Fortunately, a successful alternative is increasingly applied to Canadian infrastructure projects: the Public Private Partnership (P3). Typically P3s, including major highways in Alberta and New Brunswick, are designed and built by the same consortia that are responsible for their operation, maintenance, rehabilitation and financing for 30 years. Of course, they look for every possible economy and efficiency, but skimping on the quality of design and construction invites a heavy penalty in maintenance. Knowing this, the engineers and accountants look long and hard at the real bottom line well into the future.

This article has suggestions for landscaping in Southern California.

Water is the most important consideration when planning to landscape your yard, as in how to minimize the use of water. Southern California in its natural state is a semi-arid desert. Since Southern California goes through periods of drought and imports most of its water, it makes sense ecologically to use as little water as possible. And, it saves money on your water bill.

Ideas, tips and advice for southern california landscaping

Grass is a big water hog. Some experts say that grass needs about an inch of water every week. This might not seem like a lot, but multiply one inch times the square footage of all of the grass in your yard, then add in some more for hand watering brown spots, and finally throw in more water for runoff, and you have probably used more water than you realize. If you have a 10 by 20 foot lawn, you should be using a minimum of 2,400 inches of water a week to keep your grass green. That is a lot of bathtubs full of water! Does this mean that you have to give up your grass? No. But, you might want to reduce the area of your traditional lawn by planting combinations of low water drinking grasses like Blue Wildrye, Buffalo Grass, Bear Grass, Blue Oat Grass, or Giant Feather Grass. Planting these grasses will not only save on your water usage, you will be also be spending less time mowing and you will be making your yard more visually interesting by varying the textures, the colors and the heights of your grasses.

What about flowering plants? Sages do not require a lot of water, have different colored flowers, and are also fragrant. Look into Baja Blanco Cedros Island Sage, Black Sage, or Creeping Sage. What about flowers that attract hummingbirds? California Fuchsias, Royal Beard Tongues, and Bladder Pods do not require huge amounts of water and attract hummingbirds. How about plants that attract butterflies? Try Baja Fairy Dusters, Golden Yarrow, or Hearst California Lilacs and save on water. Don’t forget California Poppies. Add some White California Poppies for a nice annual bed.

What about a cactus or a succulent garden? Cacti like the Barrel Cactus, the Blue Blade, and the Hildemann Cactus have contrasting shapes, colors, and flowers, and all three like part sun and part shade. Your succulent garden might combine Chalk Dudleya, Colorado Four o’Clock, Felt Plant, Purple Stonecrop, and Medicinal Aloe, all presenting different shapes and sizes. Some of these succulents will even attract more hummingbirds. You might also consider combining your succulents and cacti to give the area a more exotic look.

Now that you have different areas of interest in your yard, put in stepping stones to go from one area to the next. Or, plan a rock path to a shady tree and put a bench underneath to catch the evening breeze. And since you are saving so much water, you might want to install a wall fountain so that you can hear the soothing sounds of gentle splashing when you are at home.

Water is a precious resource in Southern California. You will be saving water and money by changing your plants to ones that require less water, not to mention saving some mowing time. Remember to turn on those sprinklers in the morning and in the evening, but not during the middle of the day to maximize the amount of water that actually can be used by your plants and minimize evaporation. Enjoy your new yard.

Promotions, hirings and achievements in the workplace.

Ramona B. Moore has joined the Holiday Inn Bordeaux as director of business development. Moore, a native of Fayetteville, has more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality business.

Tracy Temple, a registered nurse, was recently named chief nursing officer at Central Carolina Hospital in Sanford. Temple will oversee nursing operations for the 137-bed hospital. She has more than 30 years of experience in critical care and health care administration.

ERA Strother Real Estate announced three additions to its sales staff:

• Matt Cook has joined the Harnett County office as a broker associate. Cook will focus on new and existing home sales, as well as first-time homebuyers.
• Sophio Nadiradze has joined the Harnett County office as a broker associate. Nadiradze has experience with first-time home buyers and the military market.
• Bridgette Harry has joined the Harnett County office as a broker associate. Harry will focus on home buyers and sellers, including the military market, and also has experience with in short sales and investment properties.

