Shrublands to Living Fences: Dynamics of Rural Landscapes

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Join horticulturalists Ethan Dropkin (Larry Weaner Landscape Associates) and Peter Del Tredici (Harvard University), along with Assistant Professor Michael Luegering, for a panel discussion on adaptive management techniques for nature-based infrastructure. The panelists will explore how dynamic ecological systems, particularly shrublands and living fences, can inform strategies for rural adaptation and resilience.

Dr. Del Tredici will highlight the remarkable ability of plants—both native and non-native—to thrive in urban environments despite challenging conditions, offering insights into their ecological roles and adaptability. Dropkin will focus on the ecological significance of shrublands as living fences in agriculture, discussing their overlooked potential to create greener agriculltural systems. Together, the panelists will consider how pre-adapted species, evolving ecological conditions, and historical land management practices can shape new approaches to ecological restoration and climate resilience.
 

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Panelists:

Peter Del Tredici is a botanist and urban ecologist with decades of teaching and research experience. He spent 35 years at Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum and has conducted extensive fieldwork and seed collecting expeditions in China, Japan, and Korea. A leading authority on Ginkgo ecology, Dr. Del Tredici has published over 100 articles and authored Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide. His work explores plant taxonomy, climate change, and urban ecology.
 

Educated in Landscape Architecture and Horticulture at Cornell University, Ethan Dropkin has taken an inborn love of plants since childhood and followed that to a career in landscape design with a focus in native plants and landscapes at LWLA and lecturing on horticulture and plants at large. Ethan has a particular love of plants (and plant communities) that thrive in difficult conditions and how those plants and assemblages can be adapted to horticultural practice to solve some of our most difficult planting issues. When not designing or lecturing he is an avid contributor to citizen science projects like eBird and iNaturalist and is a loving father and husband.
 

⁠Michael Luegering is a landscape architect, educator, and researcher focusing on nature-based infrastructure and vernacular landscapes. He is a founder of LVF Landscape Architects and Co-Director of the Natural Infrastructure Lab, leading a multi-million-dollar research initiative with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At UVA School of Architecture, he teaches design studios and ecological technologies, with ongoing work in coastal resilience and civic infrastructure.
 

LA CES Professional Development: 

This lecture has been approved through the American Society of Landscape Architecture's Continuing Education System (LA CES) for 1.0 Professional Development Hour (PDH).* 

*To receive 1.0 PDH accreditation, attendees must sign an attendance record at the end of the lecture. This opportunity is in-person only. 

For questions, please email Dana Perlson (dlp5h@virginia.edu) Administrative Assistant for the Department of Landscape Architecture.

Supported by the Benjamin C. Howland Memorial Endowment.