Changing the Center of Settlement in the Slocan Valley: An Exploration of One Opportunity Towards a New Configuration April Anne Anderson RPF BSc Forest Resource Management, University of Idaho, 1984 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Landscape Architecture The Faculty of Graduate Studies Department of Agricultural Sciences Landscape Architecture Program We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard Patrick F. Mooney^Associate Prpfessor, Department of Agricultural Sciences by in .Patrick M. Condon, Professor, Department of Agricultural Sciences Stephen RJ. Sheppard, Associate Professor, Department of Forest Resources Management/ Department of Agricultural Sciences The University of British Columbia Summer, 2004 © April Anne Anderson, 2004 JUBCl THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Library Authorization In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. April Anne Anderson Name of Author (please print) 26/04/1951 Date (dd/mm/yyyy) Title of Thesis: Degree: Changing the Center of Settlement in the Slocan Valley: An Exploration of One Opportunity Towards a New Configuration Master of Landscape Architecture Year: 2004 Department of Agricultural Sciences The University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC Canada grad.ubc.ca/forms/?formlD=THS page 1 of 1 last updated: 7-Oct-04 Abstract This thesis looks at the settlement configuration in the rural landscape of the Slocan Val ley and sees that it negatively impacts both the ecology and the "sense of place" there. It then explores how an unexpected and unique opportunity that suddenly materialized - a new public space - could be taken advantage o f to change the settlement configuration in the future, to ameliorate these impacts. The new public space is substantial and powerfully positioned: fifty kilometers long and thirty meters wide, it is a continuous corridor running the entire length of the valley - the former Canadian Pacific Rai lway, deactivated as a rai l line, and designated "rails to trails" status. This new public corridor - "The N e w Commons Corridor" - dedicated to non-motorized movement, could change the settlement configuration in the Slocan Val ley from one focused on motorized vehicles, centered on the highway to one focused on human-measured movement, centered on the commons, by becoming the new center of settlement. The premise o f this thesis is that such a configuration would be beneficial in two strongly connected ways. Firstly, that it would be a more ecologically sound settlement configuration, protecting the integrity of the Val ley ' s myriad ecological systems. Secondly, that it would be a more socially sound settlement configuration, one where a much greater "sense of place" could begin to build. Far from being anachronistic, the ideas put forward by this thesis reflect current sensibilities that stand in stark contrast to the sterility and waning relevance o f car-centered development. This thesis is a spatial exploration o f the feasibility of the N e w Commons Corridor being a catalyst for such change in the rural landscape o f the Slocan Val ley. Landscape ecology methodology was used for this spatial exploration, which is carried out both "by hand", and using Geographic Information Science. The concepts central to this thesis, "Sense o f Place", and "Human-Measured Means o f Movement" are explored chiefly through the philosophy of Mart in Heidegger as interpreted by Christian Norberg-Schultz and applied by Christopher Alexander, and "Ecology-Based Settlement Configuration", "Ecology-Based Planning" and "Landscape Ecology", are explored chiefly through the work o f Richard T .T . Forman. K e y Words: "Sense o f Place"; "Ecology-Based Settlement Configuration"; "Corridor"; "Slocan Val ley" ; "Slocan Val ley Heritage Tra i l " . TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Table of Contents iii List of Appendices vii List of Figures viii List of Tables ix Acknowledgements x Dedication xi 1.0.0 A N OPPORTUNITY (IN DISGUISE) FOR RADICAL CHANGE page 1 1.1.0 Opportunity Identified: the Slocan Valley Heritage Trail page 1 1.2.0 Opportunity Described: A Catalyst for Change page 4 1.3.0 Opportunity Explored: Summary of Thesis Objectives and Intent page 6 2.0.0 STATEMENT OF THE TWO-FOLD PROBLEM: ISSUES OF ECOLOGY AND "SENSE OF PLACE" IN RURAL LANDSCAPE page 8 2.1.0 Historical Context of the Settlement of the Slocan Valley page 8 2.1.1 Settlement and Population page 8 2.1.2 Transportation page 12 Pack Trails, Ferry Lines and Rail Lines Roads and Highways 2.1.3 Exchange Entities page 14 2.1.4 Power page 14 2.2.0 Ecological Concerns of Settlement Configuration in Rural Landscape page 15 2.3.0 The "Wildland - Urban Interface" Crisis page 16 2.4.0 The Problem of "Sense of Place" in Heroic Landscape page 19 3.0.0 TERMS OF REFERENCE AND DEFINITONS page 24 3.1.0 Defining Settlement Configuration page 24 3.2.0 Defining "Sense of Place" and "Place-Making" page 25 Existential Place - Philosophy Naturalistic Place - Geography Existential and Naturalistic Place Represented in this Thesis "Sense of Place" as "Dwelling" "Sense of Place" as Boundary "Sense of Place" as Exchange "Sense of Place" as Healing through Building "Sense of Place" as Ecosystem Integrity 3.3.0 Defining Human Measured Movement page 37 The Role of "Means of Movement" in Settlement Configuration The Concept of "Measure" Our "Means of Movement" Shape Our Measures of Place Means of Movement Proposed by this Thesis Desirable Characteristics of Human-Measured Means of Movement 3.4.0 Defining Ecology-Based Settlement Configuration page 43 iii 3.5.0 Comparison o f Ecology-Based Planning with Other Human Planning page 43 3.6.0 The Four Spatial Characteristics of an Ecology-Based Settlement page 47 Configuration Explored by this Thesis 4.0.0 M E T H O D O L O G Y : A L A N D S C A P E E C O L O G Y A P P R O A C H page 50 4.1.0 The Landscape Ecology Planning Process page 50 4.2.0 Landscape Ecology Precedent: A n Ecosystem-based Landscape page 51 Plan for the Slocan River Watershed 5.0.0 R E S U L T S : D E S C R I P T I O N , I N T E R P R E T A T I O N A N D A N A L Y S I S page 55 5.1.0 Information and Data Sources page 55 5.2.0 M a p Identification and Symbology page 56 5.3.0 Description: Context: Heroic Landscape Character page 57 5.4.0 Interpretation, Ecosystem and Analysis, Terrain and Ecosystem: Landscape Ecology Appl ied to this Thesis page 58 5.4.1 Determining and Delineating the Study Area Extents page 59 (the Upper L imi t o f the Glaciofluvial Terraces) 5.4.2 Determining and Delineating the Fluvial Terraces page 60 5.4.3 Classifying Forest Cover page 60 5.4.4 Recognizing the Two-Sided Nature o f the Val ley / Study Area page 64 5.5.0 Description: Va l ley Bottom Profiles page 65 5.6.0 Analysis , Quantitative: Areas, Densities, Distances page 66 5.6.1 Exist ing Settlement Configuration page 66 Means of Movement Human-Measured Movement-Defining 2 km Radius Exchange Node Habitation Location and Density Exchange Entities Overlay of Settlement Configuration Components Identifying the Exchange Nodes Description o f Slocan Park - Passmore Exchange Node Description o f Win law Exchange Node 5.6.2 Spatial Analysis o f the Relationship Between the Three Linear Elements page 76 Buffering the River Buffering the Highway Area Available for Settlement Synthesis of the Three Linear Elements and Existing Settlement 5.7.0 Description and Analysis: The 100% Surface Survey page 86 5.8.0 Analysis and Description: Suitability Analysis and Design Guidelines page 88 5.8.1 Suitability Analysis o f Two Locations on the Corridor page 89 Slocan Park - Passmore page 90 Win law - Win law Hamlet page 98 iv 6.0.0 M A P S A N D I M A G E S S E C T I O N page 103 Maps and Images for Section 5.3.0: Description: Heroic Landscape Character of Thesis Content 1. Va l ley Wal ls and Water 2. Digi tal Terrain Models of the Study Area in its Heroic Landscape Context 3. Digi tal Terrain Models o f the Study Area in its Heroic Landscape Context 4. Heroic Landscape 5. Slocan Val ley Profiles 6. Slocan Val ley Profiles: Detail Maps and Images for Section 5.4.0: Interpretation, Terrain and Ecosystem 7. Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover 8. Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover: Detail Slocan Park 9. Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover: Detail Win law 10.Settlement Configuration: Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover (digitized) 11 .Heroic Landscape and Settlement Therein 12. Heroic Landscape and Settlement Therein, with Lotlines Maps and Images for Section 5.5.0: Description: Val ley Bottom Profiles 13. Va l ley Bottom Profiles 14. Va l l ey Bottom Profile Applied: Lehahdo Flats Maps and Images for Section 5.6.0: Analysis, Quantitative: Areas, Densities, Distances 15.Settlement Configuration: Movement 16. Settlement Configuration: Habitation: Pattern and Density. 17. Settlement Configuration: Exchange Entities 18 Settlement Configuration: Overlay o f Habitation, Exchange and Movement 19 Settlement Configuration: Exchange Nodes 20.Exchange Nodes: Density: Winlaw and Slocan Park 21 .Exchange Nodes: Forest Cover: Win law and Slocan Park 22.Settlement Configuration: Movement: Three Corridors Analysis 23.Settlement Configuration: Movement: Three Corridors and their Relationship 24. Proposed Area Available for Settlement 25. Proposed Area Available for Settlement - Detail o f the Two Exchange Nodes Maps and Images for Section 5.7.0: The 100% Surface Survey 26.100% Surface Survey 27. Sample Data Sheets and Map from the 100% Surface Survey 27A: Data Summary of Surface Condition: Slocan Ci ty to Slocan Park Maps and Images for Section 5.8.0: Suitability Analysis and 5.8.1: Two Examples o f App ly ing the Suitability Analysis 28.Suitability Analysis 29.Settlement Configuration: Slocan Park and Passmore Exchange Node-Forest Cover 30.Slocan Park and Passmore - Orthophoto with Forest Cover and Exchange Entities 31 .Slocan Park and Passmore 1:6000 map with Section Locations 32.Slocan Park - Passmore Exchange Node Settlement Configuration Concept Plan 33.Slocan Park to Silva Point 1:6000 map with Section Locations 34. Slocan Park Settlement Configuration Concept Plan Detail 35.Silva Point to Passmore 1:6000 map 36.Silva Point to Passmore Settlement Configuration Concept Plan Detail 37.Slocan Park to Passmore Settlement Configuration Concept Plan Detail 38. Passmore Photo Collage 39. Passmore Photo Collage: the Lodge and the Community H a l l 40.Settlement Configuration: Winlaw-Winlaw Hamlet Exchange Node - Forest Cover 41 .Winlaw to Lebadho Orthophoto with Forest Cover 42.Lebahdo Flats Val ley Bottom Profiles 43 .Winlaw to Win law Hamlet Orthophoto with Forest Cover and Exchange 43A. Win law and Win law Hamlet 1:6000 map 44. Win l aw Val ley Bottom Profiles 45. Win law Photo Collage 46. Win law Exchange Node Suitability Analysis 47. Win law - Win law Hamlet Settlement Configuration Concept Plan 48. Win law Hamlet 1:6000 map - Topography Analysis 49 .Winlaw Hamlet Topography Floodplain Analysis 50.Winlaw Hamlet Topography Floodplain Analysis: Higher Ground and Ridges 51 .Winlaw Profile W 2 and W 3 52. Win law Profile W 2 and W 3 Detail: Useable Corridor Right o f Way 53. Win l aw Profile W 2 and W 3 Detail: Amenity: Bear Protection Hut 54. Win l aw Hamlet Site Plan: Spatial Allocation: Movement, Habitation and Exchange 55. Win law Hamlet Site Plan: Identification o f Movement, Habitation and Exchange Entities 56. Win law Hamlet Site Plan: Movement, Habitation and Exchange Detail 57. Win l aw Hamlet Site Plan: M a i n and SouthGateway and South End o f Perimeter Promenade 58. Win l aw Hamlet Site Plan: North Gateway and North End o f Perimeter Promenade 59. Win l aw Hamlet: Amenities and Enrichments 7.0.0 C O N C L U S I O N page 105 8.0.0 B I B L I O G R A P H Y page 106 vi List of Appendices Appendix 1.0 Landscape Ecology Defined/Landscape Ecology Planning Principles page 110 Appendix 2.0 Permission to use Photos page 113 Appendix 3.0 Map Specifications page 115 Appendix 4.0 Traffic Volume Counts for Slocan Valley page 116 vii List of Figures Figure 1. The Slocan Valley Rail Line: Memory and Myth page 1 Figure 2. Perry's Bridge page 7 Figure 3. Slocan City and Slocan Lake, Looking North page 7 Figure 4. Slocan City Warf, 1890 page 9 Figure 5 First Houses in Slocan Park, 1913 page 9 Figure 6. Japanese Internment Camp, Lemon Creek page 10 Figure 7. Pack Train in Slocan City, 1897 page 12 Figure 8. Train on Barge in Slocan Lake, 1900 page 12 Figure 9. Train in Slocan City, 1918 page 12 Figure 10. Imagery of Place Embedded in Heroic Landscape page 20 Figure 11. Valhalla Lakes: Super Human Scale of Imagery and Experience page 21 Figure 12. The Valley Bottom page 21 Figure 13. Human Acts of "Place-Making", Slocan Park page 22 Figure 14. "Sense of Place" as Scenery page 23 Figure 15. Human Acts of "Place-Making", Winlaw page 23 Figure 16. "Slocan Dark" page 28 Figure 17. Passmore Beach page 28 Figure 18. Slocan Park Settlement Configuration, 2003 page 36 Figure 19. Appledale Settlement Configuration, -I960 page 36 Figure 20. Centers of Social Exchange in Slocan Park page 36 Figure 21. Lotlines that Disregard Topography and Ecology page 45 Figure 22. Special Feature, an Essential Element of "Sense of Place" page 49 Figure 23. Up the Kokanee.. .Myth and Memory page 54 Figure 23. Legend for the non-digital map Settlement in Relation to page 63 Forest Cover Figure 24. Enlarged Section of Habitation Pattern and Density map page 72 Figure 25. Aerial photo of Passmore page 84 Figure 26. Enlarged section of Suitability Analysis Table page 85 Figure 27. 100% Surface Survey Volunteer Photos page 86 Figure 28. 100% Surface Survey Data Sheet page 87 viii List of Tables Table 1. Regional District of Central Kootenay Census Data page 11 Table 2. Settlement Configuration Phenomena: Three Components page 24 Table 3. The Four Characteristics of Ecology-Based Settlement Configuration page 35 Explored in this Thesis, and the "Place-Making" Patterns from A Pattern Language that Demonstrate the Characteristics Table 4. Land Categories of the Slocan River Watershed, Identified by page 51 the Silva Forest Foundation Table 5. Data and Information Sources page 55 Table 6. Map Identification and Symbology page 56 Table 7. Landscape Ecology Analysis of the Study Area page 58 Table 8. Description of Forest Cover Types page 62 Table 9. Location and Actual Size of Valley Bottom Profiles page 65 Table 10. Summary of Corridor Characteristics page 70 Table 11. Description of the Nature of Exchange per Exchange Entity page 74 Table 12. Five Kinds of Disturbance Addressed through the River Buffer page 80 Table 13. Reports examined for information about buffering the highway page 82 Table 14. Correlation between the Corridor Categories and the Landscape page 85 Design Units Table 15. List of Maps page 103 ix Acknowledgments Technical, material, logistical and morale support for this undertaking were generously provided by many people. Patrick Mooney, thesis chair, provided consistent and conscientious direction, identifying crucial steps along the way, and Stephen Sheppard and Patrick Condon, thesis committee members, provided enthusiastic engagement with the project, and insightful critique. Suzanne Simard, comrade and mentor, provided guidance and encouragement for the final work. Jaleen Grove, multi-media-meister, was endlessly patient and generous in all matters related to technical production! The U B C Geography Department GIS teaching and lab assistants, Jose Aparicio, Tara Sharma and Erik Scheifer, were limitlessly knowledgeable, helpful, and patient! Evan McKenzie provided expert technical assistance with aerial photo interpretation, and with the critical early analysis of the project - thinking through and setting up the methodology. He oversaw, and assisted with the forest cover mapping phase. Tom Bradley provided technical wizardry and assistance in GIS, and developed a new technique for deriving the valley sections. On behalf of the Slocan River Streamkeepers (who accordingly now have access and rights to this work) he digitized the original forest cover mapping undertaken by this thesis. Leslie Anderton, Geography, Selkirk College provided an invaluable resource, the 1971, 1:6000 map series of the Slocan River valley bottom. She also reviewed the early typing work, discussed its applications, and provided critical information about the valley bottom floodplain and river dynamics. The Ministry of Forests Arrow Forest District provided the data and maps for the project, and allowed the use of the associated aerial photos. In particular, Dan Reibin answered millions of questions regarding the data and GIS applications, and B i l l Cummin made the initial gesture of support from the district. The Silva Forest Foundation generously allowed the use of their library, containing a wealth of books and publications specific to the area. The Slocan Valley Heritage Trail Society members made an essential and enormous contribution by conducting the 100% surface survey of the entire length of the trail, and the early torch -bearers, Larry Avis, Judy Laret and Susan Eyre, are the reason the Trail came to be. Cindy Pearce and Robin Clark were constant and uplifting friends throughout this thesis, and Doug and Sue Adair provided heroic and unfailing logistical and morale support, beyond all reason. So many more thanks are in order.. .for food, firewood, friendship, and foolishness when it was most needed. Finally, by their steadfast belief in me, my mother and my daughter gave me the courage to undertake this thesis, and the determination to finish it. For Ben xi 1.0.0 AN OPPORTUNITY (IN DISGUISE) FOR RADICAL CHANGE 1.1.0 Opportiinity Identified: The Slocan Valley Heritage Trail The Slocan Valley Rail Line was deactivated in the mid 1980s. There was an intense battle fought by local and regional environmentalists to prevent this deactivation, especially the removal of the tracks, as this final act of deconstruction made it irreversible1. The battle was lost, and focus turned from a "Save our Rails" campaign to a "Rails to Trials" one, resulting in the formation of the "Slocan Valley Heritage Trail Society" (SVHTS), which has worked ever since towards securing this land as public space2. It is curious that there is such strong enthusiasm for this newly available public space, in this landscape where there is no shortage of open space/non-privatized land. In urban settings, the desire for both public and open Figure 1: The Slocan Valley Rail Line: Memory and Myth Photo: Unknown space reflects the preponderance of privatized space and the scarcity of places where people can travel or gather unimpeded by this privatization; I think that it reflects a fundamental human need to maintain some land that belongs to everyone and anyone, where access is a birthright. But even more important than access and openness, public space seems pivotal to the identity of place. "Sense of place" seems to derive largely from, or at least to be greatly strengthened by, space that is shaped by and dedicated to the community; public space and places for human interaction seem to contribute more to "sense of place" than does space shaped by and for the individual, private realm. In rural settings, where open space is abundant and there is no imminent threat to its access, and no immediate impetus to set some aside to remain "open", this passion for "public space" seems to be related 'But the powerful "trucking lobby" won the battle, and the highway was taken over as the main means of exporting the output of the existing sawmill in Slocan (and coincidentally, wood chips to the newly expanded pulp mill in CasUegar). Traffic and "wear and tear" on the highway increased substantially, making the highway more dangerous for, and frustrating to local traffic; furthermore, it's the tax-payer who pays for road maintenance and medical costs due to highway accidents - a cost of operation for the pulp mill and sawmill. 2In May 2004 the " Slocan Valley Heritage Trail" was officially designated by Tourism British Columbia. 1 to this other phenomenon, the role that public place and communal space plays in identity of place, to a fundamental need for the existence of public place and communal space as elements of a "sense of place", and thus identity for a community. Christopher Alexander3 explores this in "Pattern No. 67: Common Land", one of the design guidelines of his masterpiece A Pattern Language. He says: "Without common land no social system can survive. In pre-industrial societies, common land between houses and workshops existed automatically...the paths and streets which gave access to buildings were safe, social spaces, and automatically functioned as common land. But in a society with cars and trucks, the common land which can play an effective social role in knitting people together no longer happens automatically...streets do not function as common land, and buildings [are often] entirely isolated from the social fabric... they are not joined to one another by land they hold in common...common land is a social necessity, as vital as the streets". "The common land has two specific social functions...it makes it possible for people to feel comfortable outside their... private territory, and [so]... to feel connected to the larger social system, and it also acts as a meeting place for people. This latter function is not met by the larger public [spaces] - community facilities and parks - do not fit the bill.. .they do not provide a base for the "fluid, common activities that a house cluster shares"(Alexander et al., 1977, pp.337-8). Alexander is saying that there is a need for common ground that serves for the daily casual meeting and communication of one household to another, on ground belonging to neither exclusively, but rather to both communally, and that this is essential to "sense of place". Alexander again talks about this need for common ground in "Pattern No. 129: Common Areas at the Heart" where he describes the need for common area thusly: "No social group - whether a family, a work group or a school group, can survive without constant informal contact among its members" (Alexander et al., 1977, pp.618-621). The analogy of "common areas at the heart" speaks directly to the New Commons Corridor, situated as it is, in the very center of the valley, and running unbroken for its entire length. In his recent masters thesis, Niko Lipsanen explores the role of public space in "sense of place". He cites Vincent Berdoulay, who says that "the notion of place is associated with 'public space' through culture and everydayness (Berdoulay, 1997, pp.304-306)... public space [is] a focus of interaction and a medium for producing meanings of place"(Lipsanen, 2001). My first involvement with the SVHTS was as a director, and our early focus was to maintain a presence and profile for the project in order to support the enthusiasm and interest for it within the community. Our meetings, membership campaigns, and projects were meant to keep the idea of it alive while we waited for the evolution of the "rails to trails" movement in general, and the "Trans-Canada Trail" in 'Christopher Alexander is a mathematician and theoretical architect who's seminal work, A Pattern Language, is a pivotal work on the phenomenology of "place-making". 2 particular, to gain momentum and provide us with spin-off, trickle-down guidance and benefits for the advancement of our own project. My interest in the trail was first engaged, not so much by the usual business of user conflicts, liabilities, funding proposals, surfacing, and motorized versus non-motorized use (although these things are very important and provide rich design opportunities), but by what I found much more engaging and intriguing about this space, a profoundly powerful metaphor of living movement, and of "cohesion" and "knitting together", a sensation of things being tied and linked and joined by this strong thread running the entire length of the valley, enlivening it along its way. The "trail"4 (and I could never call it that, as it seemed a much more substantial entity than an arbitrary, primitive byway, and a much more sophisticated (highly designed and engineered) means of movement than a mere "trail") was a living entity within the landscape whose characteristics brought to mind metaphor of the human body. I felt that it could be a sinew of connective tissue for the scattered habitations along its length, an artery in the bloodstream of the place, providing the lifeblood of movement within it, and the heart providing the pulse of daily exchange. This imagery only grew stronger as my involvement with the project continued. The "trail" for me was always a living, energizing, catalytic entity for the place and the people who live there. It was my involvement with SVHTS that first caused me to reflect upon the relationship between movement (and means of movement) and settlement, and the way that the means of movement within the landscape shapes settlement and inhabitation there. Ernest W. Burgess (1886-1966)5 likewise used such corporal metaphor to describe human settlement and movement within it. He described the structure and function of human settlement and inhabitation by using word imagery that embodies the time and motion of physiological systems in both the "human" and the "natural" realm. In the introduction to The Growth of the City: An Introduction to a Research Project, editor Robert Park explains how Burgess used metaphor of the human body to describe the phenomenon of settlement and movement within places: "Seeking to describe what he called 'the pulse of the community', Burgess devised a theory that was thoroughly organic, dynamic, and developmental ... [his] model of urban growth is based on a theoretical diagram of a dynamic process Burgess called 'succession', a term he borrowed from the science of plant ecology to describe "urban metabolism and mobility"(Park, 1969). 4 "a track made by passage especially through a wilderness; a marked path through a forest or mountainous region" (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. 1980) 5Ernest Watson Burgess was the 24 t h president of the American Sociological Society; he played a central role in defining the urban research program of the "Chicago school" of sociology at the University of Chicago. 3 Park's introduction further describes how "Burgess's sense of urban dynamism and vitality captured the essence of those more lyric conceptions of the city such as Lewis Mumford's notion of "the urban drama"6 and Jane Jacob's "ballet of the streets"1. Burgess asked about "the internal movements of the population... what movement is going on...and how [it] may be measured". He categorized movement (as precursor to measuring and analyzing it) as: "from residence to residence, change of occupation, labor turnover, movement to and from work, [and] movement for recreation and adventure"(Burgess, 1969); this movement is part of what Norberg-Schultz calls "exchange", a fundamental component of settlement (see Section 3.1.0). Burgess said: "Mobility may be thought of, in more than a fanciful sense, as the ''pulse of the community'. Like the pulse of the human body, it is a process which reflects and is indicative of all the changes that are taking place in the community" (Burgess, 1969). Eventually, the imagery I had of the "trail' distilled to two strong elements: human-measured movement8 through virile and varied landscape, and places where the movement slowed in response to its surroundings, and where a reaction between the movement and the surroundings generated "something special", something different, some "thing" that I began to call an "event", and finally an "enrichment". This powerful image of slowing movement and simultaneously increasing the elaboration and richness of things was clearly a vision of human building and interactions, the daily human activity of everyday life -what I later discovered Norberg-Schultz to call "dwelling" and "exchange"(Norberg-Schultz, 1985), and Alexander and others to call "place-making" (Alexander, 1977). It all seemed to tie together: the corridor of movement through its surrounding landscape, a slowing of the movement where an interaction between the corridor and the surroundings generated an enrichment, and an increased engagement with, or complexity of the things that occurred at, that enrichment. These early images and metaphor persisted and eventually evolved into this thesis: the trail as corridor; the corridor as human-measured movement; human-measured movement as center of settlement, and settlement as enrichment along the way. 1.2.0 Opportunity Described: A Catalyst for Change This thesis explores how a new public space in the Slocan Valley could be a catalyst for changing the settlement configuration in this rural landscape. The space is substantial and powerfully positioned. Fifty kilometers long and thirty meters wide, it is a continuous corridor running the entire length of the valley, vying with the river for its center, and it is newly added to the public realm. It is a space expressly made 'Lewis Mumford. 1961.The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations and its Prospects, p.184 7Jane Jacobs. 1962. The Death and Life of Great American Cities, p. 104 8 "human-measured movement" because "rails to trails" projects are almost exclusively for non-motorized means of movement; "human-measured means of movement" is denned is Section 3.3.0 4 for movement, and firmly embedded in the history and culture (the memory and myth) of the place; it is the former Canadian Pacific Railway, deactivated as a rail line, and designated "rails to trails" status. Rails to trails projects are now common throughout Canada and the United States, and many have been or will be linked together, forming a mostly linear network of public connectivity across the continent9. The prevailing objectives and foci of these projects are to provide recreation and tourism opportunity, as well as this connectivity of public space across the land. Another recognized objective of these projects, more difficult to actuate because it involves more far-ranging factors and other phenomena than just the trail system itself, is to provide a means of non-motorized movement, "human-measured movement" (see Section 3.3.0) within and between communities, for carrying out the business and purposes of everyday life; the trail becomes a corridor, imbued with greater utility and intent. This thesis explores this latter objective, to see how such a corridor could shape settlement and place within the landscape, and how in turn the corridor would be shaped and detailed by the settlement and place surrounding and serviced by it. This objective has more meaning and purpose than single-minded recreation and simple connectivity; it is connectivity to definite ends and means, and recreation embedded in the movement of daily living. The thesis then takes this objective a step further and suggests that this corridor of public space dedicated to human-measured movement should be the center of where people live, the center of settlement. In essence then, this thesis examines how the introduction of a new public corridor (called "the New Commons Corridor" hereafter) dedicated to non-motorized movement could change the settlement configuration in the Slocan Valley from one focused on motorized vehicles, centered on the highway to one focused on human-measured movement, centered on the commons. The premise of this thesis is that such a configuration would be beneficial in two strongly connected ways. Firstly, that it would be a more ecologically sound settlement configuration, protecting the integrity of the Valley's myriad ecological systems. Secondly, that it would be a more socially sound settlement configuration, one where a much greater "sense of place" could begin to build. This thesis is a spatial exploration of the feasibility of the New Commons Corridor being a catalyst for such change in the rural landscape of the Slocan Valley. 9 In Monday Magazine, Issue 41, Vol 28, October 10-16, 2002, Dr. Briony Perm explores the phenomenon of dwindling public access to the surface of the earth, and the fact that we are rapidly losing the right to move freely across and upon it; The article looks closely at the bigger question of what "public", "access", and "human rights" are, and by looking at access as "where we [can] still move without paying or breaking the law". 5 1.3.0 Opportunity Explored: Overview Summary of Thesis Objectives and Methods This thesis looks at the settlement configuration in the rural landscape of the Slocan Valley and discovers that it negatively impacts both the ecology and "sense of place" there. It explores how an unexpected and unique opportunity that suddenly materialized could change the settlement configuration for the future, as more settlement occurs in the area, to ameliorate these impacts. This thesis is a spatial analysis of the feasibility of the New Commons Corridor being a catalyst for such change. To that end, this thesis: • Describes the landscape character and landscape ecology of the Slocan Valley, as context to its settlement configuration; • Analyzes and represents the existing settlement configuration in the Slocan Valley; • Explores the concept of an ecology-based settlement configuration, and how it both protects ecosystem integrity and engenders "sense of place"; • Analyzes and represents the role that a new public space, the New Commons Corridor, could play in future settlement of the valley within the context of an ecology-based settlement configuration; • Proposes two examples of such future settlement. The premises of this thesis, which are explored in the following sections, are that: • The word "place" implies human presence and cognition, and therefore "sense of place" implies human dwelling; "sense of place" derived solely from landscape is scenery; • The current settlement configuration in the Slocan Valley is too scattered and dispersed for 1) a human "sense of place" to develop; "sense of place" is derived instead from its heroic landscape; 2) it to be ecologically sound; it is rather an excellent example of rural sprawl; • The current population of the valley is not the focus of this new configuration; it is for future settlement, for a population that would embrace denser and less individualistic settlement; • An ecology-based settlement configuration that would plan for and design future settlement in the Valley would both protect its ecological integrity, and engender a human "sense of place" there; • There is real, actual opportunity here (because so little of the Slocan Valley is "settled"; 43% of the study area is undisturbed matrix (see Section 5.6.0)) to pioneer a process for the plan and design of ecology-based settlement in rural landscapes. Two concepts central to this thesis are "Sense of Place", and "Human-Measured Means of Movement". Myriad contemporary theorists in landscape architecture, geography and planning have written specifically about the former, and essentially about the latter, drawing on the foundational work of the philosopher Martin Heidegger, as elucidated by Christian Norberg-Schultz, and applied by Christopher Alexander (see Footnotes 31, 36 and 40). % Figure 2. Perry's Bridge, BC Archives, with permission Because this thesis is not intended as a thorough and exhaustive exploration of "sense of place" and "place-making", but rather looks at how an ecology-based settlement configuration engenders these things, and how the New Commons Corridor manifests in such a configuration, and because both this particular interpretation of the Corridor, and the idea of "human-measured means of movement" - stated and considered as such - are things unique to this thesis, this thesis does not for the most part look for substantiation in these other contemporary works, but rather goes directly to the fundamental philosophical sources (Heidegger, Norberg-Schultz and Alexander) and interprets them as they apply directly to its matter. For the same reasons, the third concept central to this thesis, ecology-based settlement, relies on the seminal work of Richard T.T. Forman (see Footnote 20) to substantiate its argument, rather than searching for sources that deal with circumstances closely resembling the ones in this thesis fkECIS-I tnadmjM IJ.63 - anoiJoalloa ssviito-ifl 38 *o (JSSJIUDO so .od . U O Q ,'nv i rloieod . u u i w 9 a s 9 M 6 :1 i 6m3 so .od . U O Q . 3 9 U i rto-ieod .www :daU M U 3 2 l l M D 8 j A Y O riGaolS :9lJiT Figure 3. The point where Slocan Lake becomes Slocan River (the north end-point of the study area); the rail line ends at the mill site on Slocan Lake. Photo is looking north, and is backwards in the archive; it was flipped for insertion in this thesis BC Archives, with permission 2.0.0 STATEMENT OF THE TWO-FOLD PROBLEM: ISSUES OF ECOLOGY AND "SENSE OF PLACE" IN RURAL LANDSCAPE It is easier to discuss how settlement configuration impacts ecology than it is to explain how it either encourages "place-making" and engenders "sense of place", or discourages and/or prevents them. Ecology is a science (recognized facts, agreed to procedures): experimental, measurable, provable. "Sense of place" is a feeling (an awareness, a perception, a sentience): phenomenological, philosophical, poetic. But this thesis proposes that they both depend upon ecology-based settlement, and that in settled areas, neither can be realized without the other; accordingly, Parts 2 and 3 explore how ecological integrity engenders "sense of place", and how "sense of place" depends upon inherent, intact ecology. 2.1.0 Historical Context of the Settlement of the Slocan Valley The purpose in this section is to cover only material that is immediately relevant to the history of the development of the settlement configuration of the Slocan Valley. A great wealth of historical records, narrative, stories and legends exists, all of which is engaging and worthwhile, and which would greatly enrich an understanding of the settlement in the Valley. 2.1.1 Settlement and Population It is estimated that small numbers of "Lakes" Indians, the Sinixt (a group distinct from the Okanagans to the west and the Kobtenays to the north) inhabited the Slocan Valley for five to seven thousand years. Four permanent villages and nine campsites have been uncovered and documented, and no doubt there are many more disguised and undiscovered on both sides of the river10 (Evans, 1976). Their population was decimated by the explorer era and its accompanying smallpox, influenza and measles epidemics, but their traditional lifestyle (and so their culture and people) was destroyed in any event by the incompatible uses of the land practiced by the European invaders. 'The last native people in the Slocan Valley were observed in the mid-1890s near Slocan Lake. After that, none of the European memoirs or records recollects their living presence anywhere in the valley" (Gordon, 2004, p. 108). With the "silver" rush at the end of the 19th century, the valley experienced a huge population explosion; from 1890 to 1893, towns of several thousand inhabitants arose overnight throughout the area, comprised of people from all over the world whose only commonality was the goal to strike it rich with silver and gold. By 1898, the population of Slocan City and environs was 6,000, and Nelson was the third largest town in the interior of the province with a population of 7,000. Slocan applied for city municipal status, 1 0 the most intact of these sites are immediately adjacent to the New Commons Corridor, between it and the river, just North of Lemon Creek; this area has been designated a protected archeological site, with ongoing research; these sites are kept as secret as is possible, in order to protect them - they do not appear on this thesis' maps. 8 but the excitement of the gold and silver fueled economy was short-lived,and Slocan City declined in population and bravado as quickly as it had arisen. By 1910 most mining had stopped, and those who stayed turning to logging and farming (Resken, 2001). ;AROYAI BC MUSEUM Courtesy o f BC A r c h i v e s c o l l e c t i o n s - C a l l Nunber: B-05366 Ueb: www.bcarchikies.gou.be.ca Email! access@uuu.bcarchiues.gou.be.ca C> - Prouided for Research Purposes Only - other Use Requires permissioi T i t l e : S locan Wharf Figure 4. Slocan City Warf, 1890, BC Archives, with permission It's hard to imagine, considering the strenuous and demanding lifestyles of logging and farming, but as early as there were European settlers, there was enthusiasm for mountaineering. The trails that the miners had hand-built into the high alpine, and their abandoned mining shacks and cabins became the destination and accommodation for adventurous hikers and climbers. The Kokanee Mountaineering Club was organizing summer hiking camps up at the Slocan Chief Cabin (See Figure 10) by 1916. On August 22, 1922, Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park was designated as a Class A park. It is 256 square kilometers and contains more than 30 lakes and 6 major glaciers (Gordon, 2004). . . C o u r t e s y o r BC R r c h i w a s c o l l e c t i o n s - C o l l H u n b o r : C-V979B ^ R O Y A I BC M U S E U M uebi uuw.bcarchi ues.90w.bc.ca Eealli accessSwuu. bcarchiues.gov.bc.ca for Research Purposes On I y — Other Use Reou I res Perm sslo A C o u r t e s y o f BC B r c h l v e c c o l l e c t i o n * - C o l l Hui f aor : C-0S799 ^•JJROYAI BC M U S E U M l*ab: uwu.ticarchlues.aou.bc.ca Email essvuuu ,bc arch i uvs.ooo.be. ca Other Use Requires Pertaisslcr Figure 5. First houses in Slocan Park, 1913, one on right is still there, BC Archives, with permission Besides the population resulting from the gold rush, two major immigrations occurred in the next 40 years, one of them voluntary, and one of them forced. In 1912 the first Doukhobor11 settlers arrived from 1 1 The Doukhobors were exiled from Russia because their interpretation of Christianity was deemed extreme in its opposition to violence (mcluding of course, war and so mandatory military service) and to laws other than those viewed as coming direcdy from God (mcluding of course, laws of taxation and any other laws regulating land ownership and citizenship in general). The first group came to Canada in 1899; 7500 of them arrived by boat and were settled, by the Canadian government, in Saskatchewan. They soon had major difficulties with the Canadian government, and a faction of 5000 of them undertook another exodus, this time to British Columbia. 