Skyrise Nature: Designing Ecoroofs for Wildlife with Dusty Gedge

Ecoroof - Bob Sallinger

Presentation for the General Public

Date: March 30, 2010
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Oregon Zoo
Cost: $10  ($8 for Zoo and Audubon Members)

For more information: http://www.oregonzoo.org/Education/adults/adults_lecture.htm
No Advance Registration Required

Can our urban rooftops provide habitat for wildlife? Much of our urban landscape is covered with structures and Portland is fast becoming a leader in promoting vegetated rooftops to capture stormwater. Is it possible to go even further and actually create functional wildlife habitat on buildings that will help birds, bats, bugs and other animals as they traverse our urban landscape?

Could we restore nighthawks that once nested in gravel rooftops to our overhead skies by adding gravel to the roofs of riverside buildings on the Lower East Side? Could thousands of acres of grey industrial warehouse rooftops in the Columbia Corridor be converted to meadows for rapidly disappearing meadowlarks and streaked horned larks? Could the tops of our downtown skyscrapers provide a source for insect and a place to rest for migrating songbirds? What can we do on top of our own houses to support our the local wildlife?

Join us and learn about how ecoroofs can make our urban landscape more sustainable for humans and wildlife.

International authority on ecoroofs, Dusty Gedge has been campaigning to get green roofs installed for biodiversity in London for over 15 years. He currently Director of Livingroofs.org the UK's independent greenroof organization and the current President of the European Federation of Green Roof Associations. He is recognized as a leading authority on green roofs and biodiversity and has written a number of papers and articles on the subject over the years. He also wrote a seminal paper that lead to the introduction of the green roof policy in the Greater London area. In 2005 he won the Andrew Lees Memorial Award at the British Environment and Media Awards.

Sponsored by Audubon Society of Portland, Urban Greenspaces Institute City of Portland, Oregon Zoo, East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District