The University Boulevard water feature has undergone a transformation to support local biodiversity as competitive plants are replaced with friendlier species.
With five billion litres of rain falling on the Vancouver campus each year, UBC strives to divert as much rain water as possible from entering our conventional gray infrastructure system. Through a variety of landscape interventions, runoff is reduced and cleaned through green infrastructure that collects, conveys, and manages rainwater to reduce the possibility of flooding and further erosion of the cliffs adjacent to campus.
The stepped terraces along University Boulevard, one of UBC’s most iconic landscapes, is a system of green infrastructure that receives, cleans, and detains runoff from Main Mall in a rain event. Contaminants are absorbed by the plants. The rainwater runoff is then recirculated through the cascades to form an iconic gateway into our campus and an aesthetic amenity for the campus community. Any excess runoff is directed to a cistern below University Commons where is can then be released into the environment in a controlled manner.
The University Boulevard water feature has undergone a dramatic transformation to support campus biodiversity and sustainability. Weed-infested planting areas have been replaced with more vigorous native species that offer greater eco-service value.
University landscape architect Dean Gregory, with Campus and Community Planning, explains that the replanting of the cascade feature “improves the operational and ecological functioning of this landscape area”.
He says “the new palette of native plants represents a more robust and easily maintained planting mix. They enhance campus biodiversity and will add structure and colour to the landscape in the winter months when campus is most heavily populated”.
The new plants, all native to the Pacific Northwest, include include Red-Twig Dogwood, Ocean Spray, Evergreen Huckleberry, Flowering Currant, Mock Orange, Kelsey Dogwood, and Rosy Spirea. These replace the monoculture Hardstem Bulrush that were being outcompeted by invasive plant species such as Reed Canary Grass and Vetch. Bulrush plants growing in the water were not being displaced by invasive species and have been retained.
New plants in the University Boulevard water feature to improve biodiversity, from left to right: Red-Twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea), Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor), Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum), Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum), Mock Orange (Philadelphus lewisii), Kelsey Dogwood (Cornus sericea ‘Kelseyi’), and Rosy Spirea (Spirea densiflora).