9 Russia (by way of Saskatchewan). They have been the true "settling" force in the valley, establishing communities in Crescent Valley, Koch Siding (Passmore), Winlaw, and Perry's Siding, each with 50-100 members (Reksten, 2001). In the 1940s several hundred more Doukhobor families arrived from Saskatchewan, and they comprised about one third of the population of the valley in 1976. Their homesteads were models of agricultural abundance, and to this day they are the premier kitchen and crop gardeners in the valley, using mostly organic methods. Their cultural heritage is a strong and rich presence in the valley. An over-night addition to the population of the valley occurred in 1942, when 7,500 Japanese were interned in six camps, three of them south of Slocan Lake: Slocan, Bay Farm and Lemon Creek. By the end of WWII, many of the internees were employed in the community, and so were somewhat part of it, but few remained after the war, and Japanese people comprised only 5 % of the valley's population in 1976. Many individuals, and an estimated 225 families arrived during the 10-year period of 1960 to 1970, mostly from the United States. Speaking generally, these new people were of a very different socio-economic background from the existing populace. A typical profile would include liberal politics and lifestyle, post secondary education, often with masters and doctoral degrees, many with independent (of local jobs and resources) income, and a passionate, romantic, idealized love of the archetypal beauty of the place. These were the first valley inhabitants that did not depend primarily on the plac\e and its resources for a living. There was often intense conflict between these "new-comers" and the in-situ populace, especially regarding "resources" and their "use", but also just in everyday lifestyle and values. Regardless of this conflict, a common love of the Valley and its nature was a shared value, however different the details of its perception. The newcomers may have brought controversial changes and influences to the valley, but they also brought skills and experience in rhetoric and social action, skills which when combined with Doukhobor independent thinking shaped the Valley's political activism to this day, resulting in such things as the establishment of the 49,600 hectare Valhalla Wilderness Park in 1983 (after an 8 year campaign), formation of numerous watershed governance committees, and the landmark ecology-based forest management plan for the Slocan Valley, by the Silva Forest Foundation (see Section 4.2.0) P Courtesy o f BC A r c h i v e s c o l l e c t i o n s - C a l l Nunber: 1-60959 K O Y A t BC M i J S f U M ueb: www.bcarchives.Qoy.bc.ca Eaai 11 accessBwww.bcarchi ves.cw.bc.ca tC) - Provided for Research Purposes Only - Other Use Requires Permission T i t l e : Japanese-Canadian i n t e r n n e n t canp, showing schoo l Figure 6. Japanese Internment Camp at Lemon Creek, BCArchives The next wave of immigration occurred during the Vietnam War. 2.1.2 Transportation Pack Trails, Ferry Lines and Rail Lines 'I^ ROVAL BC MUSEUM Courtesy of BC Archives collections - Cal l feather: C-06132 Hebi ww.bcarchiues.gou.bc.ca Email: accessUwuw. bearchiues.oou. be. ca CC) - Provided for Research Purposes Only - Other Use Requires Permission. 5 Ti t le : Sainton. Pack Train For Slocan Star Mine Figure 7. Pack train setting out for Slocan, ca. 1890, B C Archives, with permission 'J'JROYAI BC MUSEUM Mining the Kootenay's gold, silver, lead, zinc and coal, located deep within ore-bodies, required heavy machinery; "pack mules would have to be replaced by the iron horse" in order to accommodate the vastly greater magnitude o f transportation capacity needed to exploit this wealth o f metals, and so it remained in place until the coming o f the railway (Resken, 2001). # Courtesy of BC Archive* collections - Call Nufiher: T-60340 ROYAL BC M U S E U M Uebi wuu.bcarehiues.90u.be.ca Eaaih accessOuuw.bearchiues.oou.bc.ee (O - Proulded for Research Purposes Only - Other Use Requires Perflilssloi Prior to the mining boom, the built transportation system throughout the southern interior was pack trail for mules, which sufficed for the gold panning and other commerce of the day. Next came travel by water. The immense, linear lakes, half a mile deep and 50 to 100 miles long were excellent routes for steamboat ferries, which were in place on all the lakes in the area by the 1900s. Courtesy of BC Archives collections - Call Hunher; F-02419 Ueb: luMw.bcarchiues.gwj.bc.ca Email: eccessOww.bcarctiiuea.gou.be.ca :CS - Provided for Research Purposes Only - Other Use Requires Permission Fi locan ca. 1918, B C Archives, with permission T i t l e : Engine 4131(1 with crew i n Slocan C i t y . Ti t le : The Si Slocan Rrriviits at Silverton Kith e Rail Figure 8. Train on barge, ca. 1900 B C Archives, with permission B y the 1880s, two transcontinental railways were approaching from opposite directions. From the north, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and from the south, the American line, the Great Northern, strove towards the rich and abundant ores in the Kootenays. Both railways built branch lines connecting the mines to ferry routes on the rivers and lakes. 12 Both railways also invested in the mining industry, thus consolidating their interests in transportation. The Great Northern built a narrow gauge15 line to connect the mines in Slocan to Kaslo on Kootenay Lake (thereby accessing ferry routes to the US). Later, the CPR bought the Kaslo line and converted it to standard gauge16, to make it compatible with the new rail line (the subject of this thesis) being built from Slocan City south, to meet the Great Northern line running West from Nelson along the Kootenay River. Roads and Highways By the end of the First World War, a primitive road had been built from Slocan City to Nelson, via South Slocan, on the West side of the river. Soon after it was built, private commercial transport service was started between the two cities. Katherine Gordon, a resident of the valley, recently completed a history of the Slocan Valley comprised of information from the extensive historical records in Nelson, and more poignantly, from narrative of people whose families have lived in the Valley since the turn of the century; since it was first "settled". Gordon unearthed stories and records of some of the first commercial means of movement in the Valley. "In 1926, daily service was provided, and by the 1930s, a competitor was providing service with his "seven-seater stagecoach bus", back and forth daily, carrying passengers and freight squeezed on top of each other". Even without passengers, his business survived on daily shopping orders from settlements along his route, "which initially did not follow the modern Highway 6, but meandered in the hoofprints of the former horse trail along the west side of the river"(Gordon, 2004, p. 174). This trail roamed from settlement to settlement, which frequently meant from door to door, a logical pattern for the days when every passing pack train or supply wagon stopped at each cabin or farmstead along the way. This new road meant undreamed of freedom for the residents of the valley. It was a link to the outside world - by which they could travel on a private and individual basis, according to their own needs and timing (instead of the communal, scheduled time table of the train) - and the metropolis of Nelson, even if they were able to travel there only a few times a year. Highway 6 was built in sections, on the East side of the river; in the 1930s it was built from Winlaw to Vallican, and soon after it was completed North to Slocan City and South to South Slocan (where it met Highway 3 that goes to Nelson). Built, but not paved! This wasn't undertaken until 1956, and completed in 1958; until then, it was a "pot-holed, bumpy trail of rock and gravel", shrouded in constant clouds of dust. When it was paved, the engineers also straightened out curves and grades, with true engineering insensitivity, right over turnip fields and gardens that got in the way (Gordon, 2004, p. 214). 1 5 Narrow-gauge track, already becoming a thing of the past, was only 3 feet wide, and had greater flexibility for navigating sharp corners and steep grades such as found in the mountainous Kootenays; it was also cheaper to build. 1 6 Standard-gauge track replaced narrow gauge; it was 4 feet 8 and one half inches wide. 13 2.1.3 Exchange Entities A comprehensive inventory of the development of exchange entities (see Section 3.1.0) in the Slocan Valley is beyond the scope of this thesis, but the ones relevant to it are as follows. The post offices (Slocan City, Crescent Valley, Slocan Park and Winlaw) were instituted in that order. There were previously many more elementary schools than there are now; Vallican, Appledale, Perry Siding, Koch Siding and Slocan Park all had one-room schoolhouses. Now there are just three, much larger, new elementary schools (Slocan, Winlaw and Crescent Valley) built in the 50s, and the high school in Crescent Valley; the high school in Slocan was closed in the last 10 years. The fire halls (Slocan City, Winlaw, Passmore and Crescent Valley) and one ambulance hall (Winlaw) were built in the mid-1980s, at which time properties also acquired "fire numbers"; until then, no one had a physical address (only post office addresses) and to this day, there are few "street" names. Locational names are colloquial and never sharply delineated. Other exchange entities that were pivotal socially and economically were the Slocan Valley Coop, in Slocan Park, started by a group of Doukhobor farmers sometime in the 1950s; it is the only substantial grocery and hardware store in the valley. The Credit Union (the only bank in the valley) opened in Slocan Park in 1957, in an old renovated trailer on the Coop property; its present new location and building (50 meters South of the Coop) came about in the early 1990s. The Slocan Valley Health Clinic opened in the cast off credit union trailer in the mid 1990s in Slocan Park. The Passmore Lodge is the only community housing project in the valley; it was built through fund raising and donated services for both its design and construction. The community halls were built since the 1950s; most are still in use. 2.1.4 Power The first power supplied to homes in the valley was in Slocan City in 1948... "...when the Ottawa Mine began allowing residents of Slocan City to use its excess electrical power, the system was greeted with delight by the locals, especially the women, but it was only ever intended to supply enough power for lighting. As people surreptitiously started plugging in toasters, irons and electric kettles, the light bulbs became orange blobs producing less light than a candle. The power drain got worse as people added new refrigerators and vacuum cleaners; Monday mornings were especially grim when ladies started their washing machines; the power plant manager (a local Slocan man) would simply increase the output to accommodate the usage, but when the larger appliances were turned off as the day wore on, the unwary who still had their lights on would watch in horror as bulbs exploded and wires fizzed and burnt with the excess power surging down the line (Louise Anderson, Slocan City Legacy)"(Gordon, 2004, p.208). Power production became a major export industry in the early 1900s. The West Kootenay Power and Light Company built hydroelectric dams on the Kootenay River; construction of the South Slocan plant was completed in 1929, and between 1942 to 1944, they constructed another dam on the Kootenay River 14 at Brilliant (at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers). In 1957, the company (now owned by C.P.Rail) had finally run power lines all the way to Slocan, and everyone along the highway had legitimate power for first time. Those living far away from the highway (and so the powerlines) on the West side of the river in places like Vallican had to wait until some time later. It is not uncommon for people in the more remote locations of the area to live without power, even today. There is a new (15 year old) 160 acre semi-commercial ranch ~ 2 kms off the backroad in Passmore, and a 60 acre original homestead at the end of the backroad in Slocan Park that manage quite fine without it. 2.2.0 Ecological Concerns of Settlement Configuration in Rural Landscape "The pattern of urban development in western Canada was strongly influenced by the railway, first in determining the very sites of hundreds of communities along its various lines, and then in contributing markedly to these center's economic and spatial growth.. .the pattern of urban growth in frontier areas of this period [the late 1890s] generally occurred in tandem with the advance of rail construction... in response to the need to tap the resource potential of woodlands and mountains"(Francis, 1986, p.273). The rail lines were the first means of movement to significantly shape European settlement in British Columbia; their routes were specific and few, and they served communal needs, which were primarily exchange - mainly commercial. Settlement was concentrated in towns, working farms being the exception, and reliance on neighbors for survival and identity caused communities to be efficiently configured. The arrival of the personal vehicle changed settlement configuration, and the concept of community forever. Although referring to the US, it was similarly so in BC that "unlike the previous pre-World War II decades, fossil fuel was cheap, vehicles plentiful, and local administrative units made the decisions with no thought of regional transportation planning"(Forman, 1995). Car ownership had a tremendously greater effect on the settlement configuration than did the rail lines in British Columbia, both in areas opened for settlement and configuration of settlement. In 1906 there were 200 vehicles registered in BC; in 1914: 6,668 registered vehicles; in 1920: 100,000 registered vehicles, and in 1931: 694,263 registered vehicles (14% of the population). Every increase in personal vehicle ownership caused increased road building and increased incursions into wildland (Reksten, 2001). Today, affluence and abundant personal vehicles have encouraged and made it easy for individuals to live in isolation, scattered throughout the rural landscape, ever more distant from the community upon which they depend for commercial exchange and public institutions and services. Rural settlement configuration 15 in British Columbia today is typically single family dwellings and out buildings on large acreages, scattered and dispersed far apart from each other throughout the landscape17, each having its own water and sewer system, and each consuming daily energy for transportation to and from the commercial and public entities upon which they depend for everyday life. Often these inhabitations are not "using" the land they live on for anything but dwelling, regardless of its potential as agricultural land or forestland. Such "communities" of far-flung inhabitation , when considered from just an efficiency perspective alone - efficiency of protection from fire or flood and provision of emergency services, efficiency of water usage, efficiency of energy consumption, and efficiency of land use (for its best purpose) - do not have an ecology-based settlement configuration. This inefficiency is a characteristic of rural sprawl. The settlement configuration defines what has come to be called the "interface" - the area of human inhabitation directly adjacent to, and affected by, surrounding wildland. Its reciprocal, the wildland that is impacted by human inhabitation, is not inferred by this term, which suggests an ignorance of the impacts of human inhabitation on this wildland19 and its ecological integrity20. Richard T.T. Forman21 says that a "radical approach" is necessary to shape future sustainable settlement in this interface, and that past transgressions entrench our present practices (Forman, May 2004, personal communication). 2.3.0 The "Wildland - Urban Interface" Crisis Urban and suburban "sprawl" are prominent issues in land use planning, and much attention has been given to developing design guidelines to mitigate the impact of urban and suburban communities on the ecosystems in which they reside. But the phenomenon of rural sprawl has not had such attention in our province, and design guidelines for rural places are practically nonexistent in British Columbia22. 1 7 A rough estimate (using the information in Table la, page, and GIS analysis) of the ratio between households and kilometers of public road is 1 household to 300m of road. 18"inhabitation" here includes all the building that supports it: houses, bams, stores, schools, community halls, etc. 1 9 The definition of wildland in this thesis is land that is dominated and shaped predominately by natural (non-human) forces (forestland that has experienced logging is still wildland, as it is primarily dominated and shaped by other than human forces); wildland that is remote (far from human activity and without roads) is wilderness. 2 0 According to Richard T.T. Forman "Ecological integrity could be measured as the single most important or sensitive attribute of an ecological system [for example, the existence of fully-functioning Mountain Caribou habitat determines the integrity of the Southern Selkirk Mountains, for a constituency that values Mountain Caribou]. At the other extreme it could be [the myriad] ecological attributes that must be maintained at a minimum level [in order to maintain the character and attributes of that ecological system, for example, attributes ranging from soil organisms to forest cover culminate in trees at the extent of their life span, which determines the ecosystem integrity of old growth forest, for a constituency that values old-growth forest] ^ Forman, 1995, p 499). 2 1 Richard T.T. Forman is professor at Harvard School of Design; he was an early promoter and developer of landscape ecology research, principles and applied practices. 2 2 as ascertained by literature search and through author's experience living in rural communities in BC for 30 years. 16 The impact of rural sprawl on wildland ecosystems and other fundamental land bases such as agricultural and forest lands is a matter of ongoing concern to environmentalists, but as is often the case, more immediate concern and interest results when it is nature that impacts man. In the summer of 2003, wildfires in British Columbia substantiated the predictions that have emerged in recent years about the escalating crisis in the wildland/urban interface, namely, the susceptibility of current settlement patterns to natural disasters - Kelowna, Louis Creek, and Salmon Arm 2 3 are three recent vivid examples. Other human-centric wildland/urban interface problems, while not as apparent as wildfire, are equally consequential. Watershed management is critical for domestic water supply, and viewshed management is increasingly complex as the interface rapidly changes and shifts with new settlement. An example of a wildland/urban interface problem that impacts the wildland side of the interface is fragmentation of the landscape, which is detrimental to many natural systems, one of which is wildlife habitat. "The process of habitat fragmentation involves the dissection of remaining habitat into a greater number of smaller and increasingly more isolated patches. Habitat fragmentation disrupts landscape connectivity... and may exacerbate or hasten the effects of habitat loss" (Gergel, 2002, p.208) Scientists in ecology and forestry are conducting research to identify "interface" (by which is meant the urban side of the line) areas at risk, based primarily on wildland forest condition, with only some assessment of how the existing urban condition renders habitation susceptible to wildland dangers. They have used this to develop hazard prediction and rating systems for the "wildland/urban interface" for some parts of the province (Blackwell, 2003; and Fire Smart, 2003). Most interface research focuses on what needs to be known about, and done to the wildland, in order to adjust it and make it more amenable to settlement aspirations; it focuses on "evaluating factors that affect the vulnerability of urban interface communities to fire impacts"(Cleaves, 2001, p. 14), rather than examining the reciprocal, the way human settlement impacts wildland. The January-February 2004 professional journal of the Association of BC Forest Professional (FORUM) was entitled "Fire in the Urban/Forest Interface"; it contained articles by prominent scientists24 in British Columbia who research fire ecology and behavior; not one of these articles referred to the impacts of settlement on wildland, rather, the articles focused on how forest management practices have endangered human life and property. This is only one example of the many professional journals published monthly with the same one-sided story. There is only tentative recognition of the need for a radical approach to the way that settlement in the rural landscape is allowed to impact wildland, and no work is being done to describe such an approach. These 3 communities experienced tremendous loss of property, and some loss of life, in summer 2001 and 2003. 2 4 Steve Taylor, Canadian Forest Service, has worked for 18 years in fire behaviour and ecology research in BC, the NWT, Australia and Argentina; John Parminter, BC Ministry of Forests research ecologist in fire management; Bruce Blackwell, fire management consultant and recipient of government funding for "interface" research. 17 One recent research exception explored settlement pressure on wildland (in the United States), focusing on what people perceive to be the root of the problem; it discovered a surprising awareness of the role that human settlement plays in interface dynamics. It found that the public (in an extensive area covering roughly one quarter of the US) is aware that settlement configuration is a far greater factor in interface issues than are wildland conditions. People acknowledged: • "the exponential growth of [rural] populations can bring too-rapid change, precluding a rural community's ability to effect timely responses", • [the ineffectiveness of] "reactive rather that creative planning" • "key issues are land use changes without adequate zoning and planning to control the impact on wildlands", • [the need for] "conservation designed subdivisions", • [the role that] "underlying attitudes regarding an adamant defense of private property rights" [plays in urban impacts on wildland]. In this report, substantial public commentary demonstrates not only the public's realization that human settlement configuration is the primary reason for the wildland/urban interface crisis, it also discovers an uneasy awareness that a crisis exists in the lack of appropriate, innovative, perhaps even radical planning to address the increasing inhabitation of the urban/wildland interface (Monroe et al., 2003). The same crisis is happening in British Columbia as more and more people inhabit its rural landscapes. Rural sprawl impacts the quantity and quality of agricultural and forestland, impoverishing locally-based economies. For the most part, rural sprawl is unchecked by provincial, regional or local planning mechanisms (an exception is the BC Agricultural Land Reserve). For the well-being of both wildland and inhabitants, settlement in rural landscapes should be configured so that it: • considers ecosystem integrity first, with regards to the extent and location of settlement; • reduces conflict with the wildland in which it occurs, through specific design; • protects the "interface" community from natural disaster rather than endangering it; • focuses on environmental efficiencies, including efficient and productive use of land; • strengthens the "sense of place" in rural landscapes. This thesis proposal takes advantage of the current public attention to "the wildland-urban interface crisis" to discuss the role that settlement configuration plays in this crisis, and to propose, in keeping with Alexander's precept that all acts of building must be ones of healing (Alexander et al., 1977), and in keeping with Forman's dictum that radical transformation is needed in land use planning for sustainable 18 settlement (Forman, 1995), a radical change to the existing settlement configuration in the rural landscape of the Slocan Valley, made possible by the opportunity provided by the New Commons Corridor. As outlined in Section 3.6.0, these changes to the settlement configuration would be achieved by. • concentrating future settlement in the already altered part of the landscape (away from proximity to intact ecosystems); • locating future habitation close to (within the context of human-measured movement) existing exchange entities and public institutions, and designing future settlement to be a mix of both habitation and exchange; • centering settlement on an already existing means of movement that is engineered to highest standards, making it an excellent means of movement for even the most demanding of non-motorized means, such as wheelchairs or tricycles; • maintaining the river corridor in the public realm by creating a buffer zone of public realm on both sides of it. 2.4.0 The Problem of "Sense of Place" in Heroic Landscape The Slocan Valley is typical of many places in British Columbia in that its imageable identity is shaped 25 far more by heroic landscape than by human acts of "place-making" . The grandeur of its surroundings - massive mountains and vast forests; valleys that disappear deep within these mountains and forests and seem to go far beyond any physical end because there is no end in sight; swift rivers that often free fall through the steepness, and lakes that are known to be a half a mile deep and sequester giant white sturgeon that are decades old - are on such a super-human scale that people seem to think that human acts of "place-making" would be insignificant by comparison, or are unnecessary to the identity of the place. This is true at least of the collective realm of place; the private realm of place reflects the strongly individualistic character of the populace, thus creating a place made up of a collection of private paradises embedded in, and informed by, the heroic landscape. 2 5 Before anvthing else is said about what shapes "sense of place" in the Slocan Valley, two things must be stated as underlying all other factors. Firstly, Canada is a young country, barely out of the pioneer settlement phase in its rural landscapes. Many places in British Columbia are just now leaving behind a frontier mentality, exemplified by, for example, the attitude towards the role of natural resources in rural communities. This phase and mentality are only early precursors to human "place-making". Secondly, the people who have come to the Slocan Valley are for the most part very independent and individualistic; many came there in search of a somewhat solitary and unregulated lifestyle, and this lifestyle is not conducive to the human acts of "place-making" that strengthen collective, public "sense of place". 19 Sonny Bowles, Erin Anderson and Tracy Bowles, Kokanee Glacier -1986, Photo: Wendy Bowles Evan McKenzie and Mark Kehoe, Slocan Chief Cabin "Up the Kokanee" -1997 Photo: Doug Adair Figure 10: Imagery of the place where they live embedded in heroic landscape and the forays they have made into it. 20 In places such as this, communities and the individuals within them seem to form the part of their identity that is embedded in imagery of the place where they live largely from things they cannot see in their immediate surroundings, or see only rarely or only at a distance. Often it's from things that they can only see in their minds eye, from the memory of the many forays they have made into those surroundings, and the reasons that they made them. In heroic landscape, the imageable identity of place is a thing over which the inhabitants seem to exercise little control other than protecting viewsheds. But there are other factors that contribute to the lack of human acts of "place-making" in the Slocan Valley Figure 11. Valhalla Lakes: Super-Human Scale of Imagery and Experience, Photos: A A A Much of the settlement occurred after the explosion of personal vehicle ownership in the 1950s, when sprawl was not only accepted, it was planned for and encouraged by land parcel size and layout, and through the means of movement that were established to access these properties - Highway 6 and many kilometers of secondary roads which access few and far-between habitations. Of course, some of these habitations were originally working farms, but that has not been the case now for many years; with almost no exceptions, only hobby fanning is now practiced. Figure 12. The Valley Bottom Photo: AAAnderson Another factor is the low population. The study area is ~13,000^ hectares, and the population today is probably about 2,000 people. Such a low population, when it is scattered and sprawling, precludes the commonly found "sense of place" phenomena found in, for example, European rural landscapes of concentrated settlement in villages, surrounded by supporting farmlands and wildland. 26 By "study area" is meant only that part of the Slocan River Watershed that contains the New Commons Corridor (approximately one third the length of the entire watershed), and only the valley bottom, to the upper limit of the glaciofluvial terraces (See Section 5.3.2). 21 Furthermore, the population of the Valley has wildly fluctuated throughout its settlement history - Slocan The extreme nature of the exoduses that comprised the Valley's settlement - first in response to resource exploitation binges and booms, and later as a result of extreme sociopolitical immigrations of people -was not conducive to engendering a human "sense of place". First the gold seekers came by the thousands, and then left in a cloud of gold dust in a matter of 15 or 20 years; only a few remained and settled to form a foundation of the valley's population. Then the timber rush brought an influx of loggers looking to get rich, and this likewise blew over, leaving only as many as the timber industry could support, and those few that were willing to take up farming with the reformed miners. Then the Doukhobors arrived en masse from Russia (via Saskatchewan); they of all the exoduses remained and truly "settled", and added to the valley's people (but many were still strongly attached to Russia and thought of it as "home", and longed to go back, and some did). Then several thousand Japanese forcibly arrived during World War II and were interned in camps; they too all left as soon as they could. Then the "intellectuals and draft dodgers" arrived in the 1970s, many of whom remained to become part of the valleys people, but all of whom have their family ties and roots elsewhere, mostly in the United States. Many of these people regularly return "home" to visit family and friends in the US. Many don't, and never did rely on the Valley for a "living". There is a fractured sense of home here, a corifusion of loyalties, a longing for family, a sense of "misplaced-ness". Finally, the lack of public investment in the collective realm (which is due in part to the low population, resulting in a marginal tax base) greatly exacerbates the "sense of place"-less-ness. City was once truly a (legally designated) "city" with 5,000 people; in the 1950s it had to revert to the status of village, and now there are only 380 people living there. This population instability makes it difficult to realize concentration of settlement, one of the 4 characteristics of "sense of place" explored by this thesis (see Section 3.6.0). Figure 13. Human Acts of Place Making: drive-through espresso, Down-town Slocan Park Photo: AAAnderson 22 Figure 14. "Sense of Place" as scenery, not interacted with in everyday life, seen in photos and the minds eye, stuff of stories and memories: 1) Picking Huckleberries in the Alpine, 2) Ephemeral Alpine Flower Meadow, 3) A l l Day Hike up to the Eternal Resting Place of Fallen Warriors (Valhalla Provincial Park), Photos: A A A Whatever the causes, the Slocan Valley has little "sense of place" in its collective built form. "Sense of place" here is scenic - seen at a distance and not interacted with in everyday life, but only on special occasions - and something very clearly non-human; indeed, it is something that is thought to need constant protection from human disturbance. Figure 15. Everyday "Sense of Place": Downtown Winlaw; the West side of the highway and the East side of the highway - newly connected with a crosswalk. Photos: A A A 23 3.0.0 TERMS OF REFERENCE AND DEFINITIONS This section defines key concepts and terms pertinent to this thesis. It explores the relationship between ecosystem integrity and "sense of place", and presents material from each discipline (ecology, and "place-making") that supports the other, looking for concepts and words that inextricably tie them together. 3.1.0 Defining Settlement Configuration In this thesis, settlement configuration27 means the spatial arrangement of settlement phenomena within the landscape, which are identified as habitation, exchange and movement. Table 2. Settlement Configuration Phenomena: Three Components Habitation Exchange Movement Private Realm of the Individual It manifests in single family or multi-family Habitation, owned or rented. Collective and Public Realm of the Community It manifests in collective Exchange: grocery stores, gas stations, banks, liquor stores, cafes and restaurants It manifests in public Exchange: emergency infrastructure (ambulance and fire-halls), non-emergency infrastructure (health clinics, schools), community halls, parks, sport fields, cemeteries, and special places that are universally valued. Public Realm of the Community It manifests in the Means of Movement within and between settlement which makes possible both habitation and exchange; both are impossible without it: the river, the New Commons Corridor, the highway, and secondary roads Habitation is the component of settlement where people live. It is a private realm where the individual (or an intimate collection of individuals, a family or other partnership) has the most autonomy. It is a realm of individual "sense of place" and personal dwelling (the concept of dwelling is explored in Section 3.2.0), and it serves private, individual needs. Habitation includes all the buildings that constitute this dwelling. Examples in the Slocan Valley are houses, trailers, campers, barns, woodsheds and other outbuildings. Most habitation in the Valley is owned (there is very little rental habitation). Exchange is the component of settlement where individuals interact, thus moving them from the private realm to the collective and public realms. Exchange of goods and services, information and ideas, friendship and spirituality, and the partaking of public infrastructure serve common, community needs. 2 7This concept of settlement is adapted from Norberg-Schultz, who says that personal and community identity is defined by the three modes of dwelling: exchange (collective dwelling), agreement (public dwelling) and self (private dwelling), and embodied in their associated manifestations of the total environment: the settlement (exchange), the institution (agreement) and the house (self). Thus, according to Norberg-Schultz, by its very definition, exchange is implicit to settlement. "Settlement configuration" in this thesis is a spatial interpretation of Norberg-Schulz's theoretical/philosophical concept of dwelling (Norberg-Schultz, 1985). 24 Examples in the Slocan Valley are post offices, community halls, schools, parks, cemeteries, a communal living lodge, gas stations, grocery and liquor stores, a bank, a health clinic. Movement (and the means of the movement) is the facilitator of both habitation and exchange; neither can exist without it. It is the instigator of settlement, the enabler of habitation, and the facilitator of exchange; as such it is definitive to the settlement configuration of a place. Examples in the Slocan Valley are the highway and a huge network of secondary roads, the New Commons Corridor, and the river. 