Sustainable Learning Space - Fisheries Courtyard

In 2013, a proposal to build an outdoor "sustainable learning space" for Environmental Studies (Program on the Environment) students on the north lawn of Wallace Hall was born out of the tragic loss of Tikvah Weiner, then PoE Administrator, to breast cancer. At the end of her life, Tikvah spoke to the PoE community about her desire to see this area used for the benefit of students, as a demonstration of sustainable practices; a place where experiential learning extended out of the classroom and into the adjacent green space.

Following Tikvah's passing, a gift fund was established in her honor to help create the garden. In 2016, students as well as faculty and staff from Landscape Architecture, PoE, UW Grounds, UW Farm, Intellectual House (wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ), and College of the Environment Dean's Office came together to create an exciting plan to bring Tikvah's garden to fruition.Located on the east Fisheries lawn (immediately west of Parking W35), the proposed 9,000 ft garden will:

• create an outdoor classroom allowing discussion sections of up to 20 students to use the space for learning "in the green," and more broadly as a place for the PoE community, and the UW community, to assemble, interact, socialize and learn from the space and each other.
• showcase (including interpretive signage) a series of sustainability features, including the use/creation of:

1. "green" (e.g., local, recycled content, natural, sustainable) materials throughout,
2. a rain garden to handle on-site water management from all hardscape, and with the potential to handle a portion of roof run-off from Wallace Hall
3. a "pocket ecosystem" featuring native and pollinator-based plantings providing habitat for native pollinators (e.g., bees) and songbirds,
4. the use of culturally significant native species through collaboration with wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ staff, students and faculty working to highlight indigenous connection to and use of native natural resources,
5. edible elements will also be considered, based on input from the campus Landscape Architect, the Grounds Manager, and the UW Farm Manager.