This Landscape Architecture design studio represented independent work on a regional land use plan for a 100 square mile area in the Cascade Mountains east of Salem, OR.

The Elkhorn Watershed

The project's goal was to improve land use decisionmaking by using watersheds as an organizing principle for systems analysis and design instead of non-physical boundaries.

The watershed's primary land uses were logging, mining, and the quiet Elkhorn Valley Golf Course just few miles from the towering old growth forests in the Opal Creek Wilderness area.

Contour base plan before and after color rendering.

I hand-inked the base plan's contours from several USGS quad maps and shaded slopes with with graphite to represent available UV energy on the ground.

BASE PLAN - 3' x 8'

I suggested the land's inherent carrying capacity with color on a sepia paper print of the base plan.

CARRYING CAPACITY PLAN - 3' x 8'

Analysis took into account multiple overlays of soil, landforms, wind exposure, seasonal temperatures and hydrology.

SOILS - 3' x 8'
LANDFORMS - 3' x 8'
HYDROLOGIC GROUPS - 3' x 8'
Like hitchhiking, the outcome of this project depended more on personal resourcefulness than personal resources.

There were more plan overlays, but gaps in data prevented the project moving beyond the environmental analysis stages.

Role: Undergraduate Student

Course: Comprehensive Project Prep Studio

Setting: University of Oregon

Location: Eugene, Oregon

Year: 1982

Media: India ink and Caran d'Ache watercolor pencil on Clearprint drafting vellum