3.2.0 Defining "Sense of Place" and "Place-Making" "Sense of place" is so universally engaging - it has been the matter of poets and painters, philosophers and psychologists, geographers and historians, ecologists and landscape architects - depicted, described and designed (in short, represented) by myriad disciplines. Although I have come to understand "sense of place" and "place-making" through literature and imagery, for example, through the assemblage of writings, lectures and slides presented in "Theory of Place"2*, and more importantly, through my own life experience, they are intangible qualities, difficult to identify and define. The matter of this thesis warrants an exploration of the fundamental ideas "place", "sense of place" and "place-making", in order to identify how its proposals would achieve the objective of engendering and increasing them. Patrick Mooney29 defines "places" as "...spaces to which meaning, feeling or emotional attachment have been given," and he says that "sense of place" may be derived from the physical characteristics of the place, or that this emotional attachment can be achieved through individual, cultural or social processes" (Mooney, August 2004, personal communication). This definition is a good starting point, as it introduces essential concepts and characteristics of "place", "sense of place" and "place-making" (Mooney, 2004, personal communication). Niko Lipsanen's recent masters thesis about discovering "sense of place" explores the relevant research and literature; starting with definitions, for just the word "place", an ordinary dictionary has 52 meanings for the concept of 'place', including a merely spatial one (a location in space) and such things as "one's position in society or other circumstances", and something intangible occurring by "taking place" (Webster's Dictionary, 1989). But Oxford's Dictionary of Geography (Mayhew, 1997, p. 327) says 'place' is "an identifiable location imbued with human values", so not just a location, but a particular one, made particular by human values (Lipsanen, 2001) - Mooney's "emotional attachment". Lipsanen then explores perception of place: "Studying how people perceive places is not a subject of geography, but of psychology. On the other hand, studying places as perceived by people is a subject of 2 8 Douglas D. Paterson, Masters Level Course, UBC Landscape Architecture Program, Fall 2001 2 9 Patrick F. Mooney is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia 25 geography... the difFerence between these two points of view is definitive. When the subject of inquiry is changed from perception to [that which is perceived], the perception itself is not excluded from the study" rather it becomes its context: "its qualities of place ". J. Nicholas Entrikin (1991) calls this external context the naturalistic qualities of place, but says that places are also centers of human meanings (Mooney's "cultural and social processes"), which are the existential qualities of place (Lipsanen, 2001). Botond Bognar30 likewise explains this duality of place perception: "the understanding of place is a sensitive [as in "sense of] capability for both experiencing [the place as perceived by the observer -'naturalistic place'] and interpreting [the observer perceiving the place - 'existential place'] the environment, [which] involves the changing circumstances between the observer and the observed. In phenomenological31 observation, these two opposites must occur simultaneously, resulting in an in-between state"(Bognar, 1985) - thus phenomenology is both existential and material ("naturalistic"). Lipsanen discovered and then organized the concepts of place around these two fundamental realms of place: the "existential" and the "naturalistic. He found that the concept of existential place came first. Existential Place - Philosophy In his philosophical researches, Martin Heidegger32 discovered what is thought to be the oldest known theorizing about 'place' (it is thought to also be the oldest fragment of Western thinking33). He found there an exploration of the logical aspects of 'place' by early Greek philosophers; it was clearly a concept of existential place, and it informed Heidegger's later work on phenomenology and the concept of dwelling. Heidegger took from this work "the logical conclusion that place is a priori to all things" because "to be is to be in place, and from this follows that 'place' itself is nothing [without something "being" in it - a "being", as it were (and human; other animals don't so differentiate]; being "constitutes its own place"(Lipsanen, 2001). So, being implies place, and place does not exist without this being in it. Naturalistic Place - Geography Lipsanen found that naturalistic place - place as composed of the phenomena that constitute its physical reality - is most essentially expressed as "the genius /oc/"34. Lipsanen discovered that geographers and 3CBotond Bognar is a Professor of Design, Architecture and Urban Plaiuiing at University of California, Los Angeles 31Phenomenology is a method of inquiry into the relationship between people and the world in their unity, as opposed to Western understanding since Descartes, which sees this relationship as a sharp distinction of dualism. Phenomenology understands a world wherein people and their environment mutually include and define each other. Some pioneers of phenomenology were Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Gaston Bachelard (taken from t^ Phenomenological approach to architecture and its teaching in the design studio by Botond Bognar, 1985) 32Martin Heidegger was a pivotal philosopher of existential phenomenology; he was a student of Husserl 33the 'Anaxmander fragment', a treatise of Archytas of Tarentum, a Pythagorean thinker who lived in the Fourth Centrury BC; only fragments have survived, and they were written down by Simplicius (Casey 1993:14) 34genius loci is literally "spirit of place"; it refers to the particular character of a particular place, composed of a synthesis of all that can be sensed there, and created by the phenomena in existence there: topographic conditions (steepness or flatness, aspect, complexity or simplicity of the shape of the ground), climatic conditions (daylight and day length, wind, rainfall) and the biophysical phenomena associated with such topography and climate (flora and 26 other land scientists (as opposed to philosophers and poets, who deal mainly with existential place) usually refer to naturalistic place as "landscape". "Edward Relph35 asserts that place has a physical form... it is something perceived by seeing". But Lipsanen also discovered that some contemporary geographers, for instance Petri J. Raivo (1996:p.vii), consider the concept of place to be not a scenic, but rather a cultural landscape, an "intersubjective mental construction consisting of meanings and symbols which express the individual, communal and social values of a particular culture" (Lipsanen, 2001). Lipsanen concludes by saying that it is a "categorical confusion" to reduce "place" to any interpretation (scenic, cultural, or other) since the interpretation of place is not the place itself: "As Martin Heidegger (1985:35) says, it is not the case 'that in representing the representations, the representations get represented, but the things [themselves, are represented]'. So the "things " - the phenomena of existential and naturalistic place - represented as "a landscape" or "scenery" or (heaven forbid) "an intersubjective mental construction consisting of meanings and symbols...," are what constitute the place; the various interpretations and their representations of the place are not the place itself. Existential and Naturalistic Place Represented in this Thesis In the case of the Slocan Valley, some phenomena of the existential and naturalistic "sense of place" are: • the steep valley walls, their closeness to each other and their orientation, and the effect this has on light in the valley; • the cyclical nature of the behavior of the river throughout the year, and the human activities on the river that are associated with this cyclical behaviour; • the scattered and disconnected settlement configuration, and the amount of driving around in trucks and cars necessitated by this configuration. And some of the existential and naturalistic phenomena of the place that is Slocan Park are: • the long dark days of winter with no direct sunlight; • special places where the shape of the river creates swimming holes in July and August, and the fact that the river is deep enough under the bridge so that daredevils can boldly jump from the top of it into the river; • the widely separated homes on properties of from 5 to 25 acres, arranged linearly along roads mostly parallel to the valley walls, and the associated sense of separateness and individuality that this configuration engenders, and the way that people assuage this separateness with frequent trips by truck and car to the coop store or gas station, so they can encounter each other. fauna, rivers and lakes - and their attendant sensible phenomena (sight, touch, sound, smell). Spirit of place is the synergy of these phenomena - their complex interplay - "a largely intangible atmosphere, or, in Christopher Alexander's words, a 'quality without a name' (Botond Bognar, 1985, p. 189. 3 5 Edward Relph is Professor of Geography, University of Toronto 27 path of the sun on Dei "(10 minutes of direct light) Indeed, there is no representation that could be these phenomena. An obvious and simplistic example of this is the representation used for this thesis: state-of-the-art computer (GIS) mapping for both valley-wide plans and sections; painstaking "hand" work with paper maps and aerial and orthophoto interpretation; ultra-painstaking "hand" work with older non-digital high resolution maps from which were rendered by hand sections that spanned the valley bottom from side to side; and extensive photographic images and narrative. None of which could possibly tell how it is to live in Slocan Park on December 21st when there are only 10 minutes of direct sunlight, or on a day near the end of July when the river is the sublime archetype of purest water at the center, around which life and being gathers. Heidegger was referring to much more abstract (modern and post modern) representation than this, especially as it affects authenticity in building36 and Figure 16. The Problem w i l l i Slocan Slocan Park's valley form/landscape character as you approach it from the North (see also Figure 18, page 37), Photos: A A A Downtown SI inhabiting (See p.32, 2 n d paragraph), but this example serves to illustrate that "sense of place" is a synthesis of naturalistic and existential being that cannot be interpreted or represented; it is, as Heidegger came to identify it, a direct result of "the poetry of Being in the world", which he called "dwelling". Figure 17. Passmore Beach before landslide in 2000, Photo' Unknown 3 6 Norberg-Schultz (1988) and Alexander (1979) recognized this emergence of more and more representation in our lives and its ability to distance people from the phenomena of place, thus discouraging authentic "place-making". 28 "Sense of Place" as "Dwelling" Christian Norberg-Schultz37 took Heidegger's thought further along towards a definition of "place", to become a basis for the theories and practices of subsequent architects, planners and landscape architects. In Norberg-Schultz's essay The Concept of Place, he refers to Heidegger's seminal work on phenomenology philosophy, the lecture Building Dwelling Thinking, which was a milestone in the evolution of place theory. Norberg-Schultz explains that Heiddeger describes a "place" as somewhere "to-be-in", and that "to-be-in" is to belong to one's environment (Heidegger^ 1959), and that Heiddeger's philosophy of "Being in the World" eventually distilled to the concept of "Dwelling", which Heiddeger thought of as a kind of poetry made possible by the fact that humans are phenomenological beings, capable of cognizance. Our knowledge of our being (existential place) in the World amounts to poetry, and this poetry unites with our being in the world (naturalistic place), to become Dwelling (Norberg-Schultz, 1985). We are (our being), and our cognizance that we are (the poetry of our being), are united as dwelling (Noberg-Schultz, 1985). Norberg-Schultz goes on to say that Heidegger, in his essay Art and Spacen, talks about the difference between "space" and "place": [Heidegger]"in more detail discusses the twofold nature of spatiality. Firstly he [Heidegger] points out that the German word Raum39 (space), originates from raumen, that is, "freeing of places for human dwelling. The space opens a domain, in gathering things which here belong together. We must learn to understand that the things themselves are the places and that they do not simply belong to the place" (Norberg-Schultz, 1988, pp. 45-46). Thus Heidegger identifies that undifferentiated space becomes a place once humans gather things which there belong together - that is - build there. 'Things which here belong together" - the things that are in harmony with the genius loci, or the ecology of the place, are the basis of an ecology-based settlement. Norberg-Schultz explains that Heidegger says that places are "embodied by means of sculptural forms" and that these embodiments are the "characters which constitute the place", and that "sculptural embodiment is therefore the incarnation of the truth of Being in a work which founds its place". So, that part of "sense of place" which is human building (sculptural embodiment) results from dwelling (being, plus poetry (cognizance) of being), and it is inseparable from the dwelling that unfolds/evolves there (Heidegger, 1951). It follows that "sense of place" increases and intensifies with building, and with concentration of settlement. 3 7 Christian Norberg-Schultz was a Norwegian architect and architectural theorist, a major figure in developing a phenomenology of architecture and environment. His work draws centrally on Heidegger's flunking, and is a major contribution to grounding Heidegger's notion of dwelling in the practice of architecture. 3 8 Martin Heidegger, 1973, Art and Space. 3 9 Peter Collins attributes to this the very early appearance of the concept of space in German rhetoric: "Hegel's Philosophy of Art contains numerous uses of the term, as when he refers to buildings as 'limiting and enclosing a defined space'. He says Raumgestaltung can be thought of as "a small portion of limitless space"(Collins, 1965) 29 I find this so powerful, that place cannot be separated from its unfolding dwelling, but rather it comes into being with this unfolding; this implies that you cannot simply pick things out of the "place catalogue", or go down to the local "place shoppers depot" to get some "pieces of place" and then plunk them down in your "place" in order to create a "sense of place40"; rather, it is "the things themselves that are the places.. .they do not simply belong to the place", and these things are the result of unfolding dwelling, of and specific to its genius loci. I interpret this as "sense of place" derives from the things that manifest from the genius loci - the ecology of the place -, and building that evolves from, and in harmony with it. "Sense of Place" as Boundary Norberg-Schultz continues his own definition of place, starting again from a concept of Heidegger's, the rift, or boundary. Norberg-Schultz says "...we may say that a place is determined by its boundary" and "A boundary may also be understood as a threshold, that is, as an embodiment of a difference " and "Boundary and threshold are constituent elements of place" (Norberg-Schultz, 1988). Thus Norberg-Schulz and Heidegger say that boundary is essential to place; it follows that settlement must be clearly bounded in order to have "sense of place" - this is the antithesis of sprawl, and that there must be a discernible difference between the conditions on either side of the boundary - if one side is not "settled", the more concentrated the settlement on the other side, the greater the sense of boundary. "Sense of Place" as Exchange Norberg-Schultz talks about the lack of "sense of place" in modern settlement configuration in his collection of essays entitled Architecture: Meaning and Place. In the one entitled The Concept of Place, his opening sentence reads: "The concept of "place" has recently been given much attention by those who discuss problems of urban design and architecture. In the past it was meaningful to describe the human environment in terms of stable places, such as house, city and country. Today [the essay was published in 1988], however, we tend to free ourselves from these structures [from building] in order to live a more mobile life... As a consequence, Utopian projects appear in the architectural journals which illustrate the "mobile" environment of the future. It is interesting to notice, however, that these projects do not really manage to liberate themselves from the concept of place, even if they only define place in terms of relatively anonymous "mega-structures"... The real purpose of these "projects" is to obtain a deeper human contact and a richer interaction ... thus the American urbanist Milton Webber says: "The essence of the city is not place but interaction"(Norberg-Schultz, 1988, pp.27-29). This "interaction" is the exchange component of settlement; it follows that habitation that is near to and mixed with the exchange entities and public institutions of settlement "increases "sense of place" by enabling this "deeper human contact" and "richer interaction". Norberg-Schultz (in his discussion of these Utopian projects) is referring to the important shift during the 4 0 this describes, as Botond Bognar puts it "the almost total penetration of the market of modem mass-societies... which results in devaluation of the built environment to the level of consumable commodity" 30 last century from the concept of "sense of place" rooted in structure (and so in a particular, fixed "place") to "sense of place" rooted in mobility; he calls this latter "utopian", and describes modernism as embedded in "utopian projects" that harbinger the mobile environment of the future... he refers to this at one point as "utopian disintegration". He contrasts this with the contemporary work of others who still maintain that place must be rooted in structure if we are to have mentally healthy inhabitants. He says that Kevin Lynch, for example, maintains that "mobility may lead to the disintegration of human relationships" and that "man loses his sense of orientation if the environment lacks imageable stmcture...that [provides] an important sense of emotional security". He says that the study of Lynch implies a return to the concept of phenomenological [both material (naturalistic) and existential] place, and that Lynch's conclusions about the relationship between mental and emotional health and environment are of general validity, that is, that other research associates social ills with lack of a strong, physical "sense of place". Norberg-Schultz goes on to discuss the psychosis associated with alienation of man to his environment, stemming primarily from lack of regular, frequent, direct contact between the inhabitants of a place (Norberg-Schultz, 1988). This discussion is pivotal to the rationale of this thesis, that the "mobile environment" that encourages scattered settlement and discourages frequent and direct contact between inhabitants is detrimental to "sense of place". This "contact" is enabled by concentration of settlement, and habitation that is near to and mixed with the exchange entities and public institutions -the "imageable structure" of place. Norberg-Schultz discusses the similar theories of Christopher Alexander and says that "Alexander designs a habitat, that is, a "place" where man in addition to private dwelling also experiences a sense of communal participation" (Norberg-Schultz, 1985), in other words, a "place" where people's paths cross frequently, and their physical everyday living is richly entwined. This acknowledges the importance of the exchange component of settlement, facilitated when habitation is near to and mixed with exchange entities and public institutions, and when concentration ofsettlement allows it (see Section 3.4.0). Norberg -Schultz goes on to provide some examples of modernism that opposed Utopian disintegration, such as Siedlung Halen near Berne that featured a "well-defined group of dwellings designed by Atelier 5 (1959-1961)" and Colin St. John Wilson's project for the civic centre in Liverpool (1966) that proposed to "give back to the city its lost "heart". He points out that such projects are often dismissed as "romantic" or "anachronistic because they represent a return to a conventional understanding of "architecture". He says "The criticism is evidently a consequence of the contemporary aversion against the concept of place. When place is abolished, however, we simultaneously abolish architecture" (Norberg-Schultz, 1988). Norberg-Schultz is saying that "sense of place" is a physical phenomenon that is evidenced by "building". This "building" is the very "building block" of "place-making", human phenomena that allows our being in the world to be located, differentiated, identifiable, imbued with 31 human values, and emotionally attached.. .to a place. Norberg-Schultz and others say that this "sense of place" then engenders individual and collective mental and spiritual health. "Sense of Place" as Healing through Building Christopher Alexander41, a phenomenological theorist and architect, believes that the true, authentic role of building42 is its power to heal, and that it is by this healing that building instigates "place-making", and "sense of place". Throughout Alexander's work is the belief that all building must be an act of healing, healing in the sense of moving towards a state of more wholeness and more completeness in a cosmic sense. He seeks a way to return, through building (as creative act) to a state of wholeness that he believes has been lost in the building of modern Western society. Alexander believes that any new construction or re-construction, whether house or landscape, furniture or city square, "must be made in such a way as to heal the environment, where "heal" especially means "make whole""(Seamon, 1998). This wholeness is achieved when building is in harmony with the genius loci - the ecology - of the place. Alexander et al.'s seminal work A Pattern Language was the "practical tool that [he] developed to foster environmental wholes and healing" (Seamon, 1998). It describes in detail the making of place from its interlocking, interacting parts, by using what he calls a pattern language, the handed-down knowledge, skills and experience used in a place since it began, to make the archetypal components of a place. Bognar describes this as building where the "patterns...are neither arbitrary nor absolute...individual interpretations and preferences are... guided and structured by a hierarchy of patterns which have been verified intersubjectively... [through] regularly sharing and checking the [individual builders] own experiences with [those] of others"(Bognar, 1985). Alexander calls his pattern language a "conceptual method whereby the layperson or designer can identify and visualize the underlying elements and relationships in a built environment that foster a "sense of place"(Alexander et al., 1977). David Seamon43 describes Alexander's patterns as both descriptive and prescriptive; first they describe a particular element of the built environment that contributes to a "sense of place" (for example, pattern 14: identifiable neighborhood, or pattern 36: degree of publicness, or pattern 53: main gateway) and then practical instructions are given for how to realize the pattern (for example, for main gateways: "Mark every boundary in the city which has important human meaning)" (Seamon, 1985). 4 1 Christopher Alexander is a mathematician and architect who used lattice and semi-lattice theory as a basis to develop a language of interconnected concepts, or patterns, that he called "pattern language", a concept of continuously evolving building that develops incrementally as an identifiable place. 42"building" here is almost synonymous with "dwelling"; it means inhabiting a place and the things that gather there together from that inhabitation. 43David Seamon is a professor of architecture at the University of Kansas 32 "Sense of Place" as Ecosystem Integrity Seamon explains Alexander's intention as being concerned with "how activities, buildings, spaces and landscape can be designed to create places that are coherent, beautiful, and alive; in short, "place-making" that sustains dwelling". Seamon says that "an important focus of Alexander's work is how parts belong together in a larger environmental whole" and that "if an environmental whole is made rightly, it has a powerful "sense of place", which may help people who live in and use that place to have more satisfactory, vibrant lives"(Seamon, 1985). This concern for the "larger environmental whole" is what Forman says is critical to planning ecology-based settlement (see Sections 3.4.0 and 3.5.0). Alexander's concern for healing and wholeness in building and "place-making" correlates with a concern for the environment and its ecology in "place-making". His "authentic, true "place-making" that occurs only when it is in harmony with, and planned as part of "a larger environmental whole" is in keeping with the assertion that an ecology-based settlement configuration engenders "sense of place". Finally, Alexander's opinion that buildings, spaces and landscape must be acts of "place-making" that sustain dwelling correlates to the ethic of sustainability in planning. Many of Alexander's patterns for "place-making" can be correlated to the four characteristics of an ecology-based settlement configuration explored in this thesis, both generally speaking, because of his concern for healing and wholeness, and specifically, because many of the patterns exhibit these characteristics. Table 3 shows these relationships. My conclusions from this exploration of "place-making" and "sense of place" are that the word "place" implies both human presence and human cognition of this presence, and therefore "sense of place" implies human involvement. "Sense of place" derived solely from the landscape is scenery, and scenery cannot "make-place"; "making" is a human act. Scenery informs "sense of place" as landscape character, and the landscape has an inherent ecology and genius loci, which in turn informs authentic "place-making" and "sense of place", but there still must be some one to make the place. Furthermore, "sense of place" increases and intensifies with increased habitation and exchange. The above exploration of "sense of place" and "place-making" supports the premise that "sense of place" and "place-making" are engendered by the four ecology-based settlement characteristics 4 4 proposed by this thesis (see Section 3.6.0), that is, that "sense of place" is engendered by concentration of habitation mixed with exchange entities where routine, everyday exchange within the community is centered on 4 4 These are by no means the only dungs that contribute to "sense of place" and "place-making"; they are rather primary means for establishing a settlement configuration that engenders "sense of place" and encourages "place-making". As stated in Section 3.6.0, these are "the four spatial characteristics of an ecology-based settlement 33 human-measured means of movement that allow maximum human interaction with both other humans and the built environment, and by maintaining special features within the public realm, as pivotal to the identity of place. As Botond Bognar puts it: "A place is distinguished within its environment by its higher degree of density with regard to gathered events and meanings, and above all, by its capability to provide one with the feeling of being existentially inside and centered'YBognar, 1985), and as Alexander says, of special features: "...in every region, town, neighborhood... there are special [features] which have come to symbolize the area... insist that these sites be actively preserved... so that our roots in the visible surroundings cannot be violated... [and] among the special natural [features] we single out [water] because [it is] irreplaceable"(Alexander et al., 1977). Perhaps the best way to end this section on "sense of place" is with a powerfully evocative representation of it, a passage from Dead Souls, by Nicolai Gogol. Here he describes the "sense of place" felt upon approaching and then arriving at a village in the Russian countryside. The final paragraph here is the very crux of that which is "sense of place". "As the chaise twisted and turned, two village churches could be distinguished in close proximity, sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, peeping out from behind the stacks and the tumbeldown roofs. One of them was an abandoned wooden church and the other a stone one with yellow walls stained and cracked. Then the landowner's mansion came into view, at first in parts and then as a whole, when the chain of huts came to an end and gave place to an open space of orchards and cabbage patches ringed by a low and partly broken fence." "In places, the walls of the house revealed the bare laths under the plaster and, as was apparent, had suffered a great deal from all kinds of intemperate weather, rains, gales and the fickleness of autumn... An old and spacious garden, which stretched behind the house and into the country beyond the village, though overgrown and neglected, alone seemed to refresh this rambling village, and its wild landscape was the only highly picturesque feature of the place..." "...In places, the green thickets fell apart, illumined by the sun, and revealed the unlighted chasms between them, gaping like great dark jaws, plunged in shadow. In those dark depth could just be seen a narrow path, tumbledown railings, a sagging summer-house, a decaying and hollow trunk of a willow tree..." "In short, it was glorious, beyond the contriving of nature or art [human endeavour] alone, but possible only when they join forces, as happens when nature gives a final touch to man's configuration explored in this thesis". This does not imply that they are the only possible characteristics, only that they are ones deemed to be most relevant to the space that is the subject of this thesis (the Corridor). 34 Table 3: The Four Characteristics of Ecology-Based Settlement Configuration Explored in this Thesis, and the "Place-Making" Patterns from A Pattern Language that Demonstrate the Characteristics The Four Characteristics of Ecology-Based Settlement Explored in this Thesis Alexander's "place-making" Patterns that Demonstrate the Characteristics Concentration of settlement 28: Eccentric Nucleus 29: Density Rings 30: Activity Nodes 37: House Cluster 38: Row Houses 40: Old People Everywhere 48: Housing in Between 75: The Family 95: Building Complex 108: Connected Buildings 109: Long Thin House 123: Pedestrian Density 124: Activity Pockets Habitation that is near to and mixed with exchange entities and public institutions 30: Activity Nodes 32: Shopping Street 33: Night Life 34: Interchange 36: Degree of Publicness 37: House Cluster 40: Old People Everywhere 41: Work Community 42: Industrial Ribbon 43: University as Marketplace 44: Local Town Hall 45: Necklace of Community Projects 46: Market of Many Shops 47: Health Center 48: Housing In Between 61: Small Public Squares 67: Common Land 81: Small Services Without Red Tape 85: Shopfront Schools 87: Individually Owned Shops 88: Street Cafe 89: Corner Grocery 90: Beer Hall 91: Travelers Inn 93: Food Stands 108: Connected Buildings 119: Arcades 124: Activity Pockets Routine, everyday exchange within the community could be carried out by means of human-measured movement that is public space at the center of settlement 30: Activity Nodes 31: Promenade 32: Shopping Street 36: Degree of Publciness 38: Row Houses 41: Work Community 43: University as Marketplace 44: Local Town Hall 45: Necklace of Community Projects 46: Market of Many Shops 49: Looped Local Roads 52: Network of Paths and Cars 55: Raised Walk 56: Bike Paths and Racks 57: Children in the City 58: Carnival 59: Quiet Back 61: Small Public Squares 63: Dancing in the Street 67: Common Land 69: Public Outdoor Room 88: Street Cafe 90: Beer Hall 91: Travelers Inn 93: Food Stands 100: Pedestrian Street 106: Positive Outdoor Space 119: Arcades 120: Paths and Goals 121: Path Shape 122: Building Fronts Retaining areas with rare or unique attributes that are universally valued primarily within the public realm 24: Sacred Sites 25: Access to Water 37: House Cluster 62: High Places 64: Pools and Streams 71: Still Water 104: Site Repair accumulated and frequently senseless labour, lightening the heavy masses, eliminating a crudely-felt symmetry and man's unimaginative elaboration of it, through which peeps an undisguisedly naked design, nature imbuing with a miraculous warmth everything that was created in the cold light of calculated purity and precision" (Gogol, 1942, pp. 131-3) 35 Entering Slocan Park from the North •IRoYAi BC MUSEUM In the case of the Slocan Valley, it is nature alone that informs the "sense of place"; the human art is too scant and dilute to join forces with nature in a glorious "contrivance' (as the translator called it) of place. Figure 18. Slocan Park, one of the two most concentrated settlements in the Valley today, and one of the two richest exchange nodes, with 3 exchange entities unique to the valley. Photo: AAAnderson Courtesy of BC Archives collections - Call Hunber: B-06069 Web: uuw.Dcerchives.gou.bc.ee Email: accesscHiuu.bcarchiues.gou.be.ca - Prou i ded f o r Research P u r p o s e s On I y - O+her Use Reou i r e s Perm i s s i 01 Figure 19. Appledale ~1950: one of the most concentrated settlements in the Valley -50 short years ago, is not much more densely inhabited today (note the very clear picture of the relationship of the three linear elements (R to L: the river, the railroad and the highway) and the spaces that are made between them. Looking South down the Valley, BC Archives, with permission. Ti t le : Appledale in The Slocan Valley Figure 20.The two centers of daily social exchange in Slocan Park: the gas station and the Coop grocery store; both sell liquor and gas, one has the post office; both are located on the highway. Photos: AAA 36 3.3.0 Defining Human-Measured Movement Movement is the friction, the spark, the igniter, the impetus, the creator of the synergy between the mover and the moved through...between the one experiencing, and the things experienced. The "means of movement" is the energy in a place: the fluidity, the communication, the facilitator, the activator, the opportunity maker, the possibility maker for "things" to happen. As such, its role in the configuration of settlement is pivotal. The Role of "Means of Movement" in Settlement Configuration The "means of movement" in a place is its enabler and its facilitator. First it enables and configures inhabitation, then, it facilitates and programs the exchange that goes on there. The nature of the means of movement shapes both this configuration and programming of the place, and by so doing, it determines the way the place is experienced and realized - the way it is measured. Human-measured movement dimensions and proportions settlement so that it is comprehensible, meaningful and relevant to a human scale of being - to a size, amount, extent, and expectation of things that are within a humanly knowable and realizable capacity of time and space. It determines how far, how often, and how fast we move, our exposure to and intimacy with our surroundings, and our physical engagement with the movement. Movement generates measure (time, distance, work, discernment, assessment), which in turn shapes settlement configuration. The Concept of "Measure" Like the word "place" and its related concepts (explored in Section 3.2.0) the word "measure" is rich with meanings45, two of which are relevant here - measure as magnitude: of scale, of size, of extent, of amount, of time; and measure as cognitive discernment and assessment: of fittingness, of meaningfulness, of appropriateness, of comprehensibleness, of relevance. In his photo-and-prose essay Taking Measure Across the American Landscape, James Corner46 explores many meanings of the word measure. First he draws our attention to the concept of measure and its relationship to dwelling by referring to "a beautiful essay entitled Poetically Man Dwells (Heidegger, 1971)[where] Martin Heidegger reflects upon the essential nature of measure. Drawing from the Poetry 4 5 The dictionary has, among other meanings, (n.): an adequate or due portion, a fixed or suitable limit, the dimensions, capacity or amount of sometlung, poetic rhythm, musical time, a metrical unit, a basis or standard of comparison, and (v.): to choose or control with cautious restraint, to regulate, to ascertain, to assess (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1980, G&C Merriam Company). The thesaurus has 16 forms of the meaning of the word measure, with, among others, the synonyms: pattern, precedent, paradigm, archetype, assess, ascertain, limit, bound, extent, pale, cadence, rhythm, share, allot, portion, rule, scale, substantiate, reveal; there are also entries for "for good measure": a gift, given freely as gesture of generosity; "measure up": to be adequate, capable or able; and "beyond measure": limitless, boundless, excessive, incalculable (The Synonym Finder, J.R. Rodale Press, 1978). 4 6 James Corner is a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. 37 of Friedrich Holderlin, Heidegger proclaims that 'the taking of measure is what is poetic in dwelling'". Then Corner asks: "How are we to understand this elusive claim?"(Corner, 1996). I understand it as that assertion of Heidegger's that dwelling consists of both being, and cognizance of being - he calls this cognizance poetry (see Section 3.2.0), so he is saying that this poetry, this cognizance, is realized through our "taking measure " - our awareness, discernment and assessment of the size, the shape, the amount, the fittingness, the meaningfulness, the comprehensibleness - of the phenomena, the time and space, of our being in a place. Thus the poetry of our dwelling is the measures we make of our dwelling, and these measures we make of our dwelling are inextricable from the configuration of the phenomena in the place where we dwell. We determine this configuration through our building in a place, and experience it most through our movement in a place; the combination of these two is the way we measure dwelling. Corner answers his own question thusly: "Clearly, the measure taking of which Heidegger... speaks... is a measure taking that is about the 'letting appear' of what is right and fitting in human existence... As Albert Hofstadter47 comments: 'Man's measure is not a quantity that can be calculated. Only man's being itself can tell what its measure is, by the fiery test of the living encounter of the human self with reality... Human measure is to be sought in the quantity of our belonging - in the magnitude, direction, and degree of our being with the other as with our own'" (Hodstadter, 1970). "The kind of interconnectivity spoken of here is one of relationship, a spatiotemporal mode of being among others in circumstantial and reciprocal ways"(Corner, 1999, p.34). This "spatiotemporal" mode of being is inextricable from the configuration of settlement in a place. Corner goes on to say that "reconciliation of opposites is what is revealed by the poetic measure, the metaphor", and he says that "Measures as metaphors might therefore be said to increase the world's being, further diversifying and enriching one thing's life among a multitude of others, which is ultimately of both ecological and social value" (Harries, 1978) (Corner, 1999, p. 35). The metaphor of "human-measured means of movement" at the heart of this thesis is rich with both ecological and social values. Then Corner says that people "understand the reconciliatory function of measure... a sense of what constitutes appropriate behaviour and response", and that "...in philosophical terms, this self-awareness of measure is called "practical wisdom": one is conscious of the quantities, properties, and limits of one's being within a particular circumstance" and that"... with respect to the earth, [these measures] are the foundations for culturally wholesome forms of cultivation and dwelling; they structure a spatial and ethical "fittingness" between the natural and social worlds that is neither excessive nor wasteful"(Corner, 4 7 a poet 38 1999). Human-measured means of movement is just such a reconciliation of function and measure; a fitting of the function of movement to the measures of human capacity for being in the world. Particularly relevant to this thesis, Corner talks about the traditional meaning of measure, as the "relationship between the human body to physical activities and materials" and he gives several examples. "In medieval Ukraine, for example, farmers would speak of "a day of field", referring to the area of land that they could physically sow or harvest in one day... in early France, an arpent represented the area a farmer could plow in one day with two oxen.. .fields along the west coast of Ireland were traditionally sized according to the distance a farmer was able to carry stones removed from the topsoil -a measure recorded to this day in the spacing between stone walls". These were "highly local and socially derived measures", deeply rooted in, and derived from the place. "These spacings and markings across the land, as well as the farmer's calloused hands and crooked back" were the measures inherent to the place, dependent on its genius loci (Corner, 1999). In the Slocan Valley today, in a settlement configuration with concentrated habitation mixed with exchange entities and centered on a human-measured means of movement, these "relationships between the human body to physical activities and materials" could begin to develop in the modern socio-economic context of today; this would not be a "turning back" to measures of the past. Corner says: "In the landscape, measures of fit [appropriate magnitude] structure a beneficial reciprocity between occupant and environment. Through careful gauging of natural and cultural circumstances, some human communities have adapted their landscapes, buildings, and programs of occupancy to construct a way of life that is in harmony with the ecology of their environment...Measures that are fitted and fitting unite site, circumstance and social life" (Corner, 1999, p. 121). This thesis proposes to "structure a beneficial reciprocity between occupant and environment" and to "adapt the building and program of occupancy" in the Slocan Valley to "construct a way of life that is in harmony with the ecology of the environment" by means of four spatial characteristics of an ecology-based settlement configuration made possible by the New Commons Corridor, at the heart of which is human-measured means of movement (see Section 3.6.0). Such movement inscribes utterly different building patterns (density and arrangement) than does non-human means of movement. For example, human-measured movement does not require extensive structure and infrastructure to accommodate it, such as large allocated running surfaces that spatially interrupt the flow of daily exchange, extensive and interruptive parking facilities, and traffic control devices (nor oil mining in far-off places). It does not require straight, right-angled and parallel linearity in the layout of its building, rather it can follow the lay of the land and respond it its ecology - its genius loci. And human-measured means of movement does not cause major injury and death to both humans and other species dwelling in a place. 