Publication Date
5-2009
Committee Members
Jack Ahern, Chair - Mark Lindhult, Member - Paul Barten, Member
Abstract
The Tan Brook watershed vision and recommendation matrix give the town of Amherst a road map for making the watershed into a resilient ecosystem that could sustain life across many scales. The Master Plan for Amherst Regional high school nested within the Upper Reach of the Tan Brook Watershed, specifically implements components of the recommendations so that it becomes a model for what stream restoration, rain gardens and impervious materials might do to improve water quality, provide social benefit and restore habitat. The landscape of the high school is a metaphor for what the Watershed might become, and with its improvements, supports the science curriculum at Amherst Regional high school.
Tracing the history of stormwater management, understanding fundamentals of hydrologic process and researching evolving technologies of LID provides the context of the current stormwater field. Precedent studies illustrate creative ways designers have applied that understanding to sites to improve water quality, provide social benefit and restore habitat.