Keller Williams Realty announced four additions to its sales staff:

• Clarissa King specializes in commercial real estate.
• Alan Giffin specializes in residential and new construction sales.
• Elizabeth Clark represents real estate buyers and sellers.
• Heather McKeithan, a Fayetteville native, is a buyer specialist for the Rockel Group of Keller Williams.

Kim and Cal Nguyen, owners of Vy Nails, have moved to a new location at 916 Brighton Road.

Brian Dial, a Maxton native and doctor of chiropractic care, has opened Dial Chiropractic Accident Injury Center in Lumberton.

Joseph Bell, a pediatrician who is the medical director of Pembroke Pediatrics in Lumberton, was recently named the winner of the 2013 Native American Child Health Advocacy Award. The award is given to people who make a major contribution to promoting American Indian child health.

Bruce Sobieralski, a plant technician at Green Biz Nursery Landscaping Inc., recently completed the requirements to become a certified plant professional in North Carolina.

Ronnie D. Smith, a certified criminal investigator, private investigator and president of RDS Investigations, has been selected as a VIP member of the Covington Who’s Who Executive and Professional Registry. The registry provides members with information on executives and professionals in its worldwide network.

Ursula T. White, a registered nurse and owner of Central Carolina Home Healthcare, was approved by the North Carolina Board of Nursing and selected by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing to participate in the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Licensure Examination’s development panel of subject matter experts that was held recently in Chicago. White was one of 10 nurses from across the country to be selected. She was nominated on the basis of clinical specialty and nursing expertise.

Ross I.T. Services Inc., a business technology company in Fayetteville, recently won the Small Business Community Association’s 2013 Best of Business Award. The association, an Arizona-based nonprofit organization, helps small businesses around the country.

Westan Homes, a Fayetteville-based homebuilder, was featured in the November issue of Builder Magazine. Westan was highlighted by the trade publication for “Bright Ideas,” an online marketing campaign that highlights upgrades Westan offers to homebuyers as standard features, such as USB charging stations, pullout trash cans, upstairs laundry rooms, a built-in pest control system, keyless garage entry, gutters and hands-free pantry lights.

William “Bill” R. Pannoff, owner of BB Catering and Event Planning in Spring Lake, has joined the community advisory board for Methodist University’s Lura S. Tally Center for Leadership Development. The center promotes leadership among Methodist students.

“From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens — the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house and the garden of the mind’s eye.” — Katherine S. White

December is a great time to dress in three or four layers of clothing and take a winter walk around your garden; shake off any snow or ice on bushes and plants before limbs are damaged. It’s a perfect time to look at your landscape and see where you might want to make some changes.

Remember how you wanted to fill up the garden space immediately and planted plants close together to get the effect? Now everything is crowded together and the plants are not getting the proper amount of sun or nutrients. Are there holes you didn’t notice in the frenzy of the growing season? Has something gotten way too large for the balance of the garden? Start making notes on what you would like to change next year.

Garden catalogs will be arriving in your mailbox soon — use them to help you make decisions about what to add, change or remove in your landscape. Mark the plants and seeds you want to purchase for your garden, note how long it takes to germinate the seeds you are thinking of buying and whether the plant likes shade, sun or a bit of both. Decide where each plant is going to fit in your yard or in containers on your patio, deck or at the back door. A calendar with writing space will help you remember when to start your various garden tasks.

• Ho, ho, ho, Santa! The Yakima County WSU Master Gardeners have been compiling their wish lists for the coming year. Family and friends might find it helpful to have your wish list of gardening tools, containers or decorative items, gardening supplies, books or gift certificate suggestions to make their shopping easier. It takes the guesswork out of gifting and you’ll be happy to receive something you’ll really appreciate and use.

If you are looking for gift ideas for gardening friends or family members, here are some ideas that any gardener would appreciate finding under the tree or in their Christmas stocking this holiday: You might look through the gardening magazines at the store and pick one or two to wrap up and put under the tree. Depending on your budget, you could add a year’s subscription to a magazine of the gardener’s choice. You might make a scrapbook into a gardening journal for a customized gift. There are many interesting and helpful books available on a variety of gardening topics. Children can give “gift certificates” for a time commitment to help plant seeds in the spring, spend two hours weeding the garden or help with other gardening chores.