39 Our "Means of Movement" Shape Our Measures of Place The means by which we move through a place and its landscape determines how we take measure of that place, that landscape; measures of time, magnitude and experience. Imagine how you would take measure of the country of Canada if you flew a plane from Vancouver to Halifax; you might measure it in mountain ranges, prairies and great water bodies, comprehension of and yet detachment from its landscape, and an acute awareness of its weather. Now imagine how you would take measure of Canada if you drove a car from Vancouver to Halifax; you might measure it in potholes and roadkill, gas stations and diner stops, a chain of local news and musical styles on radio stations stretching across the land, a degree of intimacy with its landscape and weather, and in symbols on paper maps. Recall how Buster Keaton took measure of Canada when he traversed it from Atlantic to Pacific, by railroad handcar48; now imagine what measures you would make of Canada if you walked across it, from Vancouver to Halifax, using only trails through wilderness, and secondary roads when necessary. The measures would not only be ones of time; there would be vastly different material, existential, and experiential measures associated with each of these means of movement. You have only to picture Keaton's stops for teatime on the handcar under the open sky, sometimes surrounded by infinite plain, sometimes towered over by the Rocky Mountains, sometimes sheltering under a tenuous umbrella, the respite always appreciated after hours of relentless and yet enthralling travel vulnerable to the weatherous vagaries of nature during his huge and unfamiliar journey, and compare that with being "served tea" on an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Halifax. Our means of movement through landscape, through the place where we live, and through our lives, determines utterly our experience of the landscape, that place, and our life. Means of Movement Proposed by this Thesis For the purposes of this thesis, human-measured means of movement are ones powered by the human body, with no other non-human fuel to augment and disproportion the movement. It is measured by that which can be accomplished and experienced by such movement, such things as distance traveled, number of errands and activities executed, number of encounters and interactions undertaken, calories consumed and burned - per some measure of time that is in harmony with it, for example, one day49, and by that which Jits such movement, the shape, size and arrangement of the physical manifestation of dwelling - the building in the place. 48"Railrodder". 1965 National Film Board of Canada modem day silent film starring Buster Keaton 4 9As Le Corbusier put it: "the earth is our clock.. .One, thirty, three hundred and sixty five, those are the units by which our undertakings must be measured". 40 Some examples of human-measured means of movement appropriate for the Corridor are feet (walking), walking and pushing a baby stroller or pulling a wagon or sled, bicycles, rollerblades, skateboards, and cross-country skis. Some examples of non-human-measured means of movement are automobiles in particular50, but also dirt bikes, snowmobiles, horses and dog sleds. With the exception of the automobile, many of these are most likely at least somewhat, or completely compatible with an ecology-based settlement configuration, it is not important to the purposes of this thesis to examine and test each of these. The proposal of this thesis is that the New Commons Corridor be a new center of settlement for the Valley, where the core of dwelling and the fabric of everyday life takes place at a human-measured scale. The highway remains the extra-community and between-community high-speed access for transportation of goods, access for emergency services, travel to regional facilities, and for any other extra-community business. The corridor becomes the nucleus around which place making starts and dwelling gathers, facilitated by a means of movement that is slow enough to allow the phenomena of dwelling the chance to settle, the way sand settles out of the water where the current slows in the curve of the river at Passmore, to make a beach. The environmental arguments against automobiles are powerful, but the arguments in favor of automobile-free means of movement in the community are more compelling. Movement that is by ones own locomotion, by ones own means of movement, which entails heart, lungs, muscles, calories, is more "relevant", more(meaningful, more sentient, more phenomenological than movement that is powered by external energy. Even though it is "slower", it is never-the-less productive because it allows for so many more things to "happen" besides just getting from one place to another: exercise, intimacy with the landscape (and so a heightened awareness of its condition and need for care-taking), encounters and interactions with one's surroundings and with other beings, and time for thought, be it meditation, day-dreaming, or worrying things through, this "free" time for unhindered (by traffic, danger, speed, split-second decision making, machinery functions and malfunctions) thought accompanied by movement is powerfully healing. Human-measured movement allows an element of "uninterrupted-ness" to the flow of movement as it dovetails with other daily activities. The rhythm and cadence of daily living is interrupted and broken by It is important to emphasize that it is not the fact alone that the automobile is gas-powered that makes it particularly in conflict with human-measured movement and ecology-based settlement, it is the fact that it encourages, makes possible, and is (in our present culture) inextricably tied to a sprawling and scattered settlement configuration. Any means of movement, no matter the fuel (solar-powered cars, for instance), that encourages such a configuration would not be ecology-based. Further, this thesis does not suggest the abolition of gas or other non-human-powered means of movement. They are important and powerful tools for many purposes and functions of dwelling (mostly on the periphery of settlement), but not for the purposes and functions of everyday movement in the center of settlement, where it disrupts and disproportions human dwelling. 41 getting into a car and traveling at a very different (from human-measured) speed, covering very different (from human-measured) distances, utterly cut off from the phenomena of the place, to carry out the everyday exchange of daily living that should be part of its flow (taking a break from home-based work, or working a shift at one's job; buying groceries, posting a letter, depositing a cheque, having tea with a friend, dropping kids at school, stopping at the pub in the afternoon). Essential movement of materials and goods within a car-free community has been well researched and designed for (Crawford, 2000); it becomes just another part of the human-measured-ness of the community, informing its configuration (see Section 5.8 M Winlaw Hamlet). The very crux of the problem with our means of movement today is that we have lost all sense of journey and adventure in our everyday routine movements. Means of movement that allow one to experience more than just getting from one place to another, to experience the phenomena of the place, to have chance encounters, to exercise one's own physical mobility, to encounter different circumstances of weather, these have some of the elements of this adventure and journey. Reclaiming our physical selves would be so much more "real" if we did it through the acts of daily living rather than at commercial fitness centres to which we drive, "fighting" traffic and "risking" injury along the way, and then "paying" to "work"! It is a curious culture that spawns the exchange of money for meaningless work. Desirable Characteristics of Human-Measured Means of Movement Human-measured means of movement allow for the following desirable characteristics: • Permeability: many varied ways of'getting through' the physical community; • Interconnectedness: a web of interconnected travelways, with many opportunities for chance encounters along the way; • Hierarchy of travelways: corridors, malls, lanes, unofficial shortcuts and paths, and trails; • Intersections many and varied, different in size, formality, and elaboration; • Things of importance and meaning to the individual and community that are destinations along the way; everyday things (markets, cafes, services) as well as 'special' things (sacred places, community places of gathering and functions); • Sense of human center in the fabric of building; • Responds to historical and routine ways of going, which identify common concerns and interests; • Provides different daily ways of going, weekly ways of going, monthly ways of going and yearly ways of going, as reflects the seasons and cultural practices; • Impossible to separate from the 'things along it'; impossible to imagine without the things along it, which are part of it, define it, and create it. 42 3.4.0 Defining Ecology-based Settlement Configuration An ecology-based settlement configuration is one that is based on, and shaped by, the ecology of an area rather than by any other method of land allocation and development. Its primary criterion is the presence and full function of ecosystems (ecosystem integrity - see Footnote 17) inherent to the landscape. The identification of these ecosystems, and determining their function in the overall landscape, is the first step in such a configuration. Natural (soil, water, biodiversity, capacity of the land) systems and social needs are evaluated and their relative importance and priority is agreed upon. The landscape is then designed in accordance with this priorization. Richard Forman, a leading proponent of ecology-based land use planning, describes a process for planning and designing an ecology-based settlement configuration. He depicts it as experts from a wide range of fields coming together to communicate about a specific physical place. Using maps, models, drawings, and remotely sensed images, they represent spatially the phenomena, values, and their associated attributes (quantitative and qualitative data), found in the area under consideration. "Non-spatial" public policies, market forces and ecological principles all inform the planning process, and lead to physical design and planning with spatial solutions (Forman, 1995). Forman says: "A mosaic of land uses, with rationales emerges [and] the most valuable decisions in society can be made by planners and designers in this setting. The language of landscape ecology provides a technique and language to facilitate the land use planning process. Ecologists, hydrologists, attorneys, conservationists, elected officials, foresters, geographers and others understand and share this spatial language. Overlays of maps, for instance, of soil, vegetation, housing densities, wetlands, elevation, protected land, and industry, have long been used to identify appropriate and inappropriate locations for future land uses. Ian McHarg (1996) emphasized this approach for linking design and the environment; the availability of GIS now makes the approach routine. Overlays provide direct comparison of different locations, generally based on the combination of existing characteristics within each location." "Once the plan is complete, what follows is ongoing stewardship: anticipating and responding to disturbances and changes, and articulating and meeting the objectives of the area. Periodic reevaluations and changes to the plan are part of this ongoing stewardship"(Forman, 1995, pp.444-5). Through its protection of ecosystem integrity, ecology-based settlement strengthens "sense of place" and "place-making", which develops most authentically when derived from, and in harmony with, this same ecosystem integrity. 3.5.0 Comparison of Ecology-Based Planning with Other Forms of Human Planning Forman recognizes three kinds of human planning. He says that ecology-based planning "strives to imitate.. .Nature's plan", and that human planning based on any other priorization is not sustainable. He says that much human planning is based on market driven priorities which result in unnatural spatial forms, as well as damage to important components of the ecosystem; this is non ecology-based planning. 43 He also discusses complete lack of planning - no planning - where haphazard development is allowed to occur with no respect for ecosystem integrity and regional context (Forman, 1995). From a spatial perspective, Forman says that "nature's plan produces distinctive patterns [recognizable as] patches, boundaries, corridors, or matrix that appear elongated, curvilinear, irregular, mosaic-like, and aggregated"(Forman, 1995) Dendritic patterns are common, whereas straight lines and symmetrical polygons [typical of what Forman calls "human planning"] represent a relatively uncommon geometry" and that "the complexity of forms produced by nature generally exceeds that created by humans"(Forman, 1995). These natural "forms" and "patterns" that Forman is talking about are the shapes created by the ecology of the area; they reflect the topography, hydrology, flora and fauna that comprise the ecology of the place, and inform its genius loci (See Part 4, Landscape Ecology). Forman says that "humanplanning [that is, "design"], in contrast, overwhelmingly produces straight lines, rectangles, squares, and occasionally circles with radiating lines" and that "symmetrical geometric forms appear to be the goal of many planners and designers" where "regularity replaces aggregation", and that these "forms and patterns have little or nothing to do with the ecology of the area" (Forman, 1995). This kind of design (what Forman calls "human planning") ignores or obliterates the underlying integrity of topography, hydrology, flora and fauna that comprise the nature of the place. In the Slocan Valley, the original lot lines that first divided up of the land, and so control subsequent delineation, run predominantly North-South-East-West, regardless of the angle this makes with the river and the prevailing slope of the land (see Figure 21), and regardless of how these lines cut floodplain, creeks, ephemeral streams or sensitive soils. Even if one is a proponent of straight lot lines, the disorientation caused by having one's property lines meet the river at a 30 degree angle, then run up the mountain at an angle across the slope so that the neighbors "back yard" is directly uphill of one destroys any feeling for living in harmony with the lay of the land - the genius loci of the place - not to mention how this ignores protecting the ecology of the place, even from an engineering or building perspective. This kind of land parceling also ignores the protection of special features, and defies maintaining them in the public realm. Some major, and many minor tributaries of the Slocan River run through private land, and, although there are regulations in place regarding human activity in such water bodies, private landowners invariably do as they please with these creeks, where they pass through their private ownership. Forman continues, about human design: "A symmetric geometric form placed within an asymmetric natural pattern may be inspirational, unnoticed, or decried by the observer.. .Nevertheless, the form is unstable and generally unsustainable. Natural forces alter its symmetry. Such a form is costly to maintain and repair". Forman gives an example: "The early square cities of northern China [with their] straight roads by rivers and in mountains could retain their symmetry only with major human investment. 44 Heroic Landscape and Settlement Therein with Lotlines: Detail Such geometric products of planning counteract nature, and hence are ephemeral. By contrast, the amazing richness of forms produced and maintained by nature present enormous opportunity for planning and design" (Forman, 1995, Chapter 13). This "maintained by nature" is the very crux of the principle of sustainability. These natural forms that Forman talks about are what Lipsanen found to be considered the "naturalistic realm of place" (Section 3.1), fundamental to the genius loci of the place, as well as being fundamental to maintaining the ecological integrity of the place; ecological integrity and true "place-making" are inseparable. Applying the above principle of forms and patterns "maintained by nature" to the Slocan Valley, lot lines would take advantage of "the amazing richness of forms produced and maintained by nature", following the natural shapes, in all three dimensions, that occur there. These shapes would not be the straight and regular geometry that works best for automobile-driven means of movement; automobile-centered settlement. Different means of movement, with different measures would be required to both configure the settlement, and then enable dwelling there. Finally, Forman talks about unplanned or little-planned human activities: "most suburbanization, livestock grazing, and settlement of new areas... originate piece-meal, each concern being planned and shaped in isolation of other concerns, and more importantly, in ignorance of the whole. The result is a mixture of irregular, curvy and geometric forms, and both aggregation and regularity are common. [This development results in] inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in dealing with most environmental and human issues. It seems arranged to both inhibit natural processes and defy planning principles. The irony is that these...are "highly planned places" (quotes mine) with regards to constraints; planning acts, engineering standards, design guidelines and building codes all control the "plan" of the development". But this is planning... totally self-absorbed, ignorant of and seemingly unconcerned with the integrity of the landscape and regional scales. From a landscape ecology, or energy efficiency, or social perspective, it is hard to call [this kind of development] planned" (Forman, 1995, Chapter 13). This describes exactly the situation in the Slocan Valley, the only difference being that there are not even the above mentioned "constraints" - no planning acts, engineering standards, or design guidelines shape settlement here. Building codes apply, but they didn't prevent a new house on the back road in Slocan Park from being knocked over and buried under 3 meters of debris and mud when the nearly vertical creek right at the bottom of which the house was located broke through a built-up debris dam during an intense rain storm. Likewise, a house located at least very near to, if not on the floodplain in Appledale suddenly dropped 3 meters when sub-surface channels of the river shifted their courses. Likewise again, a new house in Slocan Park was built immediately next to an ephemeral stream that ran through the property; excavation for the basement interrupted the stream's channel, and the public road and adjacent properties now flood every spring and early summer - large culverts had to be installed (never mind that the beautiful little ephemeral stream is no more). Every single household in the Slocan Valley has its 46 own installed and maintained (or not) septic system; many are within 50 meters of the river.. .the building code does not prevent damage to either homeowner or nature, caused by lack of ecology-based planning. What does an ecology-based settlement configuration look like? Forman says that the answer may lie in the concept of biophilia51, the idea that "humans evolved with, depend on, and have an affinity with a richness of other species in nature. Perhaps. ..the answer lies in planning a whole landscape, within which both natural patterns and [human] planned geometric patterns coexist, [note the absence of un-planned human patterns]. This does not mean regularly alternating square blocks of woodland and housing clusters. Rather, regular geometric areas are mixed with irregular, aggregated, mosaic-like, curvy patches and corridors. These individual patches and corridors in turn are distributed in irregular, aggregated, mosaic-like and curvy arrangements over the planned landscape"(Forman, 1995, Chapter 13). I am not surprised to find strong agreement between the criteria for the design of ecology-based settlement, such as Forman's "sustainable settlement", and the "sense of place" criteria of other landscape disciplines concerned with "authentic" dwelling that derives from the genius loci of a place. Heidegger's "gathering things which here belong together...things [which] themselves are the places" and Alexander's "quality without a name" (alive, whole, comfortable, free, exact, ego-less, and eternal) describe a relationship between man and nature that results from acknowledging and responding to the "spirit of the place" - its inherent nature and ecology (Forman, 1995; Norberg-Schultz, 1985; Alexander, 1993). It is unlikely that any proposal for an ecology-based settlement configuration would succeed by suggesting the removal or re-location of the existing settlement, however inappropriately located. Rather, it would design strategies that work with what's in place, determining what can be done within the existing situation to bring it closer to the desired configuration, and planning for major re-allocations as future opportunities (primarily change of ownership) arise. This is the rationale for the work undertaken in this thesis, which recognizes the greater need for an all-inclusive ecology-based settlement configuration for the valley, acknowledges the existing settlement configuration which is not ecology-based, and explores where and how the new opportunity provided by the Corridor could contribute towards such a settlement configuration. 3.6.0 The Four Spatial Characteristics of an Ecology-Based Settlement Configuration Explored by this Thesis Four spatial characteristics of an ecology-based settlement configuration are explored in this thesis. These are not the only things that determine ecology-based settlement, rather they are ones that are relevant to the spatial exploration of the subject of this thesis, the New Commons Corridor. 5 1 Biophilia and The Biophilia Hypodiesis was a concept developed by E. O .Wilson 47 1. Concentration of settlement that is dense enough to create a "sense of place", but not so dense that it cannot be supported by the ecosystems in which it resides52, would be more ecology-based than settlement that is scattered and dispersed throughout the landscape, regardless of the characteristics of the ecosystems in which it is located. Ecology-based settlement would be concentrated in portions of ecosystems that are resilient to disturbance, or that can support disturbance without jeopardizing the values inherent to them that are identified through local and regional planning, and such concentration would allow for the existence of more intact, undisturbed wildland. Concentration of settlement allows for efficient provision of, and access to, community institutions and exchange entities, by a clear and coherent sense of where they should be located. "Sense of place", which depends on and is defined by these institutions and this exchange, would likewise increase (be "concentrated"). 2. Habitation that is near to and mixed with the exchange entities and public institutions that constitute the physical, social and spiritual exchange of everyday life of the community would be more ecology-based than habitation that is dispersed and located with no relationship to such institutions and entities. Such a configuration would allow access to such institutions, and participation in such exchange, to occur with greater equality, frequency and energy efficiency. This is particularly relevant with regards to provision of emergency and protection services. Habitation so arranged would likewise greatly enhance "sense of place", as the frequency and richness of the phenomena of place become, as Norberg-Schultz puts it, "here gathered together"(Norberg-Schultz, 1985), and take form, as Alexander elucidates in his Pattern Language, "as global patterns which define a town or community...and...patterns which define individual buildings and space between buildings"(Alexander, 1977). The antithesis of "concentration of settlement" and "habitation that is near to and mixed with exchange entities" is the condition of rural sprawl. 3. Routine, everyday exchange within the community could be carried out by means of human-measured movement when settlement is concentrated and habitation is near to and mixed with community institutions and exchange entities, and when such means of movement are provided at the center of settlement. 'Factors that determine this are the ecosystem's topography, hydrology, soil and climate. 48 Settlement that is shaped by human-measured means of movement (walking, skating, cycling, skootering, horse-riding, skiing, sledding), that is, movement whose magnitude and effectiveness is measured in human capability (expenditure of time and effort) would be more ecology-based than means of movement dependent on non-renewable fossil fuels that have air, water and soil pollution as a byproduct. Even if fueled by renewable, non-polluting fuels, movement that is beyond human-measure encourages dispersed and non-concentrated settlement, and the separation of habitation and exchange, requiring more land for settlement, more disturbance to ecosystems, and more usurpation of wildland. Means of movement that are at the center of settlement are more efficient in terms of both individual energy expenditure (time and cost of movement), and community energy expenditure (cost to supply and maintain means of movement to settlement). Human-measured everyday movement within the community enhances "sense of place" by providing opportunities for close-range interaction with the landscape and the phenomena of the place, and with the place's inhabitants. Finally, human-measured means of movement are healthier for both the human and other species that inhabit the environs of the settlement. Retaining areas with relatively rare or unique attributes that are universally valued (for example, lakeshores, promontories or streamsides) primarily within the public realm would take priority over other settlement ambitions in an ecology-based settlement configuration. Protection and management of special areas and features would be under public jurisdiction, and egalitarian access to these special places would be maintained. Such areas are intrinsic to the "sense of place" of a place, such is their archetypal power, and keeping them in the public realm means their presence could then be realized as part of the community. Figure 22. Special Feature, Essential to Sense of Place, Best Kept in the Public Realm 49 4.0.0 THESIS METHODOLOGY: A LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY APPROACH This thesis uses landscape ecology methodology to discover and map at appropriate scales the landscape's spatial elements and the mosaics they form, the chosen elements being ones most relevant to the design space of this thesis (the New Commons Corridor). Additional landscape ecology analysis of this valley for the purpose of determining an ecology-based settlement configuration would certainly include, among other things, soil types, ground water distribution, and wildlife habitat. Any other measurable phenomena could be included, and wide-ranging information and interpretations are possible from such phenomena, but the criteria for including any would be that it informed the landscape mosaic at a scale that is useful to the objectives of the project - determining an ecology-based settlement configuration for the Slocan Valley. Landscape ecology is defined and described in Appendix 1. 4.1.0 Landscape Ecology Planning Process Forman's description of the planning process provides support and a framework for this thesis. His following discussion seems to depict the very situation of this thesis project. "Suppose you were the chief planner in charge of designing a new sustainable community in a sparsely populated area". And suppose further that you could ignore political considerations. So you explore the area and ponder which should be the initial guiding principle. Find the best place to locate a known optimal spatial model and land use? Use the existing homes and land uses around which to organize the community? Or plan it based on the arrangement of nature and natural resources? "The preexisting spatial model might fit beautifully on the land, but commonly the unique arrangement of natural resources poorly fits the idealized model. This would lead to inefficiencies and spatial incompatibilities. Similarly the scattered homes and land uses might be beautifully attuned to nature, but often, especially in an expanding community, they are already degrading the land in small ways. "A design that first understands nature and is fitto natural resources appears most likely to be sustainable. Such a design cannot be timid; it normally includes the removal of misplaced buildings and land uses. This may produce nasty surprises where residents have self-defined perceptions, values, and economic aspirations. "Nevertheless, by following nature's unique local arrangement (italics mine- this is the genius loci) the design will also be unique. It will differ in appearance from other [places] (Forman, 1995,p.516)". This description of the uniqueness of everyplace, and how ecology-based design allows a place to realize this uniqueness strongly reverberates with the philosophy of Christopher Alexander and Norberg-Schultz, it is the essence of genius loci. 50 4.2.0 Landscape Ecology Precedent: An Ecosystem-Based Landscape Plan for the Slocan River Watershed An ecology-based landscape plan for the Slocan River watershed was completed in 1996 by the Silva Forest Foundation (SFF).53 An overview of this plan helps to describe the nature of the landscape of the Slocan River Watershed, that which constitutes the "heroic landscape". The SFF plan was for the entire Slocan River watershed, comprising approximately 340,000 hectares. This thesis, by comparison, covers only that part of the valley concerned with settlement - the valley bottom up to the upper limit of the glaciofluvial terraces (generally the 700m contour in elevation) - and only the part of the valley that contains the Sew Commons Corridor (approximately one third of the watershed's length, the Southern most end), comprising approximately 13,000 hectares. The Silva Plan identifies "land categories" for the Slocan River Watershed, as outlined in Table 4. Table 4. Land Categories of the Slocan River Watershed, Identified by the Silva Forest Foundation Land Category Area in % of Total Thesis Study Area Hectares Area falls w/i this class Large Class A Parks 77,572 23% Not Forested 76,682 23% Ecologically Sensitive, Forested Upper Elevation Forests 7,397 2% Riparian Zones 18,633 6% Yes Steep/Complex Terrain 75,133 23% Shallow Soils/Complex Terrain 6,089 2% Wetlands and Wet Sites 2,928 1% Yes Moderately Stable Terrain 54,614 16% Stable Terrain 11,981 4% Yes Total Area 331,028 The thesis project area lies entirely within the "Stable Terrain", and Moderately Stable" terrain categories (because settlement does not (or at least should not!) occur on the other terrain types) but it is the surrounding categories, the "Steep/Complex Terrain" and "Upper Elevation Forests" that constitute the character of heroic landscape. A glance at the table tells all, where only 20% of the watershed is "Stable Terrain to Moderately Stable Terrain". The objective of the SFF Plan was to identify operable forestland within the context of "holistic forest management". It did so by identifying the mosaic of "fully functioning ecosystems", designing "protected landscape networks" based on these ecosystems, and then indicating where the operable forestland was within this context. Silva defines a fully functioning ecosystem as one where the natural 5 3 The Silva Forest Foundation is a forest-ecosystem-management consulting firm that undertakes projects nationally and internationally; its office is located halfway between the Slocan Park and Passmore bridges. 51 processes that shape its character are intact (this seems to equate to the concept of ecosystem integrity (see footnote 10)). These processes are primarily successional patterns (shaped by climate, the inherent parent material, or "substrate", and natural disturbance), and connectivity to other interdependent ecosystems, for example, connectivity of upslope forest cover and riparian zones for wildlife habitat function (Silva Report, 1996, Section 4). The Silva plan based its analysis on forest ecosystems and their particular "character", which is determined by the processes that shape said "character". For example, the character of a forest ecosystem dominated by frequent fire disturbance is different from a forest ecosystem shaped by high elevation snow loads and short growing seasons. Forest character in turn determines the forest ecosystem's composition and structure. Composition refers to the entities that comprise the physical phenomena of the ecosystem, without which it would be a different ecosystem (such things as plant and animal species, soil type, and slope and aspect). Structure refers to the physical arrangement, or specific manifestation of these entities within the ecosystem (such things as depth of soil; height, density and age of trees; and frequency of natural disturbance). The protected landscape networks were then designed to consist of the following fully functioning ecosystems: • riparian ecosystems, • old growth nodes [these are patches], • ecologically sensitive areas, • cross valley corridors, • stable to moderately stable terrain, • stable terrain, • representative ecosystem types. These networks would then "maintain, protect and/or, where necessary, restore a framework of ecosystems throughout a landscape to ensure connectivity and ecosystem functioning at all scales, from the small patch or stand to the large landscape. This framework must be an interconnected web where natural ecosystem functioning remains essentially intact and undisturbed ... such protected landscape networks will ensure the short and long term health and ecological functioning of forest landscapes at all scales" (Silva Appendices, 1996, p.8). The Silva plan later roughly equates the BC Ministry of Forests "Forest Ecosystem Network" and their protected landscape network. According to Forman, a landscape ecology and regional ecology approach can be used to plan forested mosaics that consider how such values as biodiversity, water and fish habitat can be reconciled with "spatially explicit logging regimes. Logging that protects plant species of conservation interest must be 52 planned around habitat types, especially wetlands and stream and river corridors, as well as disturbance regimes. Creative logging patterns can be created to mesh with key populations of mobile wildlife ...including important demographic and genetic characteristics"(Forman, 1995, p.444). While the Silva plan does not strictly use the terminology of landscape-ecology, their analysis results in patches and corridors that constitute a landscape ecology inventory, and the purpose of the Silva plan is exactly as Forman outlines above, that is, to design logging regimes that operate within the context of maintaining the viability of other landscape and ecological values. The Silva Plan does not identify the existing settlement configuration in the valley other than to note that settlement occurs in the "Non-Forested" Land Category. It does not address specific ecological and environmental problems associated with settlement except for noting that settlement impacts fully functioning ecosystems through sprawl, by being located in ecologically sensitive areas of ecosystems. The Silva Plan does not attempt to address settlement patterns directly; it is not a proposal for this aspect of valley planning. It is relevant to describe the Silva Plan for several reasons. First, considering the context of this thesis, it would be negligent not to acknowledge this plan, as it is the only comprehensive and substantial landscape ecology analysis of the valley ever completed. While the Silva Plan does not design a settlement configuration for the valley, it lays the ground work for such design, and while this thesis does not propose an entire and complete settlement configuration for the valley, it uses the concepts and principles of landscape ecology, applied and demonstrated in the Silva Plan, for the design of the corridor. The analysis of the Silva Plan would be vital information for developing a full ecology-based settlement configuration for the Slocan Valley. One key issue identified by the Silva Plan that is of particular relevance to this thesis is the privatization of the river and development within the river's riparian zone, and the need to establish site-specific buffers based on landscape ecology analysis for the entire river corridor: ".. .the issue [of delineating fully functioning ecosystems and their subsequent protected landscape networks [and the resulting site-specific buffers] is complicated by the reality that nearly all of the riparian ecosystem of the River is privately owned...there needs to be means developed to work with private landowners in the restoration of riparian ecosystem functioning for the River"(Silva Report, 1996). Indeed, it is a premise of this thesis that not only the riparian ecosystem but a continuous zone of non-privatized land adjacent to the river be established as the opportunity arises to do so (mostly through land transfer as opportunity permits); this is supported by the 4 t h characteristic of ecology-based settlement explored by this thesis: Retaining areas with relatively rare or unique attributes that are universally valued (for example, lakeshores, promontories or streamsides) primarily within the public realm (see Section 3.6.0). 53 This concludes the story of why the thesis was undertaken, its raison d'etre. The Slocan Valley is a Shangri-la54 to which people have come from all corners of the earth. A more human "sense of place" would strengthen the people who live there, and for the people who will come there tomorrow, it would make it a place measured by human dwelling in the 21st century, fitted to its timeless heroic landscape, shaped by our myth and memory. "Up the Kokanee" Figure 23. Myth and Memory, the Final Resting Place of Michel Trudeau, Kaslo Lake, Up the Kokanee. Photo AAAnderson 5 4 Imaginary land depicted in the novel "Lost Horizon" (James Hilton, 1933); a remote and beautiful imaginary place where life approaches perfection; a remote and idyllic hide-away; a Utopia (Websters New Collegiate, 1980) 5 4 5.0.0 ANALYSIS 5.1.0 Liformation and Data Sources Six different sources of data were used to carry out the description and analysis; each provides unique information and representation. They are shown in Table 5 as a reference for the following sections. Table 5: Data Sources Used for Description and Analysis [T| BC Ministry of Forest Geographic Information Science55 (GIS) TRIM digital data sets, and paper maps; scale 1:20,000 with 20m contour intervals, produced from 1988 aerial photography at 1:75,000 and 1:81,000. Geographic Projection: UTM, NAD 1987, Zone 11. Total Map Sheets/Data Sets: 8. 