set based on a variety of factors, from available space to health concerns. These cannot be made universal, because some people have extremely limited mobility and suffer from long distances, while others benefit from room to move and suffer from sedentary pressures. A large space that encourages healthy activity may be good for more-mobile people but inaccessible for less-mobile people, while a compact space that ensures access for the less-mobile may feel cramped and undermine healthy activity for more-mobile people as well as difficult to maneuver for wheelchair users. It is not reasonable to change public space to accommodate a few if this would make it less comfortable and healthy for the majority. Even accommodations for one group (wheelchair users) may lower accessibility for another (short-distance walkers). However, a number of things can be done to expand usability:
* Extra seating benefits many people. Sidewalks and parks can place benches at frequent intervals. Businesses can put seating just outside and inside doors, as well as waiting and service areas. Bus stops should include a shelter with accessible seating.
* Temporary-use assistance equipment broadens accessibility for people who don't use it routinely but can't walk long distances. Many large facilities offer motorized scooters for this purpose.
* Facilities should design for their target audience. A gym that caters to physically fit people may incorporate natural opportunities for motion through spacious construction. A clinic for mobility-impaired people may benefit from a very compact design.
* Subset facilities improve accessibility. A large hospital could place its mobility department near the door. A park could put a small garden near the parking lot.
* A mix of activity venues with diverse features helps resolve conflicts between incompatible needs. People can choose whichever works best for them.
* A mix of transportation options maximizes usability. Carless areas can be completely inaccessible to less-mobile people, where car-only ones can be inaccessible to those who don't drive. Best access provides comfortable walking, biking, and at least enough at-door parking for handicapped people.
* If nothing else, thinking about urban design across multiple parameters of time and distance improves the chance of finding solutions that work for more people. So does consulting a diverse range of planners and residents.
Compare the walkshed on foot and in a powered wheelchair.
Regarding bikeshed, look at how far people will bike to work.
Environmental tax incentives encourage and reward Earth-friendly choices.
Permaculture guilds use diversity to create a mini-ecosystem. This handbook details several examples including an oak guild. Oak forests come in several types and host many species of plants. If you want to plant an oak guild, model it on the oak forests of your area for best results.
Plant guilds customarily include canopy, understory, nitrogen-fixing, mining, groundcover, vining, and insectary plants to create a whole picture of a miniature ecosystem. Each part contributes to the whole. See examples of an oak guild with 1 oak or with 2 oaks, and a guide to plant guilds for the Midwest.
The most common hardwood species of green ash, hackberry, red mulberry, and bur oak make up nearly a third of Nebraska trees. Forest types in Nebraska include eastern redcedar/rocky mountain juniper, oak/hickory, and oak/pine among others. Eastern deciduous forest features bur oak, American elm, black walnut, green ash, basswood, and hackberry with shrubs and vines such as sumac, western snowberry, gooseberry, wild plum, and wild grape.
Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) is common throughout much of the Great Plains. Learn how to grow them and compare typical seedling sizes. Bur oak is a larval host for over 550 butterflies and moths including Hairstreaks, Duskywings, Polyphemus Moth, Blind-eye Sphinx, and Rosy Maple Moth. Over 2,300 species of wildlife use native oak trees, leading to losses as oaks decline. About 150 species eat acorns including blue jays, woodpeckers, fox and gray squirrels, eastern chipmunks, brown thrashers, tufted titmice, common grackles, rabbits, white-tailed deer, gray and red foxes, eastern towhees, rusty blackbirds, Carolina wrens, brown thrasher, dark-eyed juncos, and white-breasted nuthatches.
Wildlife tree value varies considerably by species, of which oak supports the most. While exotic trees may have 1 caterpillar or less, native trees have many more species of caterpillar: oak (557), wild cherry or plum (456), maple (297).
Yay!
Date: 2021-07-28 03:55 pm (UTC)Re: Yay!
Date: 2021-07-28 05:00 pm (UTC)Thank you!
>> I just purchase ~12acres near DFW, Texas. It's partially overgrown old pasture. <<
How exciting!
>>I plan on combo of permaculture <<
That's going to be interesting in that part of the world, since European-derived crops are often iffy there, but quite a few Turtle Island foodstuffs are grown or were developed thereabouts. You might check the ancient foodways of tribes in your area. There are likely many cultivars of corn, squash, beans, tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers, etc. that would thrive there with little work.
If you're in a water-poor area, you might explore hugelkultur, which is a variety of methods that involve burying wood -- from chips to complete trees -- to hold moisture after a rain. The raised beds are more prone to evaporation, but melon pits are historic to the southwest. Swales can work well to channel water if you have problems with torrential rain and flooding.
>> and rotational grazing to manage it.<<
What kind of grazers? Horses do well in many places, and run wild in much of the west. In some habitats, where the grass is dense, cattle can take the place of bison fairly well. In others, where grass is thinner, browsing goats are okay but cattle are too much. Domestic sheep are hard on most environments. Rabbits, chickens, geese, and other small livestock in critter tractors are good in a wider range of habitats. Some parts of the southwest have quirky features that make them minimally compatible with European-derived agriculture. If there are scattered bunches of grass with dirt between them, that's often a delicate ecosystem easily mangled by livestock.
I suggest researching your local area to see what type(s) of habitat you have, its historical uses, any environmental strengths or weaknesses, helpful wildlife you could invite in, etc.
Feel free to share more about your new place! I have friends doing permaculture in far-flung places and it's fascinating to see the different things that can be done in each.
Re: Yay!
Date: 2021-07-28 08:05 pm (UTC)The current plan is ducks, sheep, and chickens. I suck at gardening but will be adding to existing trees to make food guilds.