Since most gardeners like whimsy in their gardens, think about giving some garden art. The Yakima Area Arboretum, most garden centers and other stores have various items of garden art, such as colorful wind chimes, stepping stones, garden signs, gazing balls, small statuary, bird houses, etc. Think color, like some bright blue hiding around the corner.

Hands are the hard worker of the gardener so you might consider a “wardrobe” of gloves: soft Fox gloves for transplanting, nitrile gloves for plain ol’ weed pulling, sturdy leather gloves with long cuffs for rose pruning and other “prickly” work. Daily gardening gloves wear out quickly so we need new pairs every year. Buy the rubber coated cloth gloves by the three-pack, add a good hand cream and become your gardener friend’s favorite gift-giver!

Tools are always a welcome gift and the most popular is a quality pair of pruners. Other ideas are a water meter to accurately water indoor and outdoor plants or a small indoor plant tool set in a nice tote. Some gardeners like an outdoor apron with pockets in which to put a favorite tool, gloves or cellphone.

Trying to manage the garden hose can be tedious so you might consider giving a hose holder like “Gecko’s Toes.” A handy tool that can take the work out of cultivating hard soil up to 8 inches deep is the “Dirt Ripper.”

A “scuffle hoe” (also called an oscillating hoe) that moves backward and forward and cuts weed roots off just below the surface is another hardy gardening tool.

A claw or hand fork for weeding, planting and working small areas, a spading fork, a hard-toothed metal rake, shrub clippers, loppers, a wheelbarrow, plastic bucket and a small tarp are other items that might be much-appreciated gifts for your gardening family member or friends.

Lastly, consider a gift of a ticket to the February Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle, registration for one or more of the Yakima County Master Gardener Spring Seminars being planned for March or a gift certificate to a local nursery.

• WSU Extension Master Gardener Program is an organization of trained volunteers dedicated to horticulture and community service. Questions about gardening, landscaping or this program can be directed to the Master Gardener Clinic at 509-574-1604, or visit us at the WSU Extension office, 2403 S. 18th St., Suite 100, Union Gap. New volunteers welcome.

The sand-colored, midcentury modernist office tower was still functional but showing its age. Systems were working, just not as efficiently as those in buildings of the LEED Age. The building had good bones, good space and good views, and would cost hundreds of millions to replace.

It was time for it to break out of its box.

No, not the former HSBC Center in Buffalo.

This makeover candidate was the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in Portland, Ore., a “fraternal twin” of Buffalo’s One Seneca Tower.

Now, after a total top-to-bottom, inside-and-out makeover, the Portland building is virtually unrecognizable from its former self. The dated 18-story edifice has been turned into a 21st century showcase for environmentally friendly, energy efficient, sustainable architecture.

The Green-Wyatt building is just one of several siblings of One Seneca around the country, all about the same age and bearing the well-known, practical profile favored by their “parents,” the architects at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

While most of the other siblings have undergone their own updates and reconfigurations to keep up with tenants and the times, it is in Portland where, with the help of more than $100 million in government money, the renovations went to the extreme.

“It was renovated as a model space for LEED for the federal government,” said local architect Barbara Campagna, referring to standards for environmentally friendly and energy efficient buildings.

She is familiar with the Portland project from a stint working for the government in the Northwest.

“It is just an example of what could be done,” she said.

While its size and private ownership make a complete redo of One Seneca Tower financially impractical, the building will become largely vacant soon due to the departures of three major tenants and leave room for some intriguing possibilities.

And, after the recent announcement of major “green” manufacturing coming to Buffalo, the remaking of Green-Wyatt could supply some ideas.

“Before” photos show Green-Wyatt as a smaller version of Buffalo’s landmark tower.

“After” pictures reveal a dramatic upsweep of glass and metal, capped with a jaunty rack of solar panels.

“The outside was completely removed,” Campagna said. “They have covered each exterior level with environmentally suitable materials, depending on which direction they faced.”

The renovation was years in the planning, Campagna said, and, while it could be used as inspiration, the entire project would probably be too ambitious to duplicate here.

“It takes a big effort,” she pointed out. “And it isn’t cheap.”