82F042 82F043 82F052 82F053 82F062 82F063 82F072 82F073 ************************************************************** [T] BC Ministry of Forests 1992 TRIM digital and printed Orthophotos; scale 1:20,000. Total 8 82F042 82F043 82F052 82F053 82F062 82F063 82F072 82F073 ************************************************************************************ [3] BC Ministry of Forests Aerial Photos, from 1997 and 1999 photography. Total Aerial Photos: 179 Photo Numbers from Left to Right: North (Slocan City) to South (Crescent Valley), scale 1:20,000 FLIGHT LINE B97093 B97059 B97092 B97047 B97091 B99042 B99031 Photo numbers 4-10 295-303 210-217 236-244 222-230 223-233 112-122 Photo numbers 194-208 115-123 182-194 112-121 128-135 Photo numbers 108-116 57-68 83-92 55-65 Photo numbers 12-22 55-61 [4] BC Ministry of Environment 1971 Mulitplex Mapping Project M287 - Slocan Valley (15 sheets); scale of 1:6000 with 1.5m contour interval; extent just the valley-bottom up to from ~1650'to 1800' ************************************************************************************ [5] Regional District Central Kootenay Cadastral Lotlines one Autocad file, 2000 ************************************************************************************ [6] Slocan Valley Heritage Trail Society Trail Surface 100% Survey scale 1:1, 2001 As can be seen in Table 5, the dates of the data vary, ranging from 1971 for the non-digital valley-bottom maps to 2001 for the 100% survey; this was taken into consideration in the analysis. formerly called Geographic Information "Systems" 55 5.2.0 Map Identification and Symbology The smallest maps created for the "live" version of this thesis were 36" x 67", an appropriate size for maps at a scale of 1:30,000; some were even larger, the non-digital 1:6,000 maps were meters long, as were the profiles that were derived from them. In order to put representations of the maps and images into the written thesis, they had to be greatly reduced. For instance, the 36" x 67"maps created in GIS were exported as jpegs and printed on 11" x 17" paper - this is only 8% of their original size; image posters were likewise reduced. Obviously detail is lost in these smaller maps and images, and the quality of some is really degraded, however, they are surprisingly legible. The maps and images that represent and depict the information in the following sections are referred to in those sections by the map or image number and name: | The Map or Image Name is in Italics and Boxed |. The maps and images are located in "Part 6.0.0, Map Section", and Table xxx lists them in the order in which they appear. The map symbology (except forest cover) that is common to all the maps is shown in Table 6, and Figure 23, page, as well as being noted in some of the sections below. Symbology that appears on only a few maps is clearly indicated in the legend of these maps. Forest cover symbology is sometimes not indicated in the legend if the map is a later one in a logical sequence. Table 6. Map Symbology Common to all Maps in this Thesis. Feature Feature Type Symbology MEANS OF MOVEMENT The New Commons Corridor Line Purple line Highway 6 Line Orange line Secondary Roads Line Red line Bridge Line Red thicker line E X C H A N G E ENTITIES Public Space polygon , Blue filled/hatched polygon Public Building polygon Blue filled polygon Commercial Space polygon Orange filled/hatched polygon Commercial Building polygon Orange filled polygon Infrastructure Space polygon Red filled or hatched polygon Infrastructure Building polygon Red filled polygon Post Office (in addition to Public Building symbol) Point Black nested circles (2) HABITATION Houses Point Brown square point Lotlines Line Black line N A T U R A L FEATURES Upper Limit of the Glaciofluvial Terraces Line Brown heavy weight line Upper Limit of the Fluvial Terraces Line Blue heavy weight line River polygon Blue filled polygon Streams and other rivers Line Blue medium weight line Extent / Area of Fluvial Terraces polygon Green water lily symbols 56 5.3.0 Description: Heroic Landscape Character of Thesis Content The landscape character of the study area56 was described by looking at its greater landscape context -that which constitutes the heroic landscape of the area: the steepness and height of the Valley walls and the Valley breadth and orientation, the frequency and magnitude of secondary valleys and ridges, and the complexity of these characteristics (how often, and by how much these characteristics change) - and the features that this topography creates: dense forests and alpine meadows, streams and waterfalls, rock faces and towering cliffs. The greater landscape context for this thesis was considered to be what Forman calls "the whole landscape" for the thesis area - the Slocan River Watershed. Qualitative description of landscape character was accomplished with three types of representation. • contour map, digital terrain models (DTM), and enhanced orthophoto map at 1:25,000, • profiles of the valley from height of land on either side, at approximately 1:50,000, The data used to create the map, orthophoto map and DTM for this description were the eight sets of digital TRIM data and the eight digital orthophotos (see Table 5,1-2). The contour map, DTMs, and orthophoto map were created in GIS; the DTMs and orthophoto map were then exported as images (jpeg), the latter for use in combination with the profiles. The contour map was plotted in GIS; the actual size was 36"x 63". This is represented in the map 1 Valley Walls and Water]. The enhanced orthophoto map was printed in Microsoft Powerpoint (Powerpoint); the actual size was 36"x 72"5 7, it is represented in the map 14 Heroic Landscape j. The DTMs were printed in Powerpoint; the actual sizes were 36"x 56". They are represented in the maps 2 and 3 Digital Terrain Models of the Study Area and its Heroic Landscape Context The profiles of the valley were created using GIS analysis and Microsoft Excel; they were then combined with the orthophoto image in Powerpoint, and this composite image was printed in Powerpoint; the actual size was 36"x 56". This is represented in the image 15 and, 6 Slocan Valley Profiles An excellent analysis of landscape character is contained in the Silva Plan (Section 4.4 and Table 4.); it provides a quantitative inventory of landscape character by categorizing the 340,000 hectares of the Slocan Valley Watershed according to the above characteristics of topography, plus forest cover. The information in this section is found in the 128 Suitability Analysis under Landscape Character: Valley Bottom Width and Orientation; River Position and Shape; and Valley Walls. 57 5.4.0 Interpretation, Terrain and Ecosystem: Landscape Ecology Applied to this Thesis Landscape ecology methodology was used to discover and map the thesis area's spatial elements and the mosaic they form (see Part 4 and Appendix 1). The non-digital data used for this analysis were 8 paper copy TRIM maps, the eight paper copy orthophotos, and the 197 aerial photos that represent the study area (see Table 5,1-3). The eight paper copy TRIM maps were joined and became the base map for the subsequent landscape ecology analysis, described below in Sections 5.3.2 to 5.3.5. The resulting map is 7,8,and 9 Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover |. Table 7 identifies the landscape ecology elements. Table 7: Landscape Ecology Analysis of the Study Area The Matrix Patches Corridors STABLE UPLAND BENCHES Closed Forest, No Houses Closed Forest with Houses Highway 6 Immature Forest The New Commons Corridor Open/Patchy Forest, No Houses Secondary Roads Open/Patchy Forest, With Houses Streams Non-Forested, No Houses (Agric) Non-Forested, With Houses Non-Forested, Cultural Entities Non-Forested, Industrial STABLE TO ACTIVE LOWLAND BENCHES Closed Forest, No Houses Open Patchy Forest, No Houses The River Non-Forested, Vegetated The New Commons Corridor Undisturbed shrub/graminoid Secondary Roads Disturbed (agric), no houses Streams disturbed (agric) with houses Non to sparsely vegetated (sand and gravel bars) Networks Boundaries Nodes The Highway, Roads, and The New Commons Corridor Upper Limit of Fluvial Terraces Exchange Nodes The River and Streams Upper Limit of Glaciofluvial Terraces The information in this section is found in the | Suitability Analysis \ under Existing Settlement Configuration, and Landscape Character: Forest Cover. 56 the study area is defined in Section 6.2.3) 5 7 The 36"x 72" orthophoto was printed on high gloss photographic paper, courtesy of Lignum Ltd, Williams Lake 58 5 . 4 . 1 Detenruning and Delineating the Study Area Extents (the Upper Limit of the Glaciofluvial Terraces) The first step in the analysis was to determine and then delineate the extent of the study area. Since this thesis looks at the role the New Commons Corridor (the Corridor) could play in the settlement configuration of the Slocan Valley, the study area was determined to be that part of the Valley5 8 that contains the Corridor59, and in that part, the land that is topographically60 appropriate for settlement - the stable61 land in the valley bottom. The boundary of this extent was determined to be the upper limit of the glaciofluvial terraces, above which rises the steep valley wall (comprised of colluvium over bedrock). The study area62 therefore is comprised of the gently sloping63, stable upland terraces (the glacoifluvial terraces, comprised of boulders, gravel, sand and coarse-textured soil deposited by the receding glaciers); the nearly flat64, stable lowland terraces (the fluvial terraces, comprised of gravel, sand, silt and clay deposited by the river) and active floodplain; and of course, the river itself. By "area appropriate for settlement" is not meant only "appropriate for building"; neither the river and its riparian ecosystems, nor the floodplain are appropriate for building, but they are appropriate to include within the settlement area, as special features maintained by and protected in the public realm (see Section 3.6), as essential elements of "sense of place", and as essential components of ecosystem integrity. The upper limit of the glaciofluvial terraces was identified chiefly through aerial photo interpretation, or directly from the orthophotos when it could be clearly seen there. This boundary is identified by an abrupt change in the steepness of the ground (seen by using pairs of aerial photos and a stereoscope, which creates an illusion of three dimensions). The eight paper TRIM maps for the area were laid over their eight corresponding orthophotos (see Table 5,1-3). Using an especially powerful light table (because of the opacity of the maps and orthophotos), and aided by the corresponding aerial photo stereo pairs to ensure accurate identification, the boundary between the lower limit of the steep valley walls and see footnote 84, Crescent Valley, points 1-3 5 9 The facts that 1) the river divides the land appropriate for settlement in two, separated by a barrier impermeable to human movement, and that 2) the Corridor lies completely on one side of this impermeable barrier, will be discussed later in this section, in Section 5.6.1: Existing Settlement Configuration: Means of Movement, and in Section 5.6.2: Spatial Analysis of the Relationship Between the Three Linear Elements 60Topography was the only ecological factor considered to delineate the extent of land that is appropriate for settlement - the extent of the study area. Other ecological factors (for instance, a stream corridor riparian zone, or the undisturbed matrix) were not considered at this stage, as they are subsets of this area - smaller in extent - and would be used to modify the area appropriate for settlement rather than delineate its extent. 6 1 By topographically stable land is meant that which is not prone to natural or man-made disturbance due its slope, shape, parent material and soil. 6 2 Fortunately (and not surprisingly, because of the severe topography of the area) this coincided with the extent of existing settlement, greatly simplifying the thesis analysis. 6 3 Generally less than 20% slope, ranging from 20% to 50% 6 4 Generally less than 10% slope, ranging from 0 to 10% 59 the upper limit of the glaciofluvial terraces was identified65 and drawn on the TRIM maps as a heavy brown line (as mentioned in Section 5.3.2, these 8 paper copy TRIM maps were joined together to be the base map for the landscape ecology analysis -17,8, and 9 Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover The information contained in this section appears in the 128 Suitability Analysis inherent in Existing Settlement Configuration, and under Landscape Character. 5.4.2 Determining and Delineating the Fluvial Terraces The data and techniques used were the same as for 5.3.2. The upper limit of the fluvial terraces was identified chiefly through visual interpretation of the orthophotos; vegetation on the fluvial terraces is different from that on the glaciofluvial terraces, and this shows as a different hue and texture. The boundary between the lower limit of the glaciofluvial terraces and the upper limit of the fluvial terraces was drawn on the map | 7,8,and 9Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover [ as a heavy blue line. The rail line is frequently located along this boundary (see Section 5.4.2: Means of Movement). Fluvial terraces are significant to settlement for two reasons: they are important ecosystem components, for wildlife habitat among other values, and, some portion of the fluvial terraces are in the 300 year floodplain (see footnote 71), so they are not suitable for settlement. The information contained in this section appears in the 128 Suitability Analysis inherent in Existing Settlement Configuration, and under Landscape Character. 5.4.3 Classifying Forest Cover The dominant feature of the landscape mosaic of the Slocan Valley is vegetation, which in turn is predominantly forest. Vegetation maps already exist66 for the Slocan Valley, but none of them focuses on, nor in some cases even delineates, settlement patterns. For the purpose of this thesis, forest cover was analyzed in relation to settlement. Forest cover was classified first by whether it was on the glaciofluvial terraces or the fluvial terraces, because these two lands types have different implications for both forest cover and settlement (discussed in more detail below under the appropriate forest cover type). Then forest cover was classified by whether there were houses or not; this was determined directly from the TRIM maps, their corresponding orthophotos and their corresponding aerial photos (see Table 5,1-3), all of which contain either a symbol, or direct representation of buildings. In all cases, the most recent information of the three was used where there was any discrepancy in the data. Consequently, the 6 5 Guidance for this procedure was provided by Evan McKenzie, an expert in the field of aerial photo interpretation, and terrestrial ecosystem mapping. 6 6 For example, the BC Ministry of Forests Biogeoclimatic Ecological Classification System and the BC Ministry of Forest forest cover maps, and the Silva Forest Foundation Plan for the Slocan Valley (see Section 4.2.0) 60 resulting maps | 7,8, and 9 Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover [ which uses TRIM maps as the base maps, may in some cases have a type that indicates houses where there are no house symbols on the map; this is because houses could be clearly seen on either the more recent orthophoto or most recent aerial photo, and so the map was typed according to this more recent information. The resolution at which forest cover was mapped was lha. (.5 cm x .5 cm map distance); that is, the smallest patch mapped was one hectare in size; patches smaller than this were included in the largest adjacent patch (in other words, patches less than a hectare in size were considered to be merely variation in, and so part of the largest adjacent patch, for example, a small opening in the closed forest. This same resolution was also used to delineate, or differentiate that portion of a contiguous forest type that contained houses from the part that did not have houses; the type change was indicated at a distance of .5 cm (100m) from the house. This resolution resulted in 638 separate patches in the forest cover analysis. The resulting landscape ecology elements are shown in Table 7. Table 8 describes each of the Forest Cover types discovered and mapped; first the ones on the stable upland benches (the glaciofluvial terraces), and then the ones on the stable lowland bench (the fluvial terraces) and active floodplain. This is represented in the maps 7,8,and 9 Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover . The map Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover], created by hand with many pounds of coloured pencil and many hours of "hand" analysis, was then digitized67, giving it infinitely more potentiality, this is represented in the map 110 Settlement Configuration: Settlement in Relation lo Forest Cover This digital version was then used in conjunction with the subsequent analysis carried out in GIS. A powerful image is provided by combining the work done in Section 5.2.0 - the depiction of the heroic landscape context of the study area, with that done in Sections 5.3.2 to 5.3.4 - the depiction of the finite area appropriate for settlement in the valley bottom. This image is represented in the maps 11 and 12 Heroic Landscape and Valley Bottom Settlement \ which depict dwelling bounded by heroic landscape. The information contained in this section appears in the | Suitability Analysis under Landscape Character: Forest Cover. %888ss&8> < R J mmm Assistance with digitizing was provided by Tom Bradley, GIS expert, and member of the Slocan River Streamkeepers, who can now have and use this work for their own good purposes 61 Table 8: Description of Forest Cover Types STABLE UPLAND BENCHES (GLACIOFLUVIAL TERRACES) Closed Forest No Houses68 (The Matrix) This forest type is the matrix - the inherent, most prevalent forest type in the landscape, undisturbed by human activity. It was determined to be the matrix by looking at the greater landscape context - the steep valley walls - that are invariably characterized by this type. It is a closed canopy69 of predominantly coniferous tree species70, and some deciduous tree species usually found in small patches within it. It is important as wildlife habitat for cover and movement, a critical repository of biodiversity, and the land base for hydrological systems. Where this type is present in the study area, it is most often attached to (that is, just a continuing part of) the matrix of the steep valley walls, but there are also a few "free-standing" patches within the study area. Nowhere is it contiguous across the valley from side to side - this is what is meant by fragmentation and lack of connectivity, which is a major factor in wildland systems, especially wildlife habitat (Gergel, 1983). Immature This forest type is the matrix that has been recently logged (the trees are immature, either natural or planted) with no houses located within it. Closed Forest with Houses This forest type is the matrix with houses located within it; some are year-round homes, and some are seasonal cabins (mostly summer use). These habitations are susceptible to danger from wildfire, and contribute little to "sense of place", as they reside entirely within the private realm of individual habitation, far from (and not within view of) any other habitation. They also interfere with natural systems, impacting ecosystem integrity. This forest type results from a settlement configuration that is not ecology-based; one that exhibits rural sprawl. • Open, Patchy Forest No Houses This forest type is dominated by deciduous trees71, the crowns of which create an open canopy that can be discerned by its texture and hue on the aerial photos and orthophotos; of course, the canopy is completely gone in winter. This type develops either by natural disturbance or human disturbance, such as fire, or land clearing and subsequent abandonment. These patches are important wildlife habitat for movement and feeding. Open, Patchy Forest with Houses This forest type is dominated by deciduous trees with an open canopy in summer and no canopy in winter, with houses located within it. It is the most prevalent way in which houses manifests in the forest in the study area (much more prevalent than closed forest with houses); these are typically year-round homes. These habitations have the same characteristics as Closed Forest with Houses with regards to susceptibility to danger from wildfire, and contributing little to "sense of place", which is scenic - as seen from the highway. The impact on ecosystem integrity and biodiversity depends on the amount of human disturbance is caused by habitation. This forest type results from a settlement configuration that is not ecology-based; one that exhibits rural sprawl. Non-Forested (disturbed - cleared land). No Houses This is typically agricultural land, formerly cleared and used for cultivation and grazing of cattle, and currently either still under such use, or abandoned. Its impact on ecosystem integrity depends on the methods used to cultivate it, and on its place in the landscape relative to other forest types. 6 8 Houses" was used to represent all buildings, both for the sake of simplicity, and because by "habitation" here is meant all building in the private realm of the individual, including houses, barns, garages, sheds and out-buildings. 69"closed canopy" means that the crowns of the trees are touching or nearly touching 7 0 the Kootenays are known for having a wide range of forest types comprised of many species - referred to as the Kootenay Mix - including Douglas Fir, Larch, Spruce, White Pine, Lodgepole Pine and Ponderosa Pine, Cedar, and Hemlock; compare this to, for example, Williams Lake which has vast stands of pure Lodgepole pine. 7 1 this is typically aspen, birch, alder and cottonwood in the overstory, and willow, mountain ash and hawthorae in the understory 62 c o "co • 9 a CL o 15 E E f 2 I 0 0) c £ = = '-a P •D •D O •= = = o 5 5 5 w in o CO 6 LO I 1 CO _J < > OJ < > o |T3 CD DQ I L . CD > < o l-O CO o T E o CD CL o CO c c a. o "ra 3 (0 C CD E o (/) "D C ra "D 0) cn cn O O U— o O O CD >• LU < > CO o o lO o c CD r _C0 Q_ 13 CO E E • £ L) CD fll ?= O IL. O O o 11.. CD a. O c ra D CO c 0 z o "O o O VI c: o E E o o 5 co CC c Ol r c jo Q _ ' O o CD > i O < X I 1 c 00 CD u ro I > 3 CD l-e u c CD ICQ c ro a) co [ 'a J3 O D O O S o ro a c a) o. O CO o Li. C o (o3 S T A B L E U P L A N D B E N C H E S ( G L A C I O F L U V I A L T E R R A C E S ) continued Non-Forested (disturbed - cleared land), with Houses This is typically former farmland, currently either stilfunder suchnise, or. now used forihcreascd habitation; it has been subdivided and more houses (than the original farmliouse) have been bu ill on it. When this is the case, collective "sense of place" is greater than in any other forest type: it begins to be experienced by the inhabitants, in view of each other, and not just from having been seen from the highway. The impact of this type on ecosystem integrity depends on its location in the landscape relative to othenforest'types, and orHts overall 'function within the ecosystem. This is the most appropriate forest type for increased habitation and exchange. Non-Forested (disturbed - cleared land). Cultural and Commercial This forest type is land occupied by a building other than one used primarily for habitation; for example, schools, community halls, fire halls, parks, sport fields, gas stations, stores and banks. Non-Forested (disturbed - cleared land). Infrastructure and M i n i n g This is land disturbed for purposes of infrastructure, for example, gravel pits, powerlines or road cuts. S T A B L E L O W L A N D B E N C H E S ( F L U V I A L T E R R A C E S ) / A C T I V E F L O O D P L A I N Closed Forest This forest type is the matrix where it is found on fluvial terraces; there are very few patches of this type and it is rarely contiguous with the matrix on the glaciofluvial terraces. It is important wildlife habitat for movement and cover Open, Patchy Forest This forest type is the same as the Open, Patchy Forest, No Houses type on the glaciofluvial terraces, but its proximity to the river makes it more important as wildlife habitat, movement and feeding. This forest type occurs above the floodplain1. Non-Forested, Vegetated, Undisturbed Shrub/Graminoid This is a naturally occurring shrub vegetation type that usually indicates periodic flooding; it is important wildlife habitat for feeding, and is not suitable for settlement. Non-Forested, Vegetated, Disturbed (Agricultural) Graminoid This type is land used for cultivation of hay and for grazing of cattle. Non-Forested, Vegetated, Disturbed (Agricultural) Graminoid with Houses This type is inappropriate for houses because it is either within the river buffer, and as such should remain in the collective realm, or it may be within the floodplain (topographic analysis required to determine this). Non-Forested, Non-Vegetated This type is gravel and sand bars that occur during low water. 5.4.4 Recognizing the Two-Sided Nature o f the Val ley and One-Sided Nature o f the Corridor The fact that the river divides the valley in two, and that for the purpose of settlement the two sides are separate because the river is impermeable to movement across it for such purpose, and the fact that the Corridor-the space in question of this thesis-lies on only one side of it is recognized! At this early stage of analysis, it is best to work with the whole of each parameter under investigation, in order to have the most complete picture possible in the end, for determining the role of the Corridor in overall settlement. ' This is the 300 year flooplain, defined as that land that lies lower than 3m above the usual high water mark. (Leslie Anderton, Selkirk College Geography, personal communication, August 2003). The usual high water mark is the line used to delineate the river on the 1971 Multiplex M287 map series for the Slocan River valley bottom (Quackenbush, personal communication (email) January 2004) See Appendix 2. 64 5.5.0 Description: Valley Bottom Profiles In order to better describe the valley bottom that was identified as the study area - to depict the location of the river in relation to the valley walls, the width of the valley bottom, the slopes of the fluvial and glaciofluval terraces, the relationship between the three corridors, and the forest cover types - large scale profiles of the valley bottom were derived. Seven profiles were plotted, located to show different conditions of the above-mentioned characteristics in three distinct valley orientations. Additional profiles were derived as needed, at even larger scale, to analyze the shape of the Corridor at particular locations. The non-digital data used for this analysis were the 15 map sheets in the 1971 Multiplex 1:6000 Map Series (see Table 5, #4). They were joined together to form a composite of the entire valley bottom; the resulting map is 11 meters long. The contour interval on these maps is 5 feet (1.5 meters), a resolution 13 times greater than that provided by the TRIM data. This resolution was necessary to show the differences in elevation that are found in such gentle slopes as those found in the valley bottom; the difference in elevation between the river and the upper limit of the glaciofluvial terraces was generally only about 100 meters. It was necessary to plot the profiles at a very large scale (1:300), again, in order to show such slight differences in elevation. The profiles were plotted on 48 inch wide graphed vellum (multiple widths were needed per profile) and then their entire length was traced onto a single piece of vellum of whatever length was required. Table 9 lists the profiles, from North to South. Table 9. Location and Actual Size of Valley Bottom Profiles Code Location Actual Size W2 Winlaw 261 cms x 46 cms WI Winlaw 276 cms x 46 cms L3 Lebahdo Flats 421 cms x 46 cms L2 Lebahdo Flats 295 cms x 46 cms L l Ledahdo Flats 237 cms x 46 cms SP2 Slocan Park 394 cms x 46 cms SP1 Slocan Park 462 cms x 46 cms The profiles provide a powerful depiction of the character of the valley bottom and the relationship between the river, the Corridor and the highway; this relationship determines, more than any other factor, the potential of the Corridor for being the center of settlement (as discussed in Section 5.6.2.) The profiles are depicted in the image 13 Valley Bottom Profiles \ A sample of their application is represented in the image 14 Lebahdo Flats To create an image for this thesis, each profile was photographed in sections with a digital camera; the sections (from 8-15 / profile) were then assembled in Adobe Photoshop (Photoshop), and the resulting profiles were then sized relative to each other according to their actual relative sizes. The information contained in this section appears 128 Suitability Analysis [ under Landscape Character: Valley Bottom Width and Orientation, River Position and Shape, and Valley Walls. 65 5.6.0 Analysis, Quantitative: Areas, Densities, Distances The capacity of digital analysis is put to good work here, taking advantage of the powerful data sets available to the project. Emphasis in this section is on process rather than definitive numbers; errors in the TRIM data were observed, and for the most part, lived with. The analysis in this section was carried out using GIS and the 8 sets of digital TRIM data for the area ^ .^ . . . . ^^ (see Table 5, #1). The information in this section is found in the ^P^| |s ipi | l ! |^SJ 28 Suitability Analysis | under Existing Settlement Configuration. 5.6.1 Existing Settlement Configuration The existing settlement configuration of the study area was analyzed to determine the existence and spatial arrangement of settlement phenomena: • Means of movement: location, relationships to one another, and time studies • Habitation: location and density • Exchange: location of exchange entities and nodes Means of Movement The means of movement were identified in GIS by simply differentiating them as the river, the Corridor, the highway, or the secondary roads and then symbolizing them accordingly. This differentiation was necessary both for mapping symbology, and in order to carry out further steps in the analysis, including buffering the river and the highway, and discerning lengths of each means of movement that has specific characteristics. Linear elements characterized by movement are known as corridors in landscape ecology; they are powerful features in that they control flows in ecosystems (see Appendix 1). Movement can be along the corridor, as in the water in a river, or wildlife using an abandoned road for movement within or between habitats, or cars on the highway. Movement can also be across the corridor, in which case there are issues of barrier and its associated permeability73. Finally, because of the nature of human movement along corridors and its disturbance to ecosystems and human habitation, an "area of influence" (disturbance), also called an "area of ecological effect74", is recognized for such corridors (Forman, 2000). The three Means of Movement are represented in the map 115 Settlement Configuration: Movement \ and their qualities of movement and permeability are described below. 7 3 Permeability is associated with issues of connectivity and fragmentation (see Appendix 1) 7 4 based on "road effect zone" - the area over which significant ecological effects extend outward from a road; it is 66 The River The river was the first contiguous corridor used for human movement in the Valley. The Sinixt people traveled on, and took sustenance from the river in yearly cycles that had lasted for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. The river was the center of their being in the world, it configured their habitation and movement, and they ceased to exist (disappeared) when it could no longer be so75. The river is a means of movement for human travel and transport that is essentially one-directional, and it is unique among the means of movement in the Valley in that it provides its own energy to the movement; travel can be accomplished with no external energy. This, plus the complete lack of friction, makes the river the most energy efficient means of movement in the Valley. In the mid 19* century the river was heavily used to transport logs downstream to various sawmills; some of the pilings that guided the logs are still in place. Today the river is used by humans only for recreational movement: canoes, kayaks, inner-tubes, and other floating devices that defy belief. Two floating events are held each summer: the Poker Float and the Fruit Float; each culminates in a huge party. The river is also unique among the means of movement in the Valley in that it is the total habitat (cover, movement and feeding) for a number of species. Movement for fish is multi-directional and infinitely permeable, although the hydroelectric dams in the Kootenay River just a few kilometers downstream from its confluence with the Slocan River proved an impermeable barrier to the salmon that used to inhabit the Slocan River. Movement for beavers is multi-directional, and for waterfowl it is one-directional, and the river is infinitely permeable to them to both. Of the three means of movement, the river is the one most impermeable to human movement across it, permeable only at the bridges, of which there are now only 5 (of 8) still operable in the valley. The river thus divides settlement of the valley in two, and bridges should play a major role in the settlement configuration there, with habitation and exchange located near them, because of their ability to connect both sides76. Locations where the Corridor is adjacent to a bridge have the powerful potential to connect settlement on both sides of the valley. Another way in which the river is unique among the means of movement in the Valley is that it is a sacred and archetypal presence, for its endless renewal, for its position at the pivot point of valley form, for its boundless connection to all the waters of our biosphere, and merely because it is the source of all life. These things make it a "special feature", to be kept in the public realm. many times wider than the road surface plus roadsides.. .and is highly asymmetrical due to nature's patterns/flows. 7 5 After 1890, more and more of them, and eventually all of them, lived on the Indian reserve in Colville Washington. 7 6 this is not the case, or only slightiy the case in the Slocan Valley 67 The concept of area of influence could be said to apply to the river by inverting it, to say that activities on adjacent land have negative effects on the ecology of the river - thus the area of influence^ for the river would be a the distance from the river at which any given human activity no longer had an effect on the river; most ecologists would agree that this would have to include the riparian zone as well. This is essentially a "buffer" - a zone of no disturbance adjacent to a river, the width of which is site specific. Buffering the river will be discussed in the next section. The New Commons Corridor The rail line was the next contiguous means of movement in the Valley. It transported things: the products of mining and lumbering and the machinery and equipment related to these two activities, as well as general freight, and people (although it was only a passenger train until ~ mid century). Its role in shaping settlement in the valley was one of access, for heavily burdened settlers, to what they considered to be previously unsettled wildland. The way the rail line configured settlement was very different from the way the river configured the inhabitation of the Sinixt. When the rail line was in operation, it was probably very little used by wildlife for movement along it, but apparently people used it; they drove cars and trucks along it before the highway was built. It was a mostly impermeable barrier to wildlife movement across it, and it was permeable to the movement of water across it (culverts and bridges were kept in good repair). Now that it is not in operation and the tracks are removed, it is used more by wildlife and humans for movement along it, and it is more permeable to their movement across it, but it is becoming an impermeable barrier to the movement of water across it because the structures that provide this permeability are not being maintained. There are places where the Corridor spans creeks, and the culverts have become blocked, turning the rail bed into a dam with considerable water building up on the uphill side. In terms of energy efficiency of movement, the corridor is the most efficient means of ground movement know to humans. It is strictly controlled in both alignment and grade, and so allows for movement with the least amount of energy expenditure (assuming a sophisticated surface). This is one of the strongest arguments for its potential to be the means of human-measured movement at the center of settlement. Because of the amount of pollutants and toxins associated with the years that the rail line was in use, damage to adjacent ecosystems has been confirmed by local biologists and ecologists (the issue of Area of influence refers to the distance perpendicular to the corridor that processes associated widi the corridor impact or influence adjacent land; these processes are human disturbance (Forman, 2000). 68 toxic material, both surface and subsurface, is common to many rails to trails projects). This pollution creates an area of influence for this corridor, the extent of which is not yet determined78. The location of the Corridor frequently coincides with the boundary between the lower limit of the glaciofluvial terraces and the upper limit of the fluvial terraces; this can be seen in the aerial photos and the orthophotos. This is probably because this position is as far away from the floodplain as possible, while still on the flatter ground of the fluvial terraces. The Corridor is sometimes located well within the fluvial terraces, and sometimes immediately next to the river; there are even sections where the rail bed has eroded into the river (it is not, however, anywhere located in the floodplain). Forman recognizes that: "Roads, railroads and canals are often built in the floodplain due to the flat terrain. These structures generally parallel the valley... As the stream or river migrates laterally across the floodplain over time, in places the stream begins to erode the linear object constructed. Erosion is often severe, especially when sand and gravel are added to attempt to maintain the road [or rail line] location against nature's process" (Forman, 1996, p. 227). The fact that the Corridor lies on only one side of land available for settlement, cut off from the other side by the river, makes it important to identify places where the Corridor is adjacent to bridges. The Highway The highway is the most recent means of movement in the Valley, and it is currently the only means of movement for the business of everyday life there. It configures settlement, the pattern and density of habitation and exchange, according to non-human measures. Movement along this corridor is only safe by automobile; there no paved "shoulders", indeed, no shoulders at all for much of its length. It is the least efficient of the three means of movement in terms of energy expenditure required to move along it. Its alignment and grade are tortuous for long stretches; requiring frequent "changes in gear". It is a barrier that is variably impermeable to human and wildlife movement across it; with the exception (for the humans) of the reduced speed limit in Slocan Park and Winlaw, and the new crosswalk in Winlaw, which makes it permeable to human movement across it. Because the traffic volumes are very low (see Appendix 4) when considered from an "area of ecological influence" point of view (Forman, 2000), the impermeability to movement across it is somewhat mitigated, as are the other negative effects of roads on ecology. It is permeable to water movement; creeks pass under the highway in culverts. Table 10 summarize the characteristics of movement and permeability for the three corridors. 7 8 It depends upon both the nature of the pollutant, the nature of the surrounding soils (their permeability) and the nature of the surrounding hydrology. 