Ohio State launches new Urban Landscape Ecology Program

WOOSTER, Ohio -- A new Ohio State University interdisciplinary program is taking a serious look at the green that grows within Ohio’s fast-developing metropolitan areas.

The Urban Landscape Ecology Program (ULEP) was launched this year in response to the rapid changes and challenges facing landscapes and ecosystems in urbanized areas throughout the state.

The program seeks to develop new technologies and environmentally friendly approaches to landscape planning, establishment and maintenance. At the same time, it aims to educate citizens about the risks associated with excessive chemical applications and get them involved in fostering healthier, sustainable landscapes.

“The way of managing landscapes that we have come to know is in jeopardy; it can’t be sustained any more,” said ULEP coordinator Parwinder Grewal, an entomologist and turfgrass scientist with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center’s (OARDC) Wooster campus.

“The public has become weary of the potential negative aspects of chemicals on human health and the environment,” Grewal added. “Several local governments have enacted ordinances restricting the so-called ‘cosmetic use’ of chemical pesticides and fertilizers in urban environments. Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has banned many pesticides from residential use. All of this will have a major impact on the ability of tree- and lawn-care companies to effectively manage landscapes with the current expectations.”

ULEP gathers experts with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, including OARDC, OSU Extension, the School of Natural Resources, and the Agricultural Technical Institute; the College of Biological Sciences; and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Partnerships have also been established with Ohio State’s School of Architecture and the colleges of Education, Engineering, and Medicine and Public Health. In addition, industry representatives, private colleges and non-profit organizations are playing an active role in this endeavor.

Such a diverse group of stakeholders is key to accomplishing the program’s objectives, Grewal said. These include turning the Ohio State campuses into model ecological landscapes for research, education and outreach; building neighborhood institutions to promote a positive change in urban landscaping; developing K-12 educational programs in urban landscape ecology; creating an interactive Web site and discussion server where citizens can design their own sustainable landscapes and learn more about this approach; and establishing model “ecocity” projects in collaboration with neighborhood developers.

“We want to engage the university directly with the public, green industry, and more importantly with the youth in the principles of ecological sustainability and the restoration of the urban landscapes’ ecological function,” Grewal explained. “Because such a high percentage of our population is in direct contact with residential landscapes, there’s an enormous educational potential here.”

The Buckeye state offers exceptional advantages to an urban landscape initiative of this scale. According to an OARDC study, Ohio is experiencing urban growth at much higher levels that most states. The country’s seventh most populated state, Ohio has 15 metropolitan areas (regions with a central city of 50,000 or more) spread over 39 counties. It is in these metropolitan counties where 81 percent of the state’s more than 11 million residents live.

With urbanization on the rise, Grewal and colleagues concur that green areas in cities and suburbs provide an excellent opportunity to lay the foundation of ecologically based landscapes. Reduced reliance on chemical products, the use of biological controls and integrated pest management techniques, and a switch in cultural practices -- from increasing mowing height to adding native plants -- can lead to healthier, more diverse ecosystems.

“I’m convinced that our urban landscapes remedy many problems that result from paving the city and can be a solution to many of the environmental concerns in our neighborhoods,” said ULEP member Kevin Power, a research associate with the Department of Entomology in Wooster. “Landscapes are the only permeable surfaces in the city.”

Another key issue the program will address is the public’s attitudes toward landscape maintenance. Paul Robbins, an associate professor with Ohio State’s Department of Geography, is looking at the reasons homeowners use -- and many times overuse -- chemicals in their lawns.

“People know, or at least suspect, that chemicals are bad for ecosystems and for the health of their children and pets, but use them anyway,” Robbins said. “They perceive expensive chemical inputs are everywhere and feel real pressure to cooperate with their neighbors and participate in a larger neighborhood endeavor.”

The program has been positively received by community leaders, said Martin Quigley, an urban landscape specialist with the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science in Columbus. The northeast Columbus suburb of New Albany has already expressed interest in housing the program’s ecocity -- a neighborhood with varied and useful landscapes where the need for energy inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, fossil fuels and water is minimized.

“The village of New Albany is committed to environmentally sensitive development practices, and we welcome the opportunity to implement and test new research findings in sustainable landscapes,” wrote village administrator Joe Stefanov in a letter to Grewal and Quigley.

The program’s comprehensive and long-term approach to the issue of urban landscapes has also found friends within the lawn-care industry.

“We need tools from the university to help us educate our customers,” said Kim Kellogg, past president of the Ohio Lawn Care Association and owner of Grasshopper Property Maintenance in Millersburg. “The better informed our customers are, the better our industry will work. These customers are going to demand a more skilled, educated, responsible industry, and they will do a better job themselves when taking care of their landscapes. In the end, the environment will benefit.”

For more information about Urban Landscape Ecology Program, contact Grewal at (330) 263-3963 or grewal.4@osu.edu.