The price tag: $139 million, paid for with money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

To update the building, James Cutler and SERA Architects reinvented the way the interiors and exterior worked, from the heating and cooling systems to water use, turning it into one of the most energy efficient buildings in the country, according to the General Services Administration.

It lists among its technological innovations solar thermal panels to help heat its water, a solar roof to bring in 3 percent of its electricity, elevators that generate power when they descend, shades on the facades that respond to sunlight, and a 165,000-gallon cistern to collect water for toilet flushing and landscaping.

Some improvements will take years to pay for themselves, but even small savings in a building the size of One Seneca Tower can be significant.

Architects: Taller Hector Barroso
Location: Federal District, Mexico
Architect In Charge: Hector Barroso
Collaborators: Alejandro Cortina, Rafael Montiel, Flavio Velazco
Area: 635.0 sqm
Year: 2011
Photography: Yoshihiro Koitani

From the architect. Cumbres House is located inside a residential area in Santa Fe, west of Mexico City. 

 

The project is developed around a central patio which provides different views, natural lighting and cross-ventilation to the interior spaces. This void acts as the medullar element on the design process. It is the in situ result of the restricted views, the lack of visual elements in the surroundings and the land’s unfavorable location.

The different areas of the architectural program are built around this contemplative patio. The living-dining space is set by a visual and functional continuity between interior and exterior creating the effect of the garden blending with the living and dining room, continuing to extend to the interior patio.  When both fronts are completely open, natural light effects, extended views and ventilation are emphasize.

From the entrance façade, the house materiality is accentuated by a tripartite composition, recreated in a contemporary form. First, a rough and moist basing is materialized in pine wood, resembling a light plinth supporting the weight above. A raw volume on top, made of natural stone reinforces the monolithic and mineral aspect of the house.

At the end, on the third level, the roof is used as the fifth corbusian façade, where the movement of lines and lightness opposes to the inferior volume. On this last level, the only cover is a floating slab with steel beams shielding a living room with a 360 degrees view over the surrounding mounts. Again, continuity between interior and exterior is made through sliding crystal panels which grant an effect of lightness to the structure.

Founded in 2010, Taller Hector Barroso is focused on architectural projects at different scales. In each project, an artistic and scientific investigation methodology is used in order to accomplish specific solutions. Being curious about the critic on architecture and exchanging ideas, we give great importance to the collaboration with engineers, designers, landscaping designers, lighting designers and other disciplines, along with the clients, looking for a positive enrichment in each project. We believe that trough design and ethics the people’s quality of life can be improve.

© Yoshihiro Koitani

© Yoshihiro Koitani

© Yoshihiro Koitani

© Yoshihiro Koitani

© Yoshihiro Koitani

© Yoshihiro Koitani

© Yoshihiro Koitani

© Yoshihiro Koitani

© Yoshihiro Koitani

© Yoshihiro Koitani

© Yoshihiro Koitani

First Level Plan

Roof Plan

Second Level Plan

Section A

Don’t forget that one of the places you can visit to see a holiday lights display is Ethel M Chocolates Botanical Garden at 2 Cactus Garden Drive in Henderson near the intersection of East Sunset and Mountain Vista.

Each year for the past 10 years employees have strung more than 500,000 holiday lights for visitors to enjoy. The facility covers more than 3 acres and features more than 300 species of plants suitable to our desert environment. It is one of the oldest and best examples of desert landscaping in the valley.

Q. With all the beautiful rain that we had recently, what should we do regarding future watering? Has it been enough water to just stop watering until after the first of the year?

A. Rains come in all forms. This one was rather unique in that it came down over a nice, long period of time giving it a chance to soak into our landscapes instead of running off the surface and into the streets.

Landscapes are supposed to be contoured to force rain off landscapes and into the streets. Once water enters the streets they act as “storm sewers” and help remove water from properties. If landscapes are not contoured correctly it is feared that water might accumulate on the landscape and flood homes, causing damage.

For gardeners who are interested in “harvesting” water on their property, this rule may seem to be counterproductive but it is meant for the “general good.” There are ways to store water and improve the effectiveness of rainfall such as dry stream beds and pools, but you must be careful when doing this. I will post some ideas on my blog as examples.

As a general rule we consider about 40 percent of our rainfall to be what we call “effective.” This means that 40 percent of the rain, four-tenths to every inch, actually gets into the soil where it is stored rather than running into the streets. This rain event however was more “effective” than most.