69 Table 10. Summary of corridor characteristics of movement, permeability and area of ecological affect Movement Movement Movement across corridor, Movement Area of along corridor, along corridor, permeability, across corridor, ecological wildlife humans wildlife and other ecological flows permeability, humans affect, or influence Fish and beaver Recreational Completely Completely The river use it for one-directional permeable to fish, impermeable does not muht-directional use beavers, birds; barrier to human negatively movement within movement except impact its all or part of their Semi-permeable at bridges surrounding The river habitat; Waterfowl use it for one-directional movement within part of their habitat to mammals ecosystems, rather, the river requires an area of protection from disturbance adjacent to it Mammals use it Recreational use Almost Almost Toxic now for some now for some completely completely chemicals amount of multi- amount of permeable now to permeable to and directional muht- wildlife human pollutants The New Commons Corridor movement directional movement; movement, it from former between habitats. movement, and depends only on use have an Not permeable to condition of the un-Tf Hffi Potential to hp water without Corridor surface determined 1 1 > f$ (today's then it would the future means maintenance, area of effect remain the same, of mulit- As the center of on ecology conditions) with the exception directional As the center of settlement, the of in areas of movement at the settlement, these surface condition As the center concentrated center of maintenance would be of settlement settlement problems would be addressed ameliorated settlement, these pollutants would be cleaned up The current Semi-permeable Semi- Recognized means of multi- to wildlife, wh. impermeable area of affect directional results in car barrier to on ecology, movement for accidents and movement for which is The highway habitation and death of both humans; this is mitigated by None exchange humans and ameliorated in low traffic animals Completely permeable to water due to maintained culverts/bridges Slocan Park and Winlaw with reduced speed limits, and in Winlaw with a crosswalk volume These characteristics will be further considered under Section 5.6.2, where the spatial relationship between these three corridors is explored. 70 Human-Measured Movement - Defining the 2 kilometer Radius Exchange Node The studies related to the design of settlement for human-measured movement are all for urban conditions - urban attitudes about time and distance79. Although people in rural conditions have similar needs with regards to daily exchange and movement within their community, they seem to have a different attitude about the time and distances needed for such movement and exchange; they are accustomed to both of these being greater. Also, although the settlement prescribed by this thesis for the rural landscape of the Valley is more concentrated than it is now, it is not as compact as what is found in the urban settlement considered by these studies80; this thesis prescribes a somewhat more widely spaced settlement pattern. For those reasons, greater time and distances were used to identify the exchange node - three times greater than the ones usually used for urban design. Starting from the center of the node, one kilometer of movement along a sophisticated81 means of movement such as the Corridor realizes the following time measures82: • Adult Walking: 15 minutes (4 kms per hour) • Adult Bicycling: 5 minutes (12 kms per hour) • Adult Roller Blading: same as bicycling • Adult Walking with Stroller or Baby Carriage: 20 - 30 minutes (2 to 3 kms per hour) Habitation Location and Density-Habitation density was measured by counting houses (TRIM point data) per unit area. Because of the sparse habitation, density was measured using a unit of area of 25 hectares. Natural breaks in the resulting data were used to identify 4 density classes, shown below with their associated area in hectares: • no houses* (*See Footnote 82) 5,589 hectares green* squares of 25 hectares • 1-5 houses per 25 hectares 3,866 hectares tan squares of 25 hectares • 6-15 houses per 25 hectares 2,458 hectares medium brown squares of 25 hectares • 16-62 houses per 25 hectares 974 hectares dark brown squares of 25 hectares This analysis quantified the sparseness of habitation and its dispersed nature. If the total area with houses (not the total study area, only the part of the study area with houses) - 7,298 hectares - is divided by the estimated total population (2,000 people) of the study area, the density translates to about one quarter of a person per hectare, or about 4 hectares per person. The "five minute walk" distance is the one most often used in these studies, which is only about 350m. 8 0 but it is still dense enough to be considered appropriate for "carfree" movement (Crawford, 2000) 8 1 Within the exchange nodes, "sophisticated" surfacing is specified for the Corridor: asphalt or a like surface. 8 2 Based on figures from Carfree Cities (Crawford, 2000, p.36): adult walking speed of 76 meters per minute; and based on personal knowledge: adult bicycling speed of 400 meters per minute; based on estimates: roller blading walking with stroller or baby carriage; all these figures were then used conservatively to calculate timed travel. 71 Section of Habitation Density Map Houses per 25 Hectares 1 - 5 houses per 25 has 9 -15 houses per 25 has 16 - 62 houses per 25 has Upper Limit of Glaciofluvial Terrac^ New Commons Corridor »* Hwy 6 p houses |-t7| ^•3.75 diagonal (705m x 3.75) = 2643m (2.643kms) V a l l e y B o t t o m S t a t s t i e s Total Area: 12.887 Has Houses per 25 Hectares Area • r „ h u , 5,599 I | 1-5h( uses per 2$ has 3:e66 warn e-15 m a w per 25 H M 2 « 6 mu 16-62 houses per 25 has 974 Figure 24: En la rged Sec t ion of Set t lement Conf igurat ion: Habitat ion Pattern and Densi ty 72 The most prevalent (43% of the study area) density class is no houses - this is primarily undisturbed matrix - a comprehensive ecology-based settlement configuration for the Slocan Valley would consider leaving this area undisturbed, and look for ways to connect it from one side of the valley to the other. The next most prevalent (30% of the study area) density class is 1-5 houses per 25 hectares. This density range translates to from 25 hectares per person to 5 hectares per person. The least prevalent (8% of the study area) density class is 16-62 houses per 25 hectares. This density range translates to from 1.6 hectares per person to a quarter of a hectare per person - the high end of this category (62 houses per 25 hectares) is located entirely within the village of Slocan. The density class that is most typical of "concentrated settlement" in the Slocan Valley, 6-15 houses per 25 hectares, represents 19% of the study area. This density translates to from 4 hectares per person to 1.6 hectares per person. For example, in Winlaw the lots range from 2 .0 to 2.5 hectares. For the purpose of identifying concentrated settlement close to exchange (see Exchange Nodes, below) these last two density classes (16-62 houses per 25 hectares and 6-15 houses per 25 hectares) were used, comprising about 3,400 hectares (27% of the study area). The analysis results are represented in the map 16 Settlement Configuration: Habitation: Pattern and Density \ (Another useful feature of this map is that the grid can be used to directly estimate valley width; each square is 500m on a side, and 705m on the diagonal.) It is important to note that this highest density is not dense! It is so sparse that habitation is widely spaced, and for the most part, households cannot see each other. Exchange Entities84 Location Exchange entities are represented as polygon data, representing the buildings, and not the lot lines of these features, and only a few of the existing exchange entities are included in the data - it is very incomplete. Since this thesis is a spatial analysis of area devoted to the different components of settlement, the existing exchange entities were re-digitized, using their lot lines (and so the areas) allocated to them, and the lot lines of all known, additional exchange entities missing from the data were likewise digitized. The exchange entities are difficult to see in such a small image, but they are represented in the map 17 Settlement Configuration: Exchange Entities *A caution is in order for the map associated with this analysis, that the area with "no settlement", which is colored green, not be confused with any of the forest cover types; the information in this map is transcribed onto subsequent maps early on, and this map is not revisited, so any confusion would be with this map only. 8 4 Home-based businesses and other professional services that do not constitute exchange that occurs frequently enough (at least several times a week, if not everyday) were not included for this project. 73 The exchange entities were identified as: • Post Offices (as unique indicators of settlement identity) • mfrastructure Entities: •Emergency Services: fire departments and ambulance *Non-Emergency: schools and health clinics, and community living facilities • Community Entities: parks, community halls, cemeteries, sports fields • Commercial Entities: grocery stores, gas stations, liquor stores, cafes or restaurants • Special natural features such as the river, beaches, the wetlands, and archeological sites A brief description of the nature of the exchange, or, the role that an exchange entity plays in settlement exchange, is found in Table 11. Table 11: Description of the Nature of Exchange per Exchange Entity Post Offices | are unique exchange entities because of the role they play in both identity and exchange; a postal address is an identified location in Canada, and post offices are also places where people go each day in the rural setting, as there is no mail delivery. These post offices are all located within another exchange entity, such as a gas station or grocery store. A double black circle is used to identify a post office on the map. Emergency Infrastructure exchange entities play a big part in exchange in the rural setting because all these services are provided by volunteers in the community, which entails many hours of practice and meetings. Fire halls are also often used for community get-togethers such as fund raising events and other special events. There are four fire halls and one ambulance hall in the study area. Their lots are delineated in red hatching on the map. Non-emergency Infrastructure | exchange entities are important social hubs on a daily basis; the schools have many after-school social functions, as well as being the place where children, teachers, and many parents go every weekday. The health clinic is open and busy 5 days a week, providing (on alternate days) a medical doctor, a dentist, lab services, and a massage therapist. The community living lodge is home to about a dozen inhabitants, and it is also used frequently for social gatherings, meetings, and for local art shows. There are 2 elementary schools, one health clinic and one community living facility in the study area. Their lots are delineated in blue hatching on the map. Community Exchange Entities are important meeting places for special events; the community halls sports fields and parks are used at different times throughout the year for a wide range of functions, and they are pivotal to sense of place. There are 5 community halls, one regional park, and 2 sports fields in the study area. Their lots are delineated in blue hatching on the map. Commercial Exchange Entities | are important meeting places on a daily basis; they are the most frequent and regular source of exchange for the greatest number of people in the study area. There is one bank, one gift store, one restaurant, one coffee bar, and there are 3 gas stations, 3 grocery stores, and 4 liquor stores. Their lots are delineated in orange hatching on the map. Special Features | are exchange entities that are universally valued by the inhabitants because of their unique role and meaning in the place; exchange is through shared experiences and memories of these features, such as special swimming holes or beaches, huckleberry patches, wildlife habitat (for bird and wildlife watching), cliffs, and the waterfalls on creeks. There are many special features in the study area, but it is beyond the scope of this thesis to identify and map them with one exception: Passmore Beach (which may soon become a regional park) is delineated in blue hatching on the map. 74 Overlay of Settlement Configuration Components: Movement, Habitation and Exchange The final step in describing the existing settlement configuration was to overlay the three components: movement, habitation and exchange, to depict their spatial relationships. These information is represented in the map 119 Settlement Configuration: Overlay of Habitation, Exchange and Movement Identifying the Exchange Nodes As can be seen on the overlay map, many exchange entities are both near each other, and near areas identified as concentrated settlement: 6-15 houses per 25 hectares, and 16-62 houses per 25 hectares (see above: Habitation Location and Density. In looking for a way to identify "exchange, nodes", it was necessary to choose some exchange entity to be the center of the node, from which to measure a radius of influence. The first thing considered was the location of emergency infrastructure. The Winlaw Fire and Ambulance Hall is well situated for that settlement area, but Passmore Fire Hall is located in a sparsely settled area, situated roughly half way between Winlaw Fire Hall and Crescent Valley Fire Hall, so as to be able to service as much as possible the scattered settlement between Winlaw and the south end of the valley. Two other exchange entities were more apparently the center of exchange: post offices and community halls. While community halls are more the "heart" of the place, post offices are more the hub, particularly since they are all located in a local grocery store/liquor store/gas station, so post offices were chosen to be the center of the node. The two kilometer radius exchange nodes centered on the 4 post offices (plus an extra node linking Slocan Park to Passmore, discussed later under Slocan Park - Passmore Exchange Node) are represented in the map 118 Settlement Configuration:Exchange Nodes In spite of the scarcity and sparsity of exchange entities, and the scattered habitation, two places85 stand out as having multiple and unique exchange entities located within a 2 km radius (the choice of radius is 8 5 For the purpose of choosing exchange nodes (and then using them as examples of design for the thesis) neither Slocan nor Crescent Valley were considered. Slocan because: 1) it already has a settlement pattern laid out in a grid, which conflicts with any new pattern that could be centered on the Corridor; 2) the Corridor here is mostly within 25 meters of the river, so the Corridor would not have been chosen there as a candidate for center of settlement; 3) Slocan City it is at the very end of the Corridor (the Corridor ends at Slocan Lake) and it is more than 2 kms from the post office to where the Corridor could feasibly be the center of settlement (the town grid extends more than 2 kms south from the post office). Slocan City does present an excellent opportunity for re-configuration/re-design of the settlements layout, but that is beyond the focus of this thesis. Crescent Valley was not chosen because: 1) the Corridor is interrupted by the highway just at the north end of Crescent Valley (right at the bridge) - this is the only place in the entire study area where the highway crosses the Corridor - after which it essentially leaves the valley and goes east to join the rail line that goes into Nelson; 2) the south end of Crescent Valley is essentially not in the Valley; it is in the wide valley junction formed by the confluence of the Slocan River and the Kootenay River; 3) this create confusion in knowing where to stop the study area, and so the decision was made to stop it where the highway crosses the Corridor. 75 explained below in the Section: Human-Measured Movement within...Node) centered on a post office, and near the densest habitation: Slocan Park and Winlaw. These are represented in the larger scale maps (showing just the exchange nodes) \20 Settlement Configuration: Exchange Nodes and Habitation Density] and 121 Settlement Configuration: Exchange Nodes and Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover Description of Slocan Park - Passmore Exchange Node Slocan Park has the only medical clinic, the only bank, the only drive-through cappuccino bar, the only video rental and pool hall (1 table) (the latter 2 all in one entity), a community hall, a grocery store, a liquor store, a gas station (the latter 3 all in one entity) and a bridge across the river. In addition, if the exchange node is shifted north so that the post office is at the south end of the node (instead of at the center), then unique exchange entities in Passmore can be included within the 2km radius. These unique entities are the only community living facility, and Passmore Beach; this shift would also include the Passmore fire hall, and another community hall (Passmore Hall) within the radius, as well as another bridge across the river, making Slocan Park - Passmore a very rich exchange node in terms of exchange entities; accordingly, the exchange node was shifted north to create the Slocan Park - Passmore Exchange Node. A special feature in this node is Passmore Beach, which attaches to the Corridor (they share a boundary) thus strengthening the public realm of both the corridor and this public space, and providing public access to it. Description: Winlaw Exchange Node Winlaw has the only restaurant, the only regional park, the only ambulance station, the only laundry mat (3 machines), a fire hall, a community hall with ball field, a grocery store, a liquor store, a gas station (the latter 3 all in one entity), an elementary school and a bridge across the river. Furthermore, the community hall attaches to the Corridor (they share a property line), and the regional park effectively attaches to it as well, as they share a boundary - the river. This boundary, which is currently an impermeable barrier to human movement, could be made permeable by rich design response - a hand-operated cable boat across the river, thus giving almost immediate access to the park from the elementary school, via the Corridor These two locations on the Corridor will be considered for their potential as areas of concentrated habitation and exchange centered on the Corridor through the suitability analysis process, Section 5.8.0. 5.6.2 Spatial Analysis of the Relationship Between the Three Linear Elements: the River, the New Commons Corridor and the Highway Before discussing how the relationship between the three linear elements informs the space in question of this thesis, it is necessary to address how that very relationship eliminates one half of the valley from the proposal of this thesis. For the purpose of settlement, the river divides the valley in two, and the Corridor is only on one side of it. Exploring the role the Corridor can play in the settlement configuration 76 on this one side is the matter of this thesis, but future exploration could seek to discover how the Corridor could also enrich settlement on the other side, through opportunities for joining the two sides by means of existing bridges, and by new means of "bridging" the river along the length of the Corridor (see Section 5.8.1: Winlaw Hamlet); in those bridged locations it may be feasible that settlement centered on the Corridor could be connected to settlement on the other side. It is also reasonable to consider how car-free settlement could be created on the other side, in the absence of a "Corridor", and what form it could take there. Access to outside the community, and between distant communities, could be provided by existing secondary roads, just as on the Corridor's side, access to outside the community, and between distant communities is provided by the highway. The same objectives would apply to settlement on the West side, with regards to such things as buffering the river (keeping it in the public realm) and concentrating habitation and exchange for the protection of ecosystem integrity and the engendering of "sense of place". Alternatively, some of the West side of the river could be retained as large farms, orchards, dairies and ranches for both local and export produce. It is beyond the scope of this thesis to address this larger issue any further than to acknowledge that the West side of the river would be integrated into any comprehensive plan for an ecology-based settlement configuration for the Valley, a plan in which the Corridor would play its unique and powerful role. The characteristics of the three linear elements in the study area - their function in the landscape as boundaries and corridors, and their areas of ecological effect - were discussed in Section 5.6.1 and summarized in Table 10. With that information as background, the spatial relationships of these three linear elements can now be discussed The river is the center of the topography of the valley, and archetypically it is a powerful center of settlement (Norberg-Schultz, 1985). The highway is the current center of settlement, a recent (in historical terms) shift from traditional settlement patterns (Norberg-Schultz, 1996). The Corridor occupies the center position between them; it is well positioned to become the future center of settlement, one that draws closer to the river and moves further from the highway. The arrangement of these three linear elements does not vary throughout the whole length of the Valley; the river is on the West side of the Corridor, and the highway is on the East side of it. The position of the Corridor between the two varies greatly, as does the distance between the river and the highway. In some locations, all three are immediately adjacent to each other with no space between them; in other locations there are hundreds of meters between them. The analysis of the relationship between the 3 linear elements is depicted in the map 122 Settlement Configuration-Movement: Three Corridors and Their Relationship^ 11 Figure 19 on page 36 is an excellent depiction of this spatial relationship and the areas that it creates. In this picture you can see how the river configured the rail line - the latter lies on the boundary of the fluvial terraces and the glaciofluvial terraces here. The highway then in turn seems to follow roughly the shape of the rail line (this is often, but by no means always the case). The space bounded by the river and the highway - two barriers, one impermeable and the other semi-impermeable to human movement - is the space available for settlement centered on the Corridor - a permeable corridor that connects the two sides. This photo also shows one of the 5 places in the Valley where the river is permeable to human movement - the Appledale Bridge - the Corridor at this location is especially powerful because it could connect to settlement on the other side of the river. The relationship between the three linear elements is represented in the map 123 Settlement Configuration Movement: Three Corridors and Their Relationship Now that the space available for settlement has been identified, it needs to be refined to take into account the "area of ecological effect" or the "area of influence" of both the river and the highway; this refinement is accomplished by buffering them, using GIS analysis tools and digital data (see Table 5, #1) Buffering the River The challenge of establishing an appropriate river buffer width has many precedents in all the land use planning disciplines. This width depends on myriad diverse ecological and social factors, varying greatly from one situation to the next, and depending on interpretations of what buffer is necessary to maintain or protect some identified value. Furthermore, ecologists agree that no single buffer width is appropriate for the entire length of a given river corridor; the buffer must vary along its length to reflect its varying conditions (Zonneveld, 1990). Many agencies (The Ministry of Forests, the Silva Forest Foundation, the Streamkeepers, The Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance, The Vallhalla Wilderness Society, and others) have recognized the need to determine a refined and responsive, variable buffer for the Slocan River, but such an endeavour has not been undertaken; it would require a comprehensive analysis of the ecology of the valley, including: • wildlife habitat and movement and its connectivity to the matrix, a highly variable buffer, • the riparian zone for the entire length of the river; a highly variable buffer, • major stream corridors that enter the river, and the area at their mouths which is habitat for many species as well as important for water quality, this would require another width of buffer, • the floodplain, a highly variable buffer, • soil types that are sensitive to disturbance, yet another buffer, • river bank conditions that are sensitive to disturbance, usually a narrow buffer • special ecosystems or species habitat, usually a wide buffer, • overall biodiversity, an overall highly variable buffer. 78 Determining the appropriate variable buffer for the Slocan River is beyond the scope of this thesis, but to recognize its importance and the necessity of establishing it, a 100m buffer is applied to the river as a reference to such necessity. One hundred meters86 was chosen to reflect, as was described in the opening paragraph of this section, the particular circumstances of a given land use - for this thesis that land use is settlement adjacent to the river, and the area of influence of disturbances caused by settlement (these disturbances are explained in Table 12). The river is a special feature in the landscape that should remain in the public realm87 two reasons: it is enormously important ecologically, critical to the Valley's ecosystem integrity, and it is enormously important socially, critical to the Valley's "sense of place". r As Alexander puts it: "When water occurs near human settlement... always preserve a belt of common land, immediately beside the water, and allow dense settlements to come right down to the waters only at infrequent intervals... The width of the belt of land along the water may vary with the type of water, the density of development along it, and the ecological conditions"(Alexander, 1977, p. 137). And as Richard Forman says: "stream or river systems are corridors of exceptional significance in a landscape. Maintaining their ecological integrity in the face of intense human use is both a challenge and an opportunity for landscape architects and land-use planners" (Forman, 1996, p.35). Forman says later that the way to maintain this ecological integrity is to maintain the river corridor and its adjacent dependent ecosystems out of the private realm. It must be stated here that buffering the river should in fact really be buffering the river's riparian zone, which in the Slocan Valley varies from being at the riverbank itself, to being tens of meters from it. Nowhere is it more than 30 or 40 meters from the river, and since the buffer used by this thesis is 100 meters, the riparian zone is protected. Table 12 list the types of disturbance from settlement that are addressed by the buffer, their areas of influence, the buffer required to ameliorate them, and the principal source of information for determining the buffers. One hundred meters was chosen because, assuming a 50m deep "lot" allocated to habitation, in the case where the Corridor is right up against the river buffer, and other circumstances (see Footnote 86) make it especially desirable for settlement to occur there, there would still be the minimum distance (50m, as ascertained through the buffer analysis in Table 12) deemed necessary to allow for settlement to occur without disturbance to the river ecosystem. In such a case, the personal privacy buffer (#4 and #5) would be infringed upon, but this is considered a non-critical buffer that is easily ameliorated if desired, at the discretion of the affected persons. 8 7 Alexander recognizes exceptions where planning determines it appropriate for "dense settlements to come right down to the waters only at infrequent intervals... [depending on] the type of water, the density of development along it, and the ecological conditions"(Alexander, 1977, p. 137 79 Table 12. Five Kinds of Disturbance Addressed trough the River Buffer Ecological and / or Social Value to Protect from Disturbance Area Effected / Influenced by the Disturbance Buffer Width Necessary to Protect the Value Source for Determining the Buffer 1) Protecting wildlife habitat of the river (fish, beaver and waterfowl) from disturbance associated with habitation, mostly noise but also visual disturbance The area of influence was informed by studies concerned with effects of disturbance on wildlife habitat; the studies were for greater disturbance than that caused by habitation For noise*, the buffer was determined to be 50- 100m, and for visual disturbance, 50 m from the riparian zone Forman, 1996 Forman, 2000 For septic tanks: 30 -50m from riparian zone, depending on soil and slope For protection from livestock: the entire riparian zone, or 50m whichever is greater 2) Protecting water quality from contamination associated with household waste, but also from livestock or domestic animals of any kind including horses, grazing next to the river, or using it as a water trough and mud hole; this latter is also relevant to #3 For septic tanks, the area of influence depends on soil texture and topography; it was determined from guidelines and other sources For livestock, the area of influence is assumed to be the riparian zone Lynch, 1996 Water Quality Assoc. of BC, 2000 Time Saver Standards for Landscape Architecture, Harris, 1988 3) Protecting the physical condition of the riverbank, this is important to water quality, fish habitat, and waterfowl and other wildlife habitat The area of influence is the riverbank itself The necessary buffer is provided indirectly through regulating activities allowed in the buffer zone Various reports on recreation in riparian zones 4) Protecting the privacy of adjacent habitation from the influence of public use of the river buffer; the area of influence for this is one of both sight and sound Multiple studies concerned with "physiological optics and experience" give similar figures regarding human recognition: max distance at which people can: 1) detect another person (unaided eye): 1200m; 2) recognize an individual (human scale): 22 or 25 m; and 3)discern facial expressions (intimate scale): 12 or 15 m. This thesis assumes that visual privacy is achieved when individuals and their activities can be seen but not recognized (it is not considered necessary or even desirable that in order to have a sense of privacy, individuals cannot be detected at all, but rather that they are far enough away that their personality remains private). The buffer chosen to protect individual personality is 100 m. This is a non-critical buffer; it can be infringed upon if other factors make settlement strongly desirable in a location. Jacobs, 1996 Lynch, 1996 5) Protecting the experience of the public from the influence of adjacent private habitation The area of influence for this is the same as #4 The buffer for this is the same as #4 Sources same as #4 "Buffering noise cannot be achieved by distance alone, it requires physical barriers to sound waves. 80 Buffering the Highway-Buffering the highway is an entirely different matter from buffering the river. The river was buffered to protect its ecosystems from human disturbance (settlement) and to keep it in the public realm. The highway was buffered to protect settlement from the highway's disturbances - impacts on the ecology, and the quality of experience for settlement along the Corridor. These disturbances are air, water and soil pollution, noise and visual disturbance to settlement, and danger to both humans and domestic animals due to motor vehicle accidents. Only the downslope effects are relevant to this thesis, as the Corridor is downslope of the highway for its entire length. Furthermore, the traffic volumes of Highway 6 are lower than any of the ones in the studies encountered. Finally, determining the affects of the highway on wildlife and wildlife habitat are beyond the scope of this thesis except to say that in locations where settlement occurs along the corridor, and there is still enough distance between the highway and this settlement for suitable wildlife habitat of some kind to exist (most likely movement), this may affect how settlement is configured in that location. The "areas of ecological effect" of road disturbances is the recent research focus of Richard T.T. Forman, who spearheaded this research in North America. A sample of some of the studies and their findings regarding area of effect that were considered for the purpose of determining the highway buffer for this thesis is provided in Table 13. Some of these effects may not be relevant to settlement, but this review serves another purpose directly relevant to this thesis. It illustrates the negative effects of motor vehicle roads on ecosystem integrity and human quality of life, and reinforces the reasons for promoting settlement configurations that require fewer motor-vehicle roads. A buffer of 100 meters was chosen for the purpose of ameliorating the effects of noise and visual disturbance, recognizing that noise cannot be ameliorated by distance alone. It is true though, that the noise from the highway is much more noticeable when you are on land that is situated above the highway - homes located on benches across the river, on the West side of the valley are subject to much more noise than homes that are next to the highway, but situated on land that is at the same level as, or below it. The entire length of the Corridor is below the highway, therefore it is well-positioned with respect to highway noise. It was impossible to determine the appropriate buffer to ameliorate the effects of the highway on ecology, as the data examined varied too widely, and too little is known about the exact circumstances of Highway 6 to be able to correlate it to any of the data. It is important to recognize that downslope effects are more severe than ones on flat ground , or on the uphill side of roads, and the entire Corridor is downslope of the highway. This issue warrants further investigation. One hundred meters is certainly large enough to remove the risk of injury to humans and their domestic animals due to accidents. 81 Table 13. Reports examined for information about buffering the highway Report Disturbance type (downslope only) Area of influence applied to Hwy 6 1) Horizontal Processes, Roads, Suburbs, Societal Objectives, and Landscape Ecology (Klqpatek, 1999) This reference provides an overall picture of the kinds of disturbances that have been researched; not all are relevant to this thesis DOWNSLOPE Hydrological effects Salt, lead etc, in aquatic systems DOWNWIND Silt, sand, nutrients from road dust Grassland birds disturbed Forest interior birds disturbed Large mammals in woodland disturbed Invasion by roadside species Human access affects on wildlife and sensitive ecosystems • 200-1000 m < or = 50 m < or = 50 m 200 - 1000 m > 1000 m 100-200 m > 1000 m > 1000 m 2) The Ecological Road-Effect Zone of a Massachusetts Suburban Highway (Forman et al , 1999, February 8) Channelized streams Road salt contamination of surf water Road salt damage to woody plants Habitat invasion of exotic plants Wildlife and Species Pattern Forest / Grassland Birds Amphibians 30-500 m suspected/not verified 10 m 10-120 m(dep on sp) not determined 650+m/up to 930m not determined 3) Estimate of the Area Affected Ecologically by the Road System in the United States (Forman, 1999, June 14) This report measured the ratio btw land area and area taken up by 2 n d roads; it discovered (not surprisingly), just as this thesis discovered in the Slocan Valley, that this ratio is much higher in rural areas Effects include: Blocking wildlife corridors and subdividing wildlife populations Increased human access to wildland Secondary road effects on stream and river channelization, sedimentation, altered water tables, wetland drainage, spread of planted roadside exotics In rural areas, 60% of the total road length was 2 n d roads, and the total land area affected by 2 n d roads was 8%> - the same amount as that affected by primary roads 4) Road Traffic and Nearby Grassland Bird Patterns in a Suburbanizing Landscape (Forman et al., 2002) This report focused on fine-tuning the correlation between traffic volumes and bird presence, and traffic volumes and bird breeding; it informs the thesis by putting into perspective the traffic volumes that are relevant to disturbance; volumes on Highway 6 do not even approach the lowest volumes measured Presence of grassland bird species Breeding of grassland bird species Correlates positively with dist from busy roads, but not with dist from low traffic volume roads; Correlates positively with dist from both busy roads and low traffic volume roads 5) Roads and Their Major Ecological Effects (Forman et al., 1998) This report focuses on "transportation ecology" - the fact that an estimated 15-20% of the US is ecologically impacted by roads makes this a relevant ecological niche Road corridors cover approximately 1% of the US, however, the area directly affected ecologically is much greater. There are "gaping holes" in our knowledge of road ecology. One major question of debate is "Do roads lead to development, or does develop- ment lead to roads Areas of ecological effect are the same ones given in #1. 82 Four Categories of Relationship Between the Three Linear Elements Buffering the river and highway creates four categories of relationship between them and the Corridor: • Where the Corridor is greater than 100m from both the river and the highway; • Where the Corridor is less than 100m from the river and greater than 100m from the highway • Where the Corridor is greater than 100m from the river and less than 100m from the highway, • Where the Corridor is less than 100m from both the river and the highway. The categories and the length of the Corridor that falls into them are represented in the 4 panel map 23 Settlement Configuration: Movement: Relationship of the Three Linear Elements]. As can be seen from the latter, the Corridor varies greatly in its position relative to the river and the highway, settlement "centered" on it does not necessarily mean that there would be an equal amount of habitation and exchange entities on both sides of it; "centered" means "focused on", "given a center by," and "organized by". Each category has different implications for the role the Corridor would play in settlement, as specified in the 4'..—i 28 Suitability Analysis For example, where the Corridor is well within the river buffer, but less than 100m from the highway, there could be habitation and exchange on the river side with lanes and paths connecting to the Corridor, which here would serve as the means of movement between other elements in the community, and between other communities. On the highway side, huge shade trees could be closely planted to serve as a barrier to noise and visual disturbance from the highway; these trees could be mirrored by slightly smaller and more widely spaced trees on the river side (where they would be interspersed with the phenomena of habitation and exchange), creating an archetypal allee, enriching the experience of movement along the Corridor for both the inhabitants of this particular place, and for people traveling by it - the allee would mark a change in the Corridor, announcing that the traveler has arrived at a particular place of archetypal significance (see S ection 5.8.1: Winlaw Hamlet) There are many locations where the Corridor is inside both the river buffer and the highway buffer, indeed, there is no practical room for any "buffer" to exist - the three linear elements are practically on top of each other, squeezed together by the valley's form and the position of the river within it. This occurs on the east side of the valley, anywhere where the river swings to the east and is right up against the east steep valley wall, for instance, at Passmore Beach. In such locations, the function of the Corridor is means of movement between communities, and access to elements within communities, for instance, access to Passmore Beach from Passmore Lodge, (see Section 5.8.1: Slocan Park -Passmore). 