Where History and Nature Collide
Can historic preservation and ecological constituencies find
common ground in Minnesota?
By Adam Regn Arvidson, ASLA, and Frank Edgerton Martin
When change is in the air, controversy is likely to follow.
Public debate is especially intense when change comes to beloved landscapes
endowed with idealized notions of “what they should be.” Enter well-meaning
single-issue groups such as neighborhood organizations, departments of natural
resources, watershed districts, and state historic preservation offices, and
the stage is set for a showdown. These agencies and stakeholder groups often
claim ownership of what the authentic “history” and “Firm_Focus” really are. Over
the past 10 years, the most loved and most historically important landscape in
Minneapolis has been at the center of such a controversy—and landscape
architects have been at the center of the controversial redesign.
Today’s fashion for ecological “restoration” to pre-European
settlement patterns threatens many of America’s designed historic landscapes
(often filled with exotic species, open lawns, and period features such as dams
and ornamental gardens). And today’s environmental issues—namely increased
urban runoff—require solutions not considered when historic landscapes were
originally built. In Minneapolis, landscape architects and the communities they
serve are slowly learning that “history” and “ecological process” can both be
respected by implementing innovative solutions to regulatory concerns and
educating the public.
Grand Rounds is a 50-mile system of parkways, trails, and watercourses that is,
quite literally, the city’s backyard, ball field, lake cabin, and storm sewer
system. It is the work of generations of leading landscape architects,
including H. W. S. Cleveland, who persuaded civic leaders to buy the land in
the 19th century; Theodore Wirth, who as superintendent built much of the park
infrastructure in the first half of the 20th century; and Roger Martin, FASLA
(with the modernist pioneer Garrett Eckbo), who updated the system in the
1970s. Yet, by the mid-1990s, the quality of the waters themselves (six
interconnected lakes and six miles of Minnehaha Creek) was severely degraded
due to increasing urban runoff (which is, in most cases, piped directly into
the creek and lakes) and erosion of unstable shorelines.
Beaches closed, yearly algae blooms grew larger, flooding of lakeside pathways
increased, and fish species dramatically changed from the game fish that Minnesotans
love to catch to rough fish (like carp and bullheads) more tolerant of poor
water quality. Visibility in some lakes was down to between one and three
feet. Since 1995, landscape architects have been balancing improving water
quality through riparian restoration and protecting the historic character
of the overall park environment.
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