Another problem was that the rain was not evenly spread throughout the valley. This makes it hard to make a general statement about how long to turn off irrigation systems.

For shallow rooted plants like flowers and turfgrass they will still need a couple of irrigations the rest of this year. Deeper rooted plants, such as trees and large shrubs, can probably get by.

Unless you know your rainfall amount, I would count this rainfall as a single irrigation event, skip one irrigation and then continue irrigations unless we get more rain. The savings will still be significant.

Q. I believe you made an error last week about the Chinaberry tree. You said it “is also called Persian lilac and in the United States we sometimes call it the Texas umbrella tree.” I do not believe that the Persian lilac is related at all to the umbrella tree. We had both in our yard years ago, and they were quite different.

A. Thanks for your comment and you are right, there is more than one plant called “Persian lilac.” This is where the common names can be confusing.

The Chinaberry tree (Melia azedarach) can also be nicknamed the Persian lilac because of the perfumy flowers it produces in spring. You can Google any of these names.

There is another plant, also called Persian lilac (Syringa x persica), a hybrid lilac closely related to common and Chinese lilac, which is probably what you were growing.

We have the same problem with another plant we call mock orange. Locally, our mock orange is a Pittosporum. This is not the same mock orange known by most of the country. When I was in school, mock orange was a totally different plant with the scientific name Philadelphus coronarius, a flowering relative of hydrangea whose flowers were used for garlands because they have a strong citrus fragrance.

I do not to use scientific names in my column but common names can be confusing for this reason.

I appreciate these comments because I’m sure others were thinking the same.

Bob Morris is a horticulture expert living in Las Vegas and professor emeritus for the University of Nevada. Visit his blog at xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com.

Livingston County News File Photo

Worms move abut at Worm Power in Avon. The high-nutrient worm castings product made from cow manure is much richer than compost and works well as an additive to potting soil, among other garden uses.

MASTER GARDENER

Gift ideas for gardeners

The holiday season is upon us, and many of us are thinking about gifts. I have a few gift ideas for gardeners you might like to consider:

 A subscription to “Gardening Gazette”, a publication of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Livingston County. Cost for 12 monthly issues is only $10 per year, and includes color photos. This gardening information appears in my mailbox when I need it. Call the CCE office at 991-5420 and they will help you order it. All of the published information pertains specifically to Livingston County.

Worm Power, a high-nutrient worm castings product made from cow manure. The manure is produced at Coyne Farms in Avon, then composted by worms at Tom Herlihy’s business called Worm Power. It is much richer than products sold as compost. It works well as an additive to potting soil, for establishing transplants in the garden, and for top dressing during the season. It is available at J A Farm Market just north of Lakeville, or online from Gardeners Supply (888 833 1412). You can learn more about this product at WormPower.net. A video of the production process is included on this site.

Compost/topsoil mix from Al Landscaping in Lakeville. The owner, Al Roome, donated some of this for a raised bed I had built for some developmentally disabled adults in Lakeville. The plants went nuts! It is available by the cubic yard. You can have some delivered, or he will sell smaller quantities loaded in your truck or in 5 gallon buckets.

Hardscape materials, perhaps a palate of stones. We gardeners don’t often buy materials like this for ourselves, but it can be fun and satisfying to create a path or wall.

Garden Art from The Artful Gardener, 727 Mt. Hope Avenue in Rochester, near Mt. Hope Cemetery. This shop features beautiful art created by local artisans, who are listed on the web page at theartfulgardenerny.com. You should probably involve the gardener in selection of artwork, since taste varies a lot.

A really long-handled trowel. I bought one from Lee Valley Tools (800 871 8158), they call it a micro spade. It works not only for digging weeds without bending, but is also tall enough (38.5”) to serve effectively as a walking stick. It has a nice bicycle-grip handle. Cost is only $9.50 plus tax and shipping.

Gardening books: one of my favorites this year is “Everyday Roses” by Paul Zimmerman. There are lots of good roses available on the marketplace now, that don’t need spraying, and don’t need to be mulched heavily for the winter. He covers many of them. One of my talks this spring at Wadsworth Library in Geneseo will be based on this book.