83 In the two above examples, the Corridor is still very much the center of settlement. It organizes the settlement's form and function, informs the location of habitation and exchange and the distances between settlement phenomena, facilitates exchange within and between communities, and connects all the elements of settlement within and between communities. The three linear elements squeezed together by valley form, and position of the river within the valley bottom. Boundary between the Steep Valley Wall and The Upper Limit of the Glaciofluvial Terraces (the Corridor and highway squeezed between) Position of the river in the Valley Bottom, right up against the steep valley wall Figure 25. Steep Valley Walls and River Position within the Valley Bottom, at Passmore, Aerial Photo BC Provincial Government, with permission Area Available for Settlement Centered on the Corridor The space available for settlement that was refined by the river and highway buffers becomes the area available for settlement defined by these buffers: 932 hectares. This is represented in the two maps 24Proposed Area Available for Settlement \ \25Proposed Area Available for Settlement: Exchange Nodes\ As can be seen from these maps, the Corridor is not necessarily centered in this area; there are locations where the corridor is well within both buffers (Lebahdo Flats and Silva Point), but in many locations the Corridor is right next to, or crosses into either the river buffer or the highway buffer. This variance is key to the design implications for the Corridor, and as such, the "Four Categories" identified above become known by their interpretive meaning -"potential as center of settlement"- in the Suitability Analysis Table Now that the area proposed for settlement in this project is known, it is interesting to calculate, for the sake of comparison with the current population density in the Valley, what the population would be if the density was, say, 4 people per hectare instead of the 4 hectares per person, which it currently is. Given the 932 hectares (12% of the existing area with habitation), the resulting population would be -3,600 people - almost twice the existing population. In other words, with only 12% of the land in settlement, twice as many people could inhabit the valley, at a density of 4 people (an average family) per hectare. 84 Synthesis of the Relationship Between the Three Linear Elements and the Existing Settlement Configuration, to Derive the Landscape Design Units In the Suitability Analysis Table, the four categories of the relationship between the three linear elements are designated by their potential to be the center of settlement; their equivalents are shown in Table 14. Table 14. Correlation between the Corridor categories and the Corridor Categories from Section 5.6.2, of the Relationships Between the Three Linear Elements How they are applied in the Suitability Analysis Table, under New Commons Corridor, Potential as Center of Settlement Where the Corridor is greater than 100m from both the river and the highway FULL potential as center of settlement Where the Corridor is less than 100m from the river and greater than 100m from the highway EAST SIDE potential as center of settlement Where the Corridor is greater than 100m from the river and less than 100m from the highway WEST SIDE potential as center of settlement Where the Corridor is less than 100m from both the river and the highway NO potential as center of settlement From here on, the Corridor categories will be referred to by these equivalents in the Suitability Analysis Table - the "potential as center of settlement" designation. These designations are combined with the Existing Settlement Configuration to formulate the 16 Landscape Design Units, which in turn are used for identifying the design options for the Corridor. L A N D S C A P E DESIGN UNITS .«DC*St mm mmmn-am iwsR J my § ««(Bfcf«^ kit-* *)rw I* fc*«*>3f „ „*OXfi *-183a * tOBa tan •*W& *• 103ft mr mmmr *)8a» Figure 26. Enlarged section of Suital jility Analysis Landscape Design Units 1-4 are where there is the densest habitation, and an exchange node Landscape Design Units 5-8 are where there is the densest habitation, but no exchange entities Landscape Design Units 9-12 are where there is sparse habitation and no exchange entities Landscape Design Units 13-16 are where there is neither habitation nor exchange Table showing Landscape Design Units 85 5.7.0 Description and Analysis: The 100% Surface Survey An wealth of detailed information was gathered by volunteer members of the Slocan Valley Heritage Trail Society, through the 100% Surface Survey88. By "one hundred percent survey" is meant that every inch of the trail was surveyed and assessed for the information shown on the survey data collection form shown Figure 24. Volunteers wore "hip chain" distance measuring devices, and carried out running survey technique and notation, as instructed in several training sessions conducted for this purpose. This information informs all aspects of the project assessment, from broad landscape character, to conditions of the Corridor surface. It includes: • a running tally of the surface condition for the entire length of the Corridor, assessing it in 10% increments for % ballast, sand, and soil, and a running tally of surface vegetation; • site specific ecological and phenomenological information that can only (reliably) be obtained by ground surveys: areas of standing water or seepage, ground sloughing, evidence of wildlife habitat and use, unusual plants, special features, views and vistas; • the location of control points including bridges, culverts and road crossings; • the location and quantity of contaminants (rail road ties, garbage) and any sources of danger; • the location and characteristics of adjacent private land, noting screening between it and the Corridor; • Finally, a wealth of photographs of special features and specific conditions were taken, which provide invaluable information about the Corridor. A sample section of the survey represented in \26,27 Sample Data Sheets and Maps from the 100% Survey And a sample of data summary in the 127A Summary of surface condition for Slocan Park to Slocan Lake The information contained in the 100% Surface Survey is represented in the Suitability Analysis under Design Modifiers: Site Specific Design Criteria. Figure 27. 100% Surface Survey Volunteer Photos: Keith Veerman and Judy Laret This survey was designed and developed by AAAnderson, as were the training sessions and summary database. 86 UJ CO o 1 S! f o h-OL Z Z O o ?-o 87 5.8.0 Analysis and Description: Suitability Analysis and Design Options The Corridor is not negotiable; it is one single contiguous entity (this is its very strength and character), infinitely variable along its length, and every inch of it will need to be planned and designed within the context of the objective of this project and the design options identified for it. There are thousands of meters - sometimes kilometers at a stretch - where the design option would be to leave the Corridor in the most undeveloped state possible while maintaining safety and ecological function (for example, primitive surface, with foot bridge and culvert maintenance); other locations realize more sophisticated design options (for example, sophisticated surface to allow efficient travel between settlement phenomena and between communities, and bridges that allow for wheeled traffic (bicycles, roller blades) in both directions). Some locations present opportunities for increased habitation and exchange centered on the human-measured movement provided by the Corridor; other locations present an opportunity for a simple enrichment accessible by all, from within and from outside the immediate community. Al l of the description and analysis undertaken for this thesis, and documented here in Part 5, is brought to synthesis in the 128 Suitability Analysis j which shows the range of this information, and provides guidance for choosing design options for any given location on the Corridor; it is used as follows: 1. The location under consideration is identified as one of the sixteen Landscape Design Units, which determines its potential as center of settlement, and the nature of that potential (Sections 5.6.2: Spatial Analysis of the Relationship Between the Three Linear Elements, and 5.6.1: Existing Settlement Configuration); 2. This potential is then elaborated by the twelve Design Modifiers that describe landscape character, to begin to build a storyboard of the particular special features and attributes that comprise the genius loci of the location under consideration. This elaboration starts at the broad landscape level, describing the conditions of valley width and orientation, the steepness of the valley walls, and the position of the river between those walls; these things shape the character of the location in question, determining its very light (see Figure 16), and its position within the forested, mountainous landscape (Section 5.3.0: Heroic Landscape Character). The location's position in the Valley Bottom is identified as either on the glaciofluvial terraces or the fluvial terraces, and its proximity to the floodplain is assessed (Section 5.4.0: Terrain Analysis, Landscape Ecology); The storyboard is further informed with details of the shape of the location (the shape of the Corridor at that location) - for instance, how much of its 30 meter width is flat ground, how much of it is on a steep bank running uphill towards the highway, or downhill towards the river (in 88 some cases it actually overlaps the river) and how this adjacent configuration shapes experience (Section 5.5.0: Valley Bottom Profiles). Iiiformation of its surface condition - the composition of the surface material: ballast, sand, and soil, and the vegetation on the Corridor itself (this almost always differs from the surrounding forest cover type): shrubs, herbs or graminoids - provides essential information about treatment the surface will need at that location (Section 5.7.0: The 100% Surface Survey). Forest cover type identifies the ecological position of the location within the overall landscape ecology of the area, as well as being the phenomenon that most influences the experience of the landscape, because of its enveloping nature: closed forest can feel dark, mysterious, infinite or finite, natural, dangerous...non-forested can feel open, unnatural, pastoral, safe, infinite or finite (Section 5.4.0: Terrain Analysis, Landscape Ecology). Special features are then identified: vistas and viewpoints, pocket beaches, picnic spots, good spots for getting to the river with a canoe, wildlife habitat, and special plants (patches of white rein orchids, or huckleberry patches, for instance), as well as critical control points: wet ground, creek crossings, bridges and culverts, road crossings, private buildings and contaminants, all of * which modify the design for the place (Section 5.7.0: The 100% Surface Survey). Finally, the all-important recognition of other public space that attaches to the Corridor (shares a boundary with it) thus strengthening the position of both within the public realm, and the overall public realm in general, are identified (Section 5.6.1: Existing Settlement Configuration). 3. This rich storyboard of the place is then used to inform the selection of Suitable Design Responses for the location on the Corridor that is under consideration. While any place on the Corridor would be meaningful to use as an example of applying the suitability analysis, it will be more interesting to look at two locations where concentrated settlement and exchange is identified as feasible, rather than at sections that would be just for movement between settlements, or movement through wildland, kept primitive and undeveloped. Accordingly, the two richest exchange nodes identified in Section 5.6.1 (p. 73): Slocan Park - Passmore, and Winlaw will be considered in Section 5.8.1 5.8.1 Suitability Analysis and Resulting Design Options for 2 Locations on the Corridor The purpose of this section is to demonstrate the use of the Suitability Analysis. It will be applied to two sections of the Corridor, ones that were previously identified (Section 5.6.1) as rich exchange nodes: Slocan Park - Passmore Exchange Node and Winlaw Exchange Node. First, the Suitability Analysis will be applied to the entire location in question, then the resulting design options will be presented. Both 89 Slocan Park and Winlaw will be assessed for their potential as centers of settlement. Then Slocan Park will be used as "walk through" for the process of following along with the suitability analysis for DESIGN MODIFIERS: LANDSCAPE CHARACTER, and Winlaw will be used as a "walk through" for the process of following along with the Suitability Aalysis for DESIGN MODIFIERS: SITE SPECIFIC DESIGN CRITERIA. References to the Suitability Analysis will appear in the text as they do in that spreadsheet - A L L CAPITALS. The reader is encouraged to follow along on this "walk through" via the relevant Analysis Sections, and especially their associated maps, however, they will not be specified in this section unless they are the ones specific to it, as that would be too cumbersome. Slocan Park - Passmore Exchange Node - Refining The Node The Slocan Park Exchange Node, centered on the post office, was identified as a likely candidate for centering settlement on the Corridor (somewhere within the node) because 1) the two highest habitation density classes are well in evidence there, and 2) it has one of the richest collections of exchange entities in the Valley, as listed here (their map labels are in parentheses): • post office / grocery store / liquor store / gas station (Slocan Park Post Office); • gas station / liquor store / mechanic garage (not labeled, commercial entity at south end of node) • bank / insurance agent (Credit Union) • part time medical and dental health clinic / diagnostic lab (Medical Clinic) • drive-through espresso bar (not labeled, 2 n d most northerly commercial entity) • video store / pool hall (not labeled, most northerly commercial entity) • a community hall (Slocan Park Hall) and children's play ground • a bridge (not labeled) The node was shifted north (so that the post office is at the south end of the node) to take advantage of the additional exchange entities in Passmore that this move provided: • a community living facility / community event center (Passmore Lodge) • a future community park with a beach (Passmore Beach) • a fire station (Passmore Fire Hall) • a community hall (Passmore Hall) • a bridge (not labeled) Hence this node became the Slocan Park - Passmore Exchange Node, the center shifted to Silva Point, and the radius was reduced to 1,800 m. Within the radius89 there are 4 exchange entities unique to the valley (the bank, the clinic and the community living facility, and the drive-through espresso bar), 2 8 9 The actual travel distances are slightly longer than the radius any direction from the center of the node, because the Corridor does not travel in a straight line, it follows the river. 90 exchange entities that are important central community features (the fire hall and the community park / beach), 2 community halls, 2 bridges, 2 gas stations with liquor stores, and of course, a post office; this is a rich exchange node, not only for Slocan Park and Passmore, but the entire Valley. This information is represented in the maps 129 Settlement Config.: Slocan Park-Passmore Exchange Node: Forest Cover] and 130 Slocan Park and Passmore Orthophoto with Forest Cover \. To aid in following along on the "walk through" suitability analysis, the latter map has been marked with the sections as described below. A n a l y z i n g Landscape Des ign Uni t s and Landscape Character The results from the "walk-through" of landscape character and design units identification is represented in maps 3J-37 Slocan Park - Passmore Settlement Configuration Concept Plans and 1:6000 base maps The Slocan Park - Passmore section of the Corridor is characterized by the first four LANDSCAPE DESIGN UNITS: EXISTING SETTLEMENT CONFIGURATION: DENSE (HABITATION DENSITY) N O D E (SOCIAL EXCHANGE), and all four "potential for settlement designations". (These "potential for settlement designations" will be shortened to their designator word, and the word "potential", for example "FULL potential" or "WEST SIDE potential", and their map symbology will be explained only once). SECTION A - B Starting at the south end of Slocan Park and traveling North, the Corridor has potential for settlement on the WEST SIDE (river side - symbology for this Corridor category is the purple Corridor line symbol with a blue line (indicating the river) in its center) until it gets to the north end of Slocan Park. Things to note here are the post office mid-way along, and access to the other side of the river - the bridge. Looking at the LANDSCAPE CHARACTER of the stretch of valley that characterizes Slocan Park, it can be seen that the V A L L E Y BOTTOM WIDTH is moderately wide90 (for the Valley), about 2.5 kms from the upper limit of the glaciofluvial terraces on the east side to the upper limit of the glaciofluvial terraces on the west side, and the VALLEY ORIENTATION is northwest-southeast. This in itself would make it fairly dark, but by looking at the Slocan Valley Profile #3, located to the southeast of Slocan Park, it can be seen that the V A L L E Y WALLS due south of Slocan Park are steep, high and concave, thus blocking the sun more and more with approaching winter, as the sun moves further south. This, added to the V A L L E Y ORIENTATION and VALLEY BOTTOM WIDTH, makes it the darkest location in the Valley (see Figure 16, page 28). 9 0 The habitation density map can be used to directly estimate valley width; each square is 500m per side, and the diagonal of the square is equal to 705m.; for this first example, for instance (Slocan Park) it is 3.5 diagonals on the grid, across from one side to the other 91 The RIVER POSITION AND SHAPE as it runs through Slocan Park is fairly straight, and closer to the West Wall of the Valley, but not right up against it. The FOREST COVER 9 1 type for all of Slocan Park is Non-Forested with Houses, and the glaciofluvial terraces, which are very gently sloping here, go right to the riverbank (there are no fluvial terraces). Perhaps this explains why people settled in such a dark place; the shape of the land here is ideal for settlement, as is the soil parent material. The LANDSCAPE CHARACTER of the rest of the exchange node changes momentously and substantially in its scant 2 kms - this is the very nature of Heroic Landscape (see Section 5.3.0, first paragraph) - and it is greatly different from that of Slocan Park; it will be described along the way in the paragraphs that follow. SECTION B - C From the north end of Slocan Park until just before Silva Point, it has NO potential (symbology for this Corridor category is a slashed {Hill) purple Corridor line symbol). Just before Silva Point, it begins to have potential for settlement on the EAST SIDE (highway side - symbology for this Corridor category is the purple Corridor line symbol with an orange line (indicating the highway) in the center of it). Along the stretch between the north end of Slocan Park and Silva Point, the FOREST COVER is Closed Forest on the east side, and the river is immediately on the west side; the FOREST COVER on the other side of the river is Closed Forest with Houses. The Corridor configuration here is: running surface ~ 10m (of the total 30m width), with the east side a very steep bank (-80%) running up to the highway, which cannot be detected at all, and the west side a very steep bank running down to the river (~ 80%). This configuration, combined with the Closed Forest cover, makes the Corridor somewhat ominous here; there would be no escape route here if one were needed, and there is often bear sign on the Corridor here. Never the less, this part of the Corridor is a very popular route from Slocan Park to Passmore. Just before arriving at Sliva Point, the FOREST COVER becomes Closed Forest with Houses on the east side, and Open Forest with Houses on the west side, and the corridor configuration is now flat right across its entire width. These two things combine to give a sense (depending on one's sensibilities) of relief from the darkness, enclosure, and constriction of the Corridor configuration between here and the north end of Slocan Park. SECTION C - D At Silva Point, there is FULL potential for settlement on both sides (symbology for this Corridor category is the purple Corridor line symbol). Things to note here are the access road coming down off the highway, to Silva Point, ending at the Corridor, and the scattered houses (the one furthest south is the Silva Forest Foundation office), and the LANDSCAPE CHARACTER: RIVER POSITION AND Unless otherwise (as being on the fluvial terraces) FOREST COVER types are those on the glaciofluvial terraces. 92 SHAPE. The river is pushed up against the west steep VALLEY WALL (this is discernable because FOREST COVER is not mapped beyond this point - this is the upper limit of the glaciofluvial terraces on the East side of the valley - the extent of land suitable for settlement as defined under Section 5.4.1), creating a large (~6 hectares) "peninsula" in the curve of the river. SECTION D - E As you leave Silva Point traveling north, the Corridor has the potential for settlement on the EAST SIDE until it rounds a corner and the LANDSCAPE CHARACTER: RIVER POSITION AND SHAPE changes drastically. The river, the Corridor and the highway are pushed up against the East Valley Wall (again, this is discernable by the fact that FOREST COVER is not mapped beyond this point) hence there is NO potential for settlement. At this point it is interesting to note the source of the landslide that destroyed Passmore Beach in 2000 - the steep valley wall right above it, undercut by the river at its toe... and the highway right along this boundary between the wall and the riverbank. Halfway through Silva Point, the FOREST COVER on the west side of the river becomes Closed Forest on Fluvial Terraces (this is the first instance of fluvial terraces since leaving Slocan Park) and there is a very thin strip of Closed Forest (on glaciofluvial terraces) on the east side; the highway is immediately adjacent to the Corridor here, but this strip of Closed Forest ameliorates the noise and visual disturbance of the highway. This situation lasts until Passmore Beach. SECTIONS E - F a n d F - G At Passmore Beach the Corridor would again have potential for settlement on the WEST SIDE all the way until it joins the Passmore access road, except that Passmore Woods is partially in the floodplain, and has other ecologically sensitive characteristics (such as spawning cannels) after which it has FULL potential for settlement all the way to the end of the exchange node (at Passmore Fire Hall). Things to note along this last stretch are: the desirable combination of rich exchange entities, the FULL potential for settlement; access to the other side of the river (the bridge); and proximity of the Fire Hall. SECTION F - G The RIVER POSITION AND SHAPE in Passmore is again a straight river channel, this time positioned right in the center of the valley bottom. FOREST COVER in Passmore is Non-Forested with Houses, and Open Forest with Houses. VALLEY BOTTOM WIDTH AND ORIENTATION here is radically different from Slocan Park because of the intrusion of the Little Slocan River Valley; this has the effect of greatly widening the valley bottom and changing its orientation (it becomes, effectively, a combination of the main Slocan and Little Slocan valley orientations), and there is much more light here in winter than in Slocan Park. The V A L L E Y WALLS are very steep and concave, but there are three of them now, and they form a wider triangle of space (instead of an enclosure of two walls). 93 This concludes a selective and cursory assay of applying the Suitability Analysis to the Slocan Park -Passmore Exchange Node, to identify the LANDSCAPE DESIGN UNITS and the DESIGN MODIFIERS that indicate what design options are appropriate for them. Much more information can be derived from the analysis and descriptive maps contained in this thesis, depending on the scale at which one decides to apply the Suitability Analysis. This latter point is especially relevant to analyzing LANDSCAPE CHARACTER; Landscape such as this, which I call "heroic", is characterized by the very frequency and magnitude of its changing character and its attendant phenomena; determining the scale at which to measure this frequency and magnitude of change is the crux of mapping it. Categorizing it, identifying extents for its landscape qualities, and determining from what point of view these categories and extents would be mapped negates the very thing that characterizes heroic landscape - it is experienced as constantly changing qualities, structure, phenomena and character that defies classification and compartmentalization, particularly since experience depends on the point of view of the experiencer. Human - Measured Means of Movement between Slocan Park and Passmore The distance along the Corridor, from the Slocan Park post office to Passmore Lodge92 is 4175m - a 60 minute walk and a 20 minute bike ride. This distance and its journey would be one experienced on a daily, or multiple times per week basis by people living in Passmore (see Footnote 92) and accessing the post office, the grocery store, the liquor store, the medical clinic, the bank, the insurance agency and the espresso bar in downtown Slocan Park. Indeed, residents of the Lodge already make this trip, albeit, infrequently and only by foot, because of the rough surface (average 60% ballast between Slocan Park and Passmore - see Section 5.7.0: 100% Surface Survey). A sophisticated surface is indicated for this stretch of the Corridor in the Suitability Analysis Table, as are amenities, which here would be a sheltered rest stop (between C and D) and a bear protection hut (between B and C). Furthermore, amenities and enrichments at Passmore Beach would also be available to those using the Corridor to travel back and forth between Passmore and Slocan Park; these additional amenities could include toilets and sheltered rest stop, and enrichments could include a playground, picnic sites and a (seasonal) refreshment stand. The distance along the Corridor, from the Slocan Park post office to Silva Point is ~2,000m - a 30 minute walk and a 10 minute bike ride on a sophisticated surface, and movement between Silva Point and Slocan Park would be similar to that between Passmore and Slocan Park, with probably greater frequency. 9 2 The Lodge is used here as a known landmark to indicate an area that is identified for increased habitation and exchange in the "area available for settlement" near it and the community hall, in Passmore (it is not suggested that the Corridor, its surface improvements and its amenities would be undertaken just for the few people living in the Lodge 94 Slocan Park Settlement Configuration Concept Plan The Modified Design Options that respond to the Landscape Design Units, modified by the Landscape Character and Site Specific Design Criteria for the Slocan Park Exchange Node, are shown in the maps 31-37 Slocan Park - Passmore Settlement Configuration Concept Plans and 1:6000 base maps\ and applicable enlarged sections of it. In Slocan Park (between A and B) the modified design options for the Corridor are limited by its relationship to one of the other two linear elements. There is ample room for settlement on its west side, but all the exchange entities are located on its east side, and the highway intervenes between them. The modified design options identified in the Suitability Analysis for the Corridor along this stretch are: additional habitation and exchange - WEST SIDE; movement within the community; excursions between communities; amenities; enrichments; sophisticated surface possibly with multiple lanes and or controlled use. Since there is ample room on both sides of the Corridor in Slocan Park (albeit, divided by the highway) for additional habitation and exchange, the strongest role that the Corridor can play here is to tie the two sides of Slocan Park together - bridging settlement on either side of the highway and creating strong connecting links with amenities in the form of fortified crosswalks from side to side, located to enhance exchange. The Corridor here becomes a grand boulevard, dedicated to human-measured movement, whose North - South axis is punctuated with the East - West axes of crosswalks at strategic, pivotal points, the main one being that which connects the Community Hall with the proposed riverside park. The Corridor here could also play a major role in excursions for people from outside the valley communities, in addition to excursions within and between communities. Because of the valley bottom width, and the position of the river within it from here to the south end of the valley, Slocan Park is the first place where the amenity of enhanced public parking and access is possible for people wanting to use die trail for hiking or bike trips. Other appropriate amenities include toilets and signage, and appropriate enrichments include enhanced shelters and possibly a cultural information feature (something very simple, such as a storyboard about the history of the railroad, and the Doukbohor settlers). From the north end of Slocan Park to Silva Point (between B and C), the modified design options for the Corridor are limited by its relationship to the other two linear elements; they are: • movement within the community; • excursions between communities; • amenities; • sophisticated surface possibly with multiple lanes and or controlled use. 95 As noted under Human-Measured Means of Movement above, an appropriate amenity along this stretch would be a bear protection hut. At Silva Point (between C and D) the full range of modified design options are possible because of the favorable relationship between the 3 linear elements (FULL potential), the FOREST COVER type (Non-Forested with houses), and the RIVER POSITION AND SHAPE in the valley bottom (it swings up against the west wall, creating a peninsula of land on the east side of the river). It is only limited by valley form; the V A L L E Y WALLS and VALLEY BOTTOM WIDTH AND ORIENTATION somewhat block the sun for part of the winter. The modified design options for the Corridor along this stretch are: • additional habitation and exchange; • movement within the community; • excursions between communities; • amenities; • enrichments; • riverside enrichment • and the surface would be sophisticated, with controlled use, and possibly with multiple lanes. Because the riverbank has a stable configuration along the edge of the peninsula (as ascertained from the 1:6,000 maps), and because of the proposed concentrated habitation and exchange at Silva Point, a river-side enrichment - a park, with band shell and outdoor dancing, is possible. Because it is located in a rich exchange node with unique features in the Valley, and because of its proximity to the aforementioned (Stretch A to B) potential for enhanced public parking and access for people wanting to use the trail for hiking or bike trips, a small hotel/cafe/restaurant may be feasible at Silva Point. There are ~16 hectares available for settlement, which could accommodate 320 people @ 4 - five person households per hectare. Because Silva Point is located approximately half-way between Slocan Park and Passmore, amenities such as a sheltered rest stop (as mentioned above in "Human - Measured Means of Movement between Slocan Park and Passmore") are appropriate, and exchange entities such as a "walk-through espresso" and a "cycle-by juice bar" fronted on the Corridor would be a delightful enrichment response. From Silva Point to Passmore Beach (between D and E) the modified design options for the Corridor are limited by the relationship between the three linear elements (all three immediately adjacent to each other) and by the RIVER POSITION IN THE VALLEY BOTTOM (it is up against the east V A L L E Y WALL). Therefore, the modified design options identified in the Suitability Analysis for the Corridor along this stretch are: • movement within the community; • excursions between communities; • sophisticated surface possibly with multiple lanes and or controlled use. 96 From Passmore Beach to Passmore Frontage/Access Road (between E and F)the relationship between the three linear elements is the same as from Silva Point to Passmore Beach (between D and E), with the exception that the RIVER POSITION IN THE VALLEY BOTTOM is not up against the east VALLEY WALL, rather it swings, in a reverse curve, back towards the west V A L L E Y WALL. This creates a peninsula of land just like at Silva Point, but here much of the peninsula is in the floodplain; indeed, there are ephemeral spawning channels slightly upstream of Passmore Beach. The modified design options identified in the Suitability Analysis for the Corridor along this stretch are: • movement within the community; • excursions between communities; • sophisticated surface possibly with multiple lanes and or controlled use. Along the Passmore Frontage/Access (between F and G) the full range of modified design options are possible because of the FULL to EAST potential, FOREST COVER type (Non-Forested with houses), and the RIVER POSITION AND SHAPE in the valley bottom, which is straight, and centered in the valley. As mentioned under 'Analyzing Landscape Design Units and Landscape Character(Section F-G)' the V A L L E Y WALLS and VALLEY BOTTOM WIDTH AND ORIENTATION are greatly modified here by the intrusion of the Little Slocan River valley; it feels much more open and light here because of this triangular effect. The Lodge, and the community hall are right at the center of Section F - G , greatly strengthening its sense of place through public space. Although there is a section where there is only space for habitation and exchange on the east side of the Corridor, the river buffer here (along Section F-G) could be used for community orchards, as the river is a mostly impermeable barrier to deer and bear, and the habitation and exchange along the Corridor would provide a barrier of variable permeability for the other side of the orchards. It is also possible that this could be one of those places where, as Alexander says, "water occurs near human settlement, [and] a belt of common land is preserved immediately beside the water, and dense settlement is allowed to come right down to the water... at infrequent intervals... depending on the type of water, the density of development ... and the ecological conditions"(Alexander, 1977, p. 13). Other possibilities for Passmore are: • a campground in the orchard - for people using the Corridor for hiking or cycling excursions, • outdoor theatre productions (this comes to mind because of a number of people with theatre experience who live at the Lodge and in the area, and because both the lodge and the community hall could provide indoor support for the theatre) - a destination for people staying at the small hotel at Silva Point, or for people on excursions, starting in Slocan Park, • boardwalks and paths in Passmore Woods - for nature interpretative walks in this ecologically rich area. he spatial and character qualities of Passmore are depicted in 138 and 39 Passmore Photo Collage There are -19 hectares available for settlement in the central part of Passmore, which could accommodate 380 people @ 4 - five person households per hectare. 97 The Passmore Frontage / Access road, on its south end, could stop in a parking area -100 m north of where it leaves the highway, likewise, on its north end where it joins the road to the bridge, it could stop in a parking area -50 m south of where it joins the bridge road. Winlaw And Winlaw Hamlet Exchange Node - Refining The Node This information is represented in maps 141 Winlaw and Lebahdo Orthophoto with Forest Cover] 40 Settlement Configuration: Winlaw and Winlaw Exchange Node: Forest Covet] 43 Winlaw and Winlaw Hamlet Orthophoto with Forest Cover The Winlaw Exchange Node, centered on the post office, was identified as a likely candidate for centering settlement on the Corridor (somewhere within the node) because 1) the two highest habitation density classes are well in evidence there, and 2) it has a rich collection of exchange entities, as listed here (their map labels are in parentheses): post office / grocery store / liquor store / gas station (Winlaw Post Office); elementary school (Winlaw School) fire hall and ambulance station (Winlaw Fire Hall) a community hall (Winlaw Hall) a regional park (Winlaw Nature Park) a community resource center (the Spicer Centre) the bridge (not labeled) The node was shifted north (so that the post office is near the south end of the node, about 'A the way up) for two reasons: 1) south of Winlaw, all the way to Lebahdo Flats, the river, the Corridor and the highway are immediately adjacent to each other, so there is NO potential for settlement; and 2) to take advantage of a good candidate for increased habitation and exchange in the location referred to as "Winlaw Hamlet" 2 kms north of Winlaw School. Hence the center of the node shifted to Winlaw Hall / Winlaw Nature Park, and the radius was reduced to 1,525 m. Within the radius93 there is 1 exchange entity that is unique to the valley (the community resource center) and 4 that are important central community features (the fire/ambulance hall, the community hall, the regional park and the elementary school), a bridge, and the post office. This is a rich node, where 3 of the central community features are adjacent to the Corridor94. Analyzing Landscape Design Units and Site Specific Design Criteria The maps and images used to aid in following along on the walk-through for this section are the 42, 42A 1:6000 Valley Bottom Map] for identifying the shape of the Corridor and its adjacent land configuration, the 143A 100% Survey Data Sheets for Winlaw to Winlaw Hamlet [, for identifying the site 9 3 The actual travel distances are slightly longer than the radius in any direction from the center of the node, because the Corridor does not travel in a straight line, it follows the river. 9 4 The river divides the Corridor from the regional park, but this can be "bridged" via hand-operated cable boat 98 specific design criteria, and the sections as described below. 41 Orthophoto map for Lebahdo Flats and Winlaw marked with the Starting at the south end of the node near the Spicer Centre (A) and traveling North, the Corridor has NO potential until it reaches the sharp bend in the highway (B) after which there is potential on the EAST SIDE until just before Winlaw School (C) where it has FULL potential along the frontage of the school. Things to note here are the bridge, although there is no settlement on the other side with which to connect, because the river is up against the steep VALLEY WALL for a ~ 1 km to the south, and 14 km to the north, at which point the flat ground is allocated to Winlaw Nature Park. Just after the school, where the Corridor crosses the access road to the bridge (D), the Corridor has EAST SIDE potential again until it enters the FOREST COVER type Closed Forest at (E). Based on just the relationship between the three linear elements, the Corridor from here, all the way to (F) appears to have EAST SIDE potential, however, this is not the case, as can be ascertained from other data sources. The 1:6,000 map, with 1.5 m contours, shows that most of the Corridor's width along this stretch is on the steep (70-80%) bank above it, some is also on the riverbank itself, and there is no practical space for settlement. This "corridor configuration" and "adjacent land configuration" (found under SITE SPECIFIC DESIGN CRITERIA: map resolution 1:6,000 in the Suitability Analysis Table) is represented in 51, 52, and 53 Section W3 and W41. Furthermore, the 100% Surface survey provides additional information about this section (E - F) that modifies the eventual design options. The starting point (station 0+000) for this segment of the survey was where the access road for the bridge crosses the Corridor. At station 0+538 (538 meters along the Corridor, traveling north) the survey notes read: "retaining wall begins on L"; then @ 0+635 the notes read: "railbed sloughing - reinforced wall". Then @ 0+838: "retaining wall 1.5 m high on R" and @ 0+869 the nodes read: "retaining wall ended". Thus there is a retaining wall on both sides of the Corridor, on the East side (at the toe of the slope) for 31 meters, indicating excessive steepness. These notes coincide with the steep contours on the 1:6,000 map. Other notes include, @ 0+110: "standing water on R" and again @ 0+234: "water crossing - no culvert but water running under [rail line]". Thus much of the Corridor's width along this stretch is a steep bank to the East that is sloughing, requiring a retaining wall for 31 meters, and probably with seepage along its width (the presence of standing water on the Corridor indicates this seepage), and part of the Corridor's width is a steep bank on the West side, running down to the river, and also requiring a retaining wall. The presence of retaining walls is rare along the Corridor; this may in fact be the only occurrence, indicating that this stretch of the Corridor needs to be carefully looked at for soil and slope stability, and permeability to water movement (that is, the installation of culverts and ditches). 99 In any event, as can be seen from the Forest Cover map, the FOREST TYPE is Closed Forest, and so part of the ecosystem Matrix, which would preclude it from a recommendation for settlement along this stretch (although it is a totally isolated patch of Matrix, and probably not big enough for many of the ecosystems functions of "Matrix"; this decision is beyond the scope of this thesis). Much like the Closed Forest along the stretch between the north end of Slocan Park and Silva Point (Section B - C in Slocan Park - Passmore), the combination of the steep bank on the east, and the darkness of the forest makes the Corridor somewhat ominous here, and there would be no escape route here if one were needed. A sense of relief can be felt in the survey notes @ station 0+963 (at (F)): "panorama as field opens out on left". At (F) (where the Corridor enters the area identified as "Winlaw Hamlet") the Corridor has FULL potential for -200 m to (G) then WEST SIDE potential for -500 m from (G) to (H), then FULL potential all the way to the end of Winlaw Hamlet (I). The survey notes for this stretch of the Corridor (the Winlaw Hamlet stretch) provide site specific information as follows: @ 0+892: "timber ends" (the Forest Cover has changed from Closed Forest to Open Forest with Houses); @ 0+985: "brambles, Dumont Creek marsh begins, standing water on right" (this is part of one of the two depressions that will be featured in the settlement concept plan, described below); @ 1+059: "ties on right" and @ 1+083: "another pile of ties" (there are many similar notations along this entire stretch of the Corridor, indicating that contaminants and pollution are a concern, particularly because of the amount of water beside and crossing the Corridor - railroad ties are saturated with creosote); @ 1+125 the CONTROL POINTS noted are a creek and a culvert, and in the comments is noted: "Dumont Creek, plugged culvert, big washout for 15 m across the Corridor" (this indicates that perhaps a small bridge should be installed, instead of a culvert, which would enrich the experience of crossing the creek, and would also be better for the ecology of the creek and the marsh). As the Corridor approaches the center of Winlaw Hamlet, there are notes about the existing habitation and roads: @ 1+420: "residential strip begins: 25 m to Fominoff s, somewhat shielded" (this means that there is a partial visual screen between the private dwelling and the Corridor); @ 1+650: "bird marsh on left" (this is the second of the two depressions that will be featured in the settlement concept plan); @ 1+700: "open on right, a number of outbuildings, 60 m to house"; @ 1+740: "40 m to house"; @ 1+779: "old dump on right, 30 m to private building"; @ 1+820: "house at 20m"; @ 1+885: "Peb Peebles house at 25 m"; and @ 1+938: "end of residential strip on right, end of marsh on left, pasture [begins]" (This residential strip is sparsely populated; large properties with single families, and some of the houses are deserted; the 2 n d roads and driveways that access this strip will be utilized as access to Winlaw Hamlet in the settlement concept plan. The end of the marsh indicates the end of the second depression featured in the settlement concept plan, and the beginning of the pasture indicates one of the areas that will feature habitation and exchange in this plan). 100 Human - Measured Means of Movement between Winlaw and Winlaw Hamlet The distance along the Corridor, from Winlaw School to the north end of Winlaw Hamlet, is 2,100 m, - a 30 minute walk and a 10 minute bike ride (it is ~1,000 m from the south end of Winlaw Hamlet - a 15 minute walk and a 5 minute bike ride). This distance and its journey would be one experienced on a daily basis by school-aged people in the hamlet, and by other people accessing the post office, the grocery store, the liquor store and the cafe/restaurant on the highway in the existing downtown Winlaw, and as such, a sophisticated surface is indicated for it in the Suitability Analysis Table. This would include addressing the need to make the Corridor more permeable to the movement of water, possibly with many small, strategically located culverts, but more likely with or gently sided "water-bars", or by simply sloping the surface of the Corridor towards the river side (this design option depends on more detailed information about the location, the source, the timing, and the quantity of water arriving on the Corridor along this stretch). The distance between Winlaw School and the location of the hand-operated cable boat landing that crosses the river to Winlaw Nature Park is ~ 800 m, a 10 minute walk and a 3 minute bike ride. Winlaw Hamlet Settlement Concept Plan The maps and images representing the information in this section are [ 48 Winlaw Hamlet 1:6000 Map 44 Winlaw 1:6000 Map and Valley Bottom Profiles^ \ 51-53 Winlaw Hamlet Sections W3 and W4 45 Winlaw - Winlaw Hamlet Photo Collage [ and 146-50 Winlaw Hamlet Concept Plans The 1:6,000 maps are absolutely indispensable to complete the site analysis necessary for designing settlement in Winlaw Hamlet; it would not be possible to do so with the TRIM data that has a 20m contour resolution. This is highly complex terrain (even though the total difference in elevation is only 6 meters - again, the question of scale in relation to intention decides measurement) and its beautiful shape reveals the history of the river's presence there, and the geomorphological processes that shaped it. There are two large, low lying depressions, surrounded by 3 meter higher ground which forms terraces around these ephemeral ponds upon which to locate settlement. This low-lying ground functions as a swale for run-off, good habitat for frogs, birds and bugs, and as highly fertile, good kitchen garden soil The higher ground attaches to the Corridor in three places, creating three gateways to the settlement in the concept plan. The one in the center is the largest and most conspicuous, attaching to the Corridor at 90 degrees; it is the main gateway into the settlement. The other two, at either end (in the north and south side "wings") of the settlement, are perfectly situated to both access settlement, and to be an entry point to the perimeter promenade that skirts the outside boundary of the settlement and turns into a river walk when it enters and runs along the river buffer for much of its length. Travelers along the Corridor can take this excursion route around the settlement, and once on the river walk, they can enter the settlement 101 at its back gateway located along on this river walk (it is at the other end of the throughway from the main gateway on the Corridor) or they can stay on the perimeter promenade and bypass the settlement center, traveling along the two outer byways through the side wings of the settlement. The concept plan shows possible enrichments on the river, accessed by this promenade and river walk: a primitive River Chapel, and a hand-operated cable boat that crosses the river to the other side, where it accesses the western river walk to Winlaw Nature Park. (There as also a hand-operated cable boat that crosses to river from the Corridor ~ 800 m north of Winlaw School (at (F)) directly over to Winlaw Nature Park). Coming off the river walk are meandering paths to the riverbank - myriad ways to get to the water; these paths may have to have restricted use during waterfowl breeding and nesting seasons. A key feature of this plan is a rich hierarchy of many varied ways of moving through the landscape: the Corridor, walks and walkways, promenade, byways, paths, throughway; all human-measured means of movement that have informed the layout of habitation and exchange in Winlaw Hamlet. It is crucial here to accurately map the 300 year floodplain, which is 3 meters above the high water mark - the high water mark is what is mapped as the riverbank on the 1:6,000 maps (see Footnote 72, and Appendix 3). In Winlaw Hamlet, the riverbank contour is from the 1695' to the 1700' contour, therefore, the floodplain is the area from the 1695' (516.6 m) to the 1710'(521.2m) contours. The layout of settlement is shaped by the topography instead of by lotlines laid out on cardinal bearings. Because of the shared open space and the arrangement of the houses so that each is surrounded by the open space, with a view to the river or the wetlands, space is not allocated to each household for a personal "yard" or property, but each household still has private features such as patios, gazebos, rose gardens, and pergolas, and small private spaces within the larger shared space. Every household has direct access to the perimeter of the marshes for kitchen and cottage gardens; some were drawn as shared between two or three households, reflecting the fact that gardens of such size, on such good soil could produce more than enough food for a household of 4 or 5 people, and so some of the inhabitants could share the produce and the work, and the endeavor. There is a total of -12 hectares available for settlement in Winlaw Hamlet, which could accommodate 240 people @ 4 - five person households per hectare. Intention of the Design of Winlaw Hamlet Another passage from Gogol, this time by way of Alan Jacobs, who in his book "Great Streets" talks about the qualities of "sense of place" that are found in rich, dense habitation centered on human-measured movement, characterizes what is envisioned for Winlaw Hamlet. Jacobs quotes Gogol on the life and richness to be found in the street Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg: "The essential purpose of this street, which gives it its special character, is sociability: people come here to see and be seen, and to communicate their vision to one another, not for any ulterior purpose, without greed or competition, but as an end in itself (Jacobs, 1996, p. 272). 102 6.0.0 M A P SECTION The maps in this section appear in the order that they are introduced in Section 5. Table 15. List of Maps and Images 1. Valley Walls and Water 2. Digital Terrain Models of the Study Area in its Heroic Landscape Context 3. Digital Terrain Models of the Study Area in its Heroic Landscape Context 4. Heroic Landscape 5. Slocan Valley Profiles 6. Slocan Valley Profiles, Detail 7. Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover 8. Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover, Detail, Slocan Park 9. Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover, Detail, Winlaw 10. Settlement Configuration: Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover (digitize!) 11. Heroic Landscape and Settlement Therein 12. Heroic Landscape and Settlement Therein, with Lotlines 13. Valley Bottom Profiles 14. Valley Bottom Profile Applied: Lehahdo Flats 15. Settlement Configuration: Movement 16. Settlement Configuration: Habitation: Pattern and Density. 17.Settlement Configuration: Exchange Entities 18. Settlement Configuration: Exchange Nodes ' 19. Settlement Configuration: Exchange Nodes 20. Settlement Configuration: Slocan Park and Winlaw Exchange Nodes, Density 21. Settlement Configuration: Slocan Park and Winlaw Exchange Nodes, Forest Cover 22. Settlement Configuration: Movement: Three Corridors Analysis 23. Settlement Configuration: Movement: Three Corridors and Their Relationships 24. Proposed Area Available for Settlement 25. Proposed Area Available for Settlement - Detail of the Two Exchange Nodes 26. 100% Surface Survey : 27. Sample Data Sheets and Map from the 100% Surface Survey 27A. Data Summary of Surface Condition: Slocan City to Slocan Park 28. Suitability Analysis 29. Settlement Configuration: Slocan Park and Passmore Exchange Node-Forest Cover 30. Slocan Park and Passmore - Orthophoto with Forest Cover and Exchange Entities 31. Slocan Park - Passmore 1:6000 map with Section Locations 32. Slocan Park - Passmore Exchange Node Settlement Configuration Concept Plan 33. Slocan Park to Silva Point 1:6000 map with Section Locations 34. Slocan Park Settlement Configuration Concept Plan Detail 35. Silva Point to Passmore 1:6000 map 36. Silva Point to Passmore Settlement Configuration Concept Plan Detail 37. Slocan Park to Passmore Settlement Configuration Concept Plan Detail 38. Passmore Photo Collage 39. Passmore Photo Collage: the Lodge and the Community Hall 40. Settlement Configuration: Winlaw - Winlaw Hamlet Exchange Node - Forest Cover 41. Winlaw to Lebahdo Orthophoto with Forest Cover 103 42. Lebahdo Flats Valley Bottom Profiles 43. Winlaw to Winlaw Hamlet Orthophoto with Forest Cover and Exchange 43 A. Winlaw and Winlaw Hamlet 1:6000 map 44. Winlaw Valley Bottom Profiles 45. Winlaw Photo Collage -. . 46. Winlaw Exchange Node Suitability Analysis 46 A 100% Surface Survey for the Corridor from Winlaw to Winlaw Hamlet 47. Winlaw - Winlaw Hamlet Settlement Configuration Concept Plan 48. Winlaw Hamlet 1:6000 map - Topography 49. Winlaw Hamlet Topography Floodplain Analysis 50. Winlaw Hamlet Topography Floodplain Analysis: Higher Ground and Ridges 51. Winlaw Profile W2 and W3 52. Winlaw Profile W2 and W3 Detail: Useable Corridor Right of Way 53. Winlaw Profile W2 and W3 Detail: Amenity: Bear Protection Hut 54. Winlaw Hamlet Site Plan: Spatial Allocation: Movement, Habitation and Exchange 55. Winlaw Hamlet Site Plan: Identification of Movement, Habitation and Exchange 56. Winlaw Hamlet Site Plan: Movement, Habitation and Exchange Detail 57. Winlaw Hamlet Site Plan: Main and South Gateway, S. End of Perimeter Promenade 58. Winlaw Hamlet Site Plan: North Gateway and North End of Perimeter Promenade 59. Winlaw Hamlet: Amenities and Enrichments 104 7.0.0 CONCLUSION In this thesis I explored through spatial analysis a unique opportunity for changing the settlement configuration in the Slocan Valley, and proposed a configuration that is radically different from the existing one. I recognized the uniquely powered position of the Corridor, and its uniquely powered capacity for movement, being the most highly engineered means of movement in the lexicon. I explored this proposal from many different spatial points of view, always maintaining constant objectives (ecology and "sense of place"), a constant storyline (heroic landscape, human-measured means of movement...), and constant parameters (landscape ecology approach, concentrated settlement, the relationship between the river, the Corridor and the highway...). I am satisfied that this spatial analysis proves the potential of the New Commons Corridor to achieve the objectives put forward by this thesis: that it could be a human-measured means of movement at the center of concentrated habitation and exchange, and that it could change the settlement configuration in the Slocan Valley from one focused on motorized vehicles, centered on the highway to one focused on human-measured dwelling, centered on the commons, and that such a configuration would be beneficial to the ecology of the valley, the well-being of its inhabitants, and its "sense of place". This thesis has taken this idea through a substantial philosophical/theoretical exploration, and a spatial analysis process using an array of data of different scales, content and puissance. By so doing, it has amassed a comprehensive and rich database, both digital and non-digital, with which to explore, guided by the suitability analysis, the spatial potential of any given location along the Corridor (or any given location within the study area, for that matter) and the design options available for that potential. This thesis makes a beginning ... a starting point for infinite future explorations. There is much of value in this thesis that could inform the first realized step towards its objectives: the newly founded "Slocan Valley Heritage Trail". The work and database of this thesis could guide the design and development of the SVHT, reveal its potential, and provide it with a vision of a future destiny. There's only one thing left to figure out: who will develop the comprehensive ecology-based settlement configuration for the Slocan Valley, into which fits the Corridor? What planning mechanism do we have that could do this? It is clearly a function of government, and needs to be as local a government as possible, and it must be informed by phenomenology, science, spirituality, economics, sociology... But most importantly, the difference between planning and "place-making" must be clearly realized. The role of Planning should be to protect ecological and social values through their comprehensive identification and delineation...but place is made incrementally...individualistically and synergistically, using well-worn patterns to build a tapestry of time and phenomena, measured by the poetry of human dwelling. April Anne Anderson August, 2004 105 8.0.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, Christopher et al. 1977. A Pattern Language. Oxford University Press, New York Alexander, Christopher. 1979. 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Appendices: An Ecosystem-Based Landscape Plan for the Slocan River Watershed. Zonneveld, I.S. and R.T.T. Forman. Editors. 1990. Changing Landscapes: An Ecological Perspective. Springer-Verlag. New York 108 APPENDIX 1: L A N D S C A P E E C O L O G Y B A C K G R O U N D Landscape Ecology Defined Ecology evolved from the need to unite the diverse ways of looking at the phenomena that coincide and coexist in a given place, on a given piece of ground, each having their own scale (measures of manifestation and processes). Topography, climate, soil, water, flora and fauna, sharing the commonality of time and place, are all part of a coherent whole (a heterogeneity95), each informing the other, and yet having unique characteristics that are measured and evaluated by their particular scientific proponent. "Ecology is generally defined as the study of the interactions among organisms and their environment" (Forman, 1995, p. 19). Landscape ecology evolved from the need to spatially describe or define this ecology, for the purposes and designs of human planning. Landscape ecology looks at the connections and interactions (called "flows") between these phenomena, the spatial patterns on the land formed by their interdependencies, and the dynamics of change in pattern caused by disturbance, both "natural" (biogeoclimatic) and human (usually referred to as "activity"). "Understanding the key flows and movements among landscapes permits us to search for an optimum spatial arrangement in a region"(Forman, 1995, p.26). Forman points out that the "formal heterogeneity" (the form of the natural arrangement of phenomena in the landscape) of landscape is a mosaic comprised of three spatial elements: patches, corridors, and their supporting matrix (he also recognizes a rarely occurring anomaly, the "unusual feature", for example, a soaring cone of resistant rock in otherwise well worn mountains). Forman describes three mechanisms that create these three spatial elements and the landscape mosaics (or landscape patterns) they form: the inherent parent material of the substrate, natural disturbance (derived from all biogeoclimatic processes, including climate and weather) and human activity [which amounts to "unnatural disturbance"] (Forman, 1995, pp. 4-7). Biogeoclimatic processes further modify and define the elements and the patterns they form, which in turn support the forces that formed them; "not only do flows96 create structure, but structure determines flows". For example, the arrangement of patches and corridors determines the movements of water and humans across the land; this movement [these "forces"] in turn also changes the land mosaic over time [usually, but not necessarily in a self- sustaining way, most notably not when the disturbance is human 9 5 The "natural" condition of "uneven, non-random distribution of objects; contrasts with "homogeneity", which would be the "unnatural" (caused by human design) even, random distribution of objects, which Forman later says does not exist in nature: "Nothing is homogenous. A relatively homogeneous matrix is heterogeneous or variegated at a finer scale, where micro-patches and micro-corridors are evident" (Forman p. 281) 9 6 earlier identified as "forces", thusly: "A more general way to understand form is to relate it to movements and change. One may say that 'Form is a diagram of force' ... produced by flows [of force] yesterday" 109 activity]. "Patches and corridors have long been a focus of human activity"(Forman, 1995, p. 10). Forman says that the three spatial elements can be further defined by their special conditions. For instance, a patch that is attached to a corridor is a node, and a corridor that separates two patches is a boundary. Forman notes that similar models are used by other professions, for example, the landscape architect Kevin Lynch distinguished five spatial elements with attributes that make them "imageable", to create his five landscape types: district (patch), edge (boundary), path (corridor), node (node) and landmark (Forman's spatial element, the "unusual feature"). Landscape ecology caused a rethinking of the products of this spatial approach based on three familiar factors: structure, function and change. Firstly (according to Forman), the structure or pattern of the whole landscape, and the location of a site within that broader context (its location relative to large patches, adjacencies, configurations, and networks) is more important than the internal characteristics of the site. Secondly, the functional flows and movements over the whole landscape are central to determining any land use. Thus, corridors, stepping stones, boundary curvilinearity, sources, and sinks focus on the function of conduits and barriers within the landscape. Thirdly, landscape is a dynamic mosaic, where each element (the matrix, patches and corridors) differs in both rate and direction of change. Future land uses for a location (or site) within this dynamic mosaic depend on the processes at work there, and their interaction with all the other processes at work in the whole landscape. These processes are, or contribute to, such spatiotemporal phenomena as habitat fragmentation, perforation, patch dynamics, spatially explicit stability mechanisms, and mosaic sequences. Long-standing planning principles, developed and relied upon long before landscape ecology came to be, apply as guiding principles to this methodology: • A broad spatial context extends well beyond the specific area to be planned; • A long temporal context includes the formative processes, human history and natural disturbance regimes; • Flexibility for future change is built into the design; • Expected changes in the area, say, at 5, 10 and 20 years are a key part of the plan; • Options are included in the plan, one of which is the optimum based on the planner's judgment independent of political reality, so tradeoffs using other options can be clearly seen (Forman, 1997). 110 Landscape Ecology Planning Principles The language of landscape ecology provides a technique and language to facilitate the land use planning process. It describes the land as composed only of patches, corridors and a background matrix, and these elements have simple, familiar, identifiable characteristics. "Patches are large or small, rounded or elongated, and smooth or lobed. Corridors are wide or narrow, straight or curvy, and connected or with gaps. The Matrix is continuous or subdivided, extensive or limited, and contracting or expanding. Ecologists, hydrologists, attorneys, conservationists, elected officials, foresters, geographers and others understand and share this spatial language". According to Forman, the following components are essential to ecology-based land use planning at any level, because they "accomplish major ecological or human objectives, and no other practical mechanism is known to accomplish them (the components with respect to this thesis are in parentheses): • Context (the heroic landscape of the Columbia Mountains: the Purcell, Selkirk and Valhalla and Monashee Ranges, the Southern Interior of the province) • Whole landscape (the 340,000 hectares of the Slocan River Watershed) • Key locations within a landscape (exchange nodes, bridges, valley wall configuration and orientation, public spaces) • Targeted ecological characteristics (riparian zones, and the extent and location of the matrix) • Targeted spatial attributes (corridors: the three linear elements, patches: forest cover and the area appropriate for settlement) 111 APPENDIX 4: TRAFFIC COUNTS FOR THE S L O C A N V A L L E Y Ub Total Traffic Volumes for TMP's 34-004N. 34-0Q4S Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 AADT 1884 1886 1471 2090 2104 2147 SADT 1971 2035 2163 2173 2157 2216 AAWDT 2002 2015 1502 2189 2198 2245 AAWET 1642 1623 1369 1897 1926 1964 Average Annual Daily Traffic and Summer Average Daily Traffic 11*7 TMP: 34-004S Location Description: 2.2 KM SOUTH OF GRIFFIN ROAD, SLOCAN Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 AADT 1004 1011 693 1024 1017 1062 SADT 1032 1070 953 1067 1075 1124 AAWDT 1063 1077 688 1075 1041 1090 A A W E T 882 875 685 924 975 1012 SADT/AADT 1.0279 1.0584 1.3752 1.042 1.057 1.0584 30th highest 99 106 86 106 112 120 50th highest 97 104 82 106 111 118 Average Annual Daily Traffic and Summer Average Daily Traffic I I B TMP: 34-004N Location Description: 2.2 KM SOUTH OF GRIFFIN ROAD, SLOCAN Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 A A D T 880 875 778 1066 1087 1085 S A D T 939 965 1210 1106 1082 1092 A A W D T 939 938 814 1114 1157 1155 A A W E T 760 748 684 973 951 952 S A D T / A A D T 1.067 1.1029 1.5553 1.0375 0.9954 1.0065 30th highest 81 81 131 104 106 106 50th highest 81 81 123 103 103 104 Average Annual Daily Traffic and Summer Average Daily Traffic O O • AADT SADT Average Annual WeekDay Traffic and Average Annual WeekEnd Traffic 1000 ~ 750 o U 500 250 0 Y e a r s I AAWDT AAWET >1 Total Traffic Volumes for TMP's 31-001N. 31 -001S Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 AADT 3906 1628 3737 3716 4233 2062 2124 4099 SADT 4086 1919 4034 4077 4622 2364 2273 4479 AAVVDT 0 0 3985 3976 4519 2210 2189 4254 AAWET 0 0 3223 3186 3634 1741 1994 3794 Average Annual Daily Traffic and Summer Average Daily Traffic Years • AADT SADT Average Annual WeekDay Traffic and Average Annual WeekEnd Traffic \2Q TMP: 31-001S Location Description: 0.5 KM NORTH OF ROUTE 3A, SOUTH SLOCAN Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 A A D T 1930 1706 1702 2075 2062 1928 S A D T 2053 1982 2006 2355 2364 2112 A A W D T 0 1826 1831 2219 2210 2006 A A W E T 0 1450 1431 1768 1741 1770 S A D T / A A D T 1.0637 1.1618 1.1786 1.1349 1 1465 1.0954 30th highest 179 211 215 246 253 190 50th highest 176 208 210 243 248 186 Average Annual Daily Traffic and Summer Average Daily Traffic 2000 £ 1500 3 O u 1000 500 0 ro rji CT1 CT* CTl CT> O CTi O o (NJ O O INI Years I A A D T SADT ] Average Annual Week Day Traffic and Average Annual Week End Traffic \2A TMP: 31-001N Location Description: 0.5 KM NORTH OF ROUTE 3A, SOUTH SLOCAN Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 A A D T 1976 1628 2031 2014 2158 2124 2171 S A D T 2033 1919 2052 2071 2267 2273 2367 A A W D T 0 0 2159 2145 2300 2189 2248 A A W E T 0 0 1773 1755 1866 1994 2024 S A D T / A A D T 1.0288 1.1787 1.0103 1.0283 1.0505 1.0702 1.0903 30th highest 245 209 243 240 279 267 274 50th highest 239 206 241 238 277 263 270 Average Annual Daily Traffic and Summer Average Daily Traffic Years I A A D T SADT Average Annual WeekDay Traffic and Average Annual WeekEnd Traffic Total Traffic Volumes for T M P s 31-001N. 31-001S Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 A A D T 3906 1628 3737 3716 4233 2062 2124 4099 S A D T 4086 1919 4034 4077 4622 2364 2273 4479 A A W D T 0 0 3985 3976 4519 2210 2189 4254 A A W E T 0 0 3223 3186 3634 1741 1994 3794 Average Annual Daily Traffic and Summer Average Daily Traffic I 2 3 V a l l e y W a l l s a n d W a t e r Digital Terrain Model of the Study Area in its Surrounding Heroic Landscape Digital Terrain Model of the Study Area in its Surrounding Heroic Landscape Thesis Analysis Document M a p C r e a t e d b y AAAnderson UBC Landscape Architecture ^ . 35 QQQ D A T A S O U R C E B C T R I M April Anne Anderson ' ' UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 H e r o i c L a n d s c a p e 1:25,000 N Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 A Kilometers 10 Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 BC Orthophotos 1997 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 S l o c a n V a l l e y P r o f i l e s M a p approximate S c a l e 1:40,000 Sec t ion approximate vert ical and horizontal S c a l e 1:10,000 A s s i s t a n c e with Sect ion Derivat ion provided by T o m Bradley April Anne Anderson Thesis Document. May 2 0 0 4 U B C Landscape Architecture Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 BC Orthophotos 1997 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 S e t t l e m e n t in R e l a t i o n to F o r e s t C o v e r VALLEY WALLS j:7t,• • -V./-V.: :- Co ,iviu'- CVf UfeC CC*1 | Ctoxd For**: vnttn many k>gg#c! *«C! W ™ natural operartgs. slopes from 40% to 110% (avg bO-60%) VALLEY BOTTOM ..:?tr:r;! Rtrrches 13iacio f |JVI5 : "e traces, no hows •nlti houses Open. Patcny Forest Kon-Fonistocl (cleared land) no nnuvs with houses no * u i a o i with houses cultural and commercial ifrfrctructut* and mkitny Uew Commons Comdar Highway 8 [Stable Lowland Benches (Fluvial Terraces) and Active Fioodpiam | upper itmti Closed Foresi Open. Patchy Forwl Non-For«t*d vegetated undrsJufbed ihru&graminoid drMurtod (agriculture) grammoid with houses non io sparse* vegetated (oravcusona Bars) T h e s i s A n a l y s i s D o c u m e n t U B C L a n d s c a p e A r c h i t e c t u r e Apr i l A n n e A n d e r s o n M a y , 2 0 0 3 Types were determined by overlay-ing 1:20,000 orhtophotos and their respect ive T R I M maps on a high powered light table; original aerial photos were used for quest ionable areas. Ass i s tance in interpretation w a s provided by Evan M c K e n z i e N Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM NAD 1983, Zone 11 Enlarged section of non-digital map: Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover Including Slocan Park - Passmore Enlarged section of non-digital map: Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover Including Winlaw S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover Upland Benches Perry's Appledale Closed Forest Closed Forest with Houses Immature (Recent Logging) Open Forest Open Forest with Houses Non-Forested Non-Forested with Houses | Agricultural Lowland Benches and Floodplain Closed Forest Open Forest Shrub Graminoid Agricultural Upper Limit of Fluvial Terraces Map Extent Equal to Upper Limit of GlacioFluvial Terraces Slocan City Lemon Creek . Winlaw Exchange Entities MM public space or building • infrastructure space or building ••commercial space or building • i sports field transportation/power yard i Q post office Assistance with aerial photo and orhtophoto interpretation provided by Evan McKenzie Assistance with digitizing provided by Tom Bradley Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 Kilometers 12.5 Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 Contour Interval 20 meters 25 Heroic Landscape and Valley Bottom Settltment Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson. Fall, 2003 1:25,000 N A 10 Data Source: BC TRIM 1982 map created by AAAnderson Contour Interval: 20m Heroic Landscape and the Settlement Therein Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson. Fall, 2003 Data Source: BC TRIM 1982 map created by AAAnderson id oo | o Slocan Slocan ebahd o ** to r CD cr p =r o. o to r CB cr P o 3 3 3 , P* s > 5 a (R j a i ? 1 > • 1 o P"' I t m - i FT*'" CO ' l t iJI f i l l > O jjjf £L op N ' CD to ~o a . o 3 X C?\ O o 3 CO o^ o CD ^ S era" 2 5" . . o U> P o cT ° o m > GO H o 4: O 5* ^ a H c o O H ffi H J?d o 2 S O 4^ Slocan S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Movement: Three Corridors and Thier Relationship New Commons Corridor Highway6 Secondary Roads O t h e r V a l l e y E l e m e n t s Slocan River Upper Limit of Glaciofluvial Terraces Contours, 20 meter intervals 1:30,000 N Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 A Kilometers 12.5 Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 Contour Interval 20 meters S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Habitation: Pattern and Density Houses per 25 Hectares no houses 1 - 5 houses per 25 has 6-15 houses per 25 has 16-62 houses per 25 has Upper Limit of Glaciofluvial Tenaces New Commons Corridor Hwy6 houses i Va Sey Bottom Stat s t i e s Total Area: 12,887 Has HOUS es per 25 Hectares Area no houses 5,569 1 - 5 nouses per 25 has 3,866 6 -15 houses per 25 has 2453 16 - 62 houses per 25 has 974 Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 1:30,000 N A Kilometers 12.5 Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 Contour Interval 20 meters 25 S e t t l e m e n t E x c h a n g e E n t i t i e s Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 1 : 3 2 , 0 0 0 Kiiorreters Data Source: BC TRIM 1987 map created by AAAnderson S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Exchange Nodes E x c h a n g e E n t i t i e s publ ic s p a c e or building infrastructure s p a c e or building c o m m e r c i a l s p a c e or building spor ts field t ransportat ion/power y a r d 300 m radius centered on: (3 publ o P o s t Off ice ilic space infrastructure 1:30,000 N Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 A K i l o m e t e r s 1 2 . 5 Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 C o n t o u r Interval 20 meters S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Overlay of Habitation, Exchange, and Movement n City Settlement Configuration: Habitation Density ~~ RDCK Lotlines 6 - 1 5 houses per 25 has 16-62 houses per 25 has Settlement Configuration: Exchange Entities | public space or building commercial | sports field transportation/power yard infrastructure 0 Post Office Settlement Configuration: Movement: The New Commons Corridor FROM FROM RIVER CORRIDOR HIIGHWAY FULL >100m >100m Respecting River, Away from Highway EAST <100m >100m SIDE Close to River, Away from Highway WEST >100m <100m SIDE Respecting River, Close to Highway Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 0 Kilometers 12.5 Contour Interval 20 meters 25 S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Exchange Nodes and Habitation Density 1:5,000 Slocan Park >K^S Radius: 1,800 m Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 N A Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 Contour Interval 20 meters S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Exchange Nodes and Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover 1:5,000 Slocan Park -Radius: 1,800 Passmore m Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 N A Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: B C TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 Contour Interval 20 meters S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Movement R e l a t i o n s h i p s of the T h r e e L i n e a r E l e m e n t s FROM RIVER CORRIDOR FROM HIIGHWAY FULL >100m >100m Respecting River, Away from Highway EAST <100m >100m SIDE Close to River, Away from Highway WEST >100m <100m SIDE Respecting River, Close to Highway NONE <100m <100m Close to both River and Highway O t h e r V a l l e y E l e m e n t s Slocan River Hwy6 Upper Limit of Glaciofluvial Terraces Contours, 20 meter intervals Away From the Highway Corridor > 100m from highway New Commons Corridor 100m buffer on highway ' total length 27 kms Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 Respect ing the River Corridor > 100m from river New Commons Corridor 100m buffer on river ' total length 25 kms Respecting the River, Away from the Highway Corridor > 100m from both river and highway" New Commons Corridor * total length 14 kms 1:60,000 N A Kilometers 25 Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 Contour Interval 20 meters f O to S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Movement: Three Corridors and Thier Relationship FROM FROM RIVER CORRIDOR HIIGHWAY >100m >100m Respecting River, Away from Highway <100m >100m Close to River, Away from Highway >100m <100m Respecting River, Close to Highway <100m <100m Close to both River and Highway M A P S Y M B O L O G Y corridor > 100m from both river and highway corridor < 100m from river, > 100m from highway corridor > 100m from river, < 100 m from highway corridor < 100m from river and highway O t h e r V a l l e y E l e m e n t s Slocan River Hwy6 Upper Limit of Glaciofluvial Terraces Contours, 20 meter intervals secondary roads bridge 1:30,000 N Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 A Kilometers 12.5 Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 Contour Interval 2 0 meters Proposed Area Available for Settlement Area Between the River Buffer and the Highway Buffer, that could be Accessed by the New Commons Corridor Area Available for Settlement Within the Context of this Thesis 932 Hectares (18,640 inhabitants) @ 20/ha Fluvial Terraces RDCK Lotlines 100m Buffer on the River 100m Buffer on Hwy 6 Potential as Center of Settlement FROM FROM RIVER CORRIDOR HIIGHWAY FULL >100m >100m Respecting River. Away from Highway M A P S Y M B O L O G Y corridor > 100m from both river and highway EAST <100m >100m SIDE Close to River, Away from Highway : corridor < 1O0m from river, > 100m from highway WEST >100m <100m SIDE Respecting River. Close to Highway NONE <100m <100m Close to both River and Highway : corridor > 100m from river, < 100 m from highway liiiiiniiiiiiii corridor < 100m from river and highway Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture Map created byAAAnderson April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 A Data source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 Kilometers Contour Interval 20 meters 0 10 Proposed Area Available for Settlement Area Between the River Buffer and the Highway Buffer, that could be Accessed by the New Commons Corridor Winlaw Exchange Node Winlaw 1 : 8 , 0 0 0 Hamlet Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 Kilometers Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 Contour Interval 20 meters Sample Data Sheets and Map from the 1 0 0 % Surface Survey Summary of Surface Condition for 27 kms of the Corridor: Slocan Lake to Slocan Park (source: 100 surface survey) o »-*-SL 0 ) 5' 7? a 3 ti> »-*-3 fO Ol J i C O o US CO . co J i o J i to k - v f o » CD ro o 00 C O -6* U I co 3 fO C9 .a a. ! 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DJ 3 Q < CD CQ CD »-t-DJ o cr CD 3 ' CQ s 3 CD CO ro ro 3 ro 3 ml 2 > m > CO m Jl m co m m » g F a 2 m m m co » F a o m rn A v A v 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 A A V V O O O O O O O O 3 3 3 3 A V A V O O O O O O O O 3 3 3 3 A A V V O O O O O O O m z CO m TJ m z CO o m —1 z m co co |= a 2 A v A v O O O O O O O O 3 3 3 3 A A V V O O O O O O O O 3 3 3 3 a m z CO m z o a m m f" % * co co -n _ — i c m co « p D 2 m m z o A V A V O O O O O O O O 3 3 3 3 A A V V O O O O O O O O 3 3 3 3 potential to connect to settlement on other side of river a CD O CD cr. CJ a 9L 2 z 3 CD Q <» a 5 5 w J3 CD 5 < m 71 co "O' ^v O o o - I CD 2 TJ > 31 Z O o m o o ~® O O 7] BRIDGE Closed Forest, Open Forest, or Non-Forested: affects landscape structure, safety, light and temperature conditions width between the upper limit of the glaciofluvial terraces, and orientation of the valley: affects amount of land available for settlement, and sun exposure position and shape of river in valley bottom (East or V\fest side or middle, and straight or curving from side to side: affects shape and amount of land available for settlement height and c loseness of valley walls: affects amount of direct sun, and valley side-specif ic light conditions (morning versus afternoon sun) that portion of the width of the corridor that is actaully suitable for design (excluding any that is too steep, in wet| areas, or otherwise not suitable) steepness and shape of the land irnmediately adjacent to the corridor and its suitability for settlement future holdings in public realm undeveloped kept secret local knowledge destination undeveloped, kept secret enhanced public realm, park space enhanced public realm, place centre local gather place, strolling destination, tourist destination and amenities viewing blind/ habitat protection area associated surface treatment costs (removal of ballast, repair, and construction) associated maintenance or treatment costs associated repair, construction and installation costs >< >< v< x< CD CD CD CD (It V) CO O) x< x< X< v< CD CD CD CD CO CO CO < «< CD CD CD CD CO CO CO CA x< •< >< v< CD CD CD CD CO CO CO CO x< v< x< CD CD