“This project demonstrates a radical potential for new material to emerge. The inherited, erratic-edged stream, offering opportunity for response and reaction, has inspired a creative plan and planting from which an amazingly beautiful tapestry will emerge.” Comments from AIA Baltimore Jury 2005 Stephen Kieran, FAIA; Frank Matero, AIA; and Ali Rahim, AIA.

Three adjacent farms, located in Carroll County Maryland, have been functioning dairy and chicken farms, while also producing feed crops since 1779.  While, the three 90-acre farms are defined as part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, physical and economic pressures from suburban development have eroded the agricultural landscape.  In an effort to give rest to both farmers and land, and to preserve the parcels in their entirety, the Owners placed the farms into the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). This program, sponsored by the State of Maryland, was created specifically to preserve wetlands and ‘riparian areas’ adjacent to streams and other bodies of water.  These sensitive land areas have a tremendous impact on water quality and provide critical wildlife habitat.The CREP program takes ‘sensitive’ land out of agricultural production and stabilizes waterway buffer areas through the planting of grasses and native trees.  The program has a specific set of parameters directed at stabilizing soil conditions through the performative qualities of the plants.  However, most of the reforestation projects, implemented throughout Maryland, seem disconnected from the agricultural terrain and the associated landscape. 

The Reforestation at Greenwood Farm Project recognizes the plantings of 20,000 trees, of varying native species in varying soil conditions, as a ‘man made landscape’ within the historic traditions of agriculture.As designers, we saw an opportunity to make a system for organizing species and for implementing that system over many acres.  The design incorporates the variations in leaf colors, tree heights and branch densities.Through a 16-tree module with alternate placeholders, the location of a single tree could be established within the weave of tree species.  Hand cards with the module were used by individuals while planting in the field.  Reference points established through counting notation provided enough organization for the adaptable plan to develop and spread.  Alternate positions in the modules allowed for tree species to be exchanged as required by local soil conditions.

The system oscillates between the establishment of a global view of the landscape and the specific conditions of each planted region.