Of course, the Lee Valley and Gardeners’ Supply catalogs offer a wide array of additional products. I have ordered repeatedly from both of these sources, and have been pleased with the quality and service.

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The Rural Development Programme 2014­-2020 which will eventually be submitted to the European Commission for funding, was discussed at a public consultation earlier this month.

The synopsis presented contains positive ideas. The full report was not available being ‘a long and detailed document’ and ‘not easy to use for public consultation’. This greatly hindered more in­depth suggestions and comments.

Could it not have been uploaded on the department’s website?

The synopsis is based on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of rural development based on five themes, with objectives and activities for funding.

Theme 1 deals with water, wastes and energy.

Can water be managed in the absence of a national water policy? The present fragmented ‘management’ reveals a ministry digging a tunnel to channel rain water directly to the sea. Another purifying sewage water and dumping it in the sea. A corporation managing and distributing potable water while a secretariat is trying to plug holes and mend cracks in water reservoirs and cisterns.

Such lack of coordination and waste of financial resources, most of which are coming from the EU, does not augur well.

This was also pointed out by the representative of the Malta Water Association during the public consultation, adding that lack of access to the original draft report restricts discussions.

Activities suggest investment “in water management, abstraction…” Does this mean that abstraction will be funded when this is being tackled by another ministry trying to control and regulate it?

Theme 2 deals with Maltese quality produce, highlighting the need for quality assurance, poor enforcement of regulations and support for adding value as the major opportunities. The GMOs Pandora’s Box that farmers and consumers are being offered and possibly swallowing and the ever-increasing public rejection of GMOs can be capitalised upon by the farming community. Not only was this not even referred to but a farmer’s representative was heard saying that farmers cannot do without GMOs!

Theme 3 refers to sustainable livestock.

A positive item under activities to be funded is the support “for activities that reduce livestock farms’ impact on the climate and environment”. This can perhaps address the issue of past EU funds used to build such livestock farms on sensitive water table areas, rendering the water so nutrient rich and unusable.

Theme 4 deals with landscape and the environment.

The objectives are great and the wording is even nicer. But this is another subject where fragmentation reigns supreme.

Landscaping is under the responsibility of the Ministry for Transport where the main driving force is devoid of any ecological input.

Mepa is the competent authority (on paper) under the responsibility of the Prime Minister’s Office. It is no secret that Mepa has rarely raised a finger to protect any tree and often turns a blind eye to all mutilation, uprooting, chemically-killed trees and introduction of alien species.

Local councils, under the responsibility of the Ministry of Tourism, go on a rampage ‘pruning’ trees with no questions asked.

The reply to my question as to who will be the regulator in such landscaping was no reply at all, sending shivers down my spine. The sanest political, technical, administrative, ecological, economical, legal way forward is that the regulator has to be the Minister for the Environment. This will ensure that there will not be any cow itch trees, fountain grass, flame trees et al or turf growing in rural areas. And EU funds will be used in line with EU obligations, not as has happened in the past.

The funding of “new skills and knowledge (that) will be required in terms of landscape management, ecological understanding, conservation and practical skills” is a good idea if well managed and executed professionally.

The maintenance and restoration of rubble walls brought a rumble of disappointments by many who have been waiting for five and more years to restore the breach in their rubble walls. Breaches in rubble walls contribute to soil erosion, which fills valleys, and eventually is carried out to sea. Cannot photos and videos record such breaches to allow their immediate restoration and then farmers be reimbursed by the RDP?

A one day’s wait, especially during the rainy season, is too long for this fragile environment, resulting in ecological and additional expenses.

The wider rural economy and quality of life are addressed under theme 5.

Among the objectives listed is the development of bed-and-breakfast business, which is also a good objective.

However, if its implementation does not encompass the ecological impact it can be bizarre in such a small island State, the more so when experts and representatives involved in such activity omit biodiversity experts and the Ministry for the Environment, whether by conviction or for convenience.

The unnumbered delivery section outlines other actions, including ‘valley management/landscape management partnerships’ and a ‘rural resource hub’.

The first is urgently necessary even from an ecological point of view but, God forbid, if this is executed on the lines of past years without any holistic professional input but just by bulldozing earth to temporarily please the eye and inflict ecological damage.

The ‘rural resource hub’ is also welcome and can fill the void and neglect so conspicuous during the last decade.

The once beneficial government experimental farm has, during the last years, been used more by domestic cats, dogs and pets.

The once experimental farm can help educate, train, give technical knowledge advice and hands-on experience to all stakeholders in rural development.

These are but a few reflections and suggestions on the abridged consultation document, without having access to the original draft and keeping in mind that “precise details may well change over the next year, as discussions and agreement are still being developed in Brussels”.

Unfortunately, the economic bias of such a report completely dwarfs the sensitive ecological obligations. The outline nonetheless contains important and useful points that can contribute to rural development and Maltese biodiversity with some dotting of the I’s and crossing of the T’s.

[email protected]

http://alfredbaldacchino.wordpress.com

Alfred Baldacchino is a former assistant director at Mepa’s environment directorate.

An effort to refurbish the historic water tower pump house in downtown Oregon is moving ahead thanks to a resident who’s spearheading the project.

Randy Glysch moved to Oregon in June and has been working with village officials and contacting landscaping businesses about donations for the first phase of what could ultimately become a restoration of both the water tower and pump house.

He plans to begin landscaping the pump house grounds on Janesville Street next spring. At the same time, Glysch would like to replace the small building’s windows and front door.

“We’re on this parallel track of fixing up the building and doing the landscaping,” he said.

Glysch said he’s contacted several local businesses – Kopke’s Greenhouse, Winterland Nurseries, The Flower Factory and Moyer’s Landscaping – and all were willing to help with donations of plants and shrubs.

“I’m amazed and humbled by how willing people are to provide stuff and help with the project,” he said. “Basically the landscaping is being donated – the whole thing. Sometimes it just takes asking people.”

Glysch has also talked with contractors about the pump house building, which was constructed in 1899 but has been neglected for years. In addition to needing a door and new windows – which will probably have to be custom built, Glysch said – the building also needs new tuckpointing.

The village has $3,300 set aside in a Water Tower Restoration fund, which Glysch said could serve as matching funds for a couple of grants he plans to apply for.

The application for a Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission grant is due in February. Oregon Historic Preservation Commission member Julia Meyers had previously applied for the grant but was unsuccessful.

Glysch has also been in touch with an official from the Bryant Foundation in Stoughton. He said the foundation typically funds only projects related to the Stoughton community, but with a nudge from Historic

Preservation Commission chairman Arlan Kay, the foundation did send Glysch an application.

“Funding is always a huge issue, and the water tower is in need of funding,” Kay noted.

Glysch said the Bryant Foundation is done accepting applications for 2013, “so we’ll submit a grant right after the first of the year.”

He also sent a letter to businesses located near the pump house to see if they’d like to make a contribution and met with the Oregon Area Senior Center, which agreed to place a donation box in the building.

“They put a nice little article in their newsletter, as well,” he said.

Glysch established the Friends of the Historic Oregon Water Tower earlier this fall and is accepting tax-deductible donations for the project through the village. He said donations can be sent to Oregon Village Hall, 117 Spring St., and will be maintained in the Preserve the Water Tower fund.

He plans to go back in January or February with a final landscaping plan for the Historic Preservation Commission’s approval, and “probably also some final plans on the windows and the door and tuckpointing.”

In an interview with the Observer on Sunday, Glysch said was “just blown away” at how his ideas were received at Moyer’s Landscaping.

He said one of the owners, Jeff Moyers, took his draft design for the landscaping “and is going to help create a very professional plan for it.” Moyers also talked about donating plants and the edging around the plants, he said.

Glysch has also applied to serve on Oregon’s Historic Preservation Commission. That appointment was on the Village Board’s meeting agenda for Monday, as was the commission’s recommendation that the board support the grants Glysch intends to submit for funding.

“If the water tower pump house wouldn’t have come along, I still would be interested in the commission,” he said. “I live in an old house, and it’s something I like and am interested in. And I’m interested in the community, as well.”

Glysch said he learned about the pump house and water tower by reading articles written by the late Joan Gefke, who served for many years on the Historic Preservation Commission.

“After I read about all the people who tried do something with this before me, I’m sort of humbled to try to carry on what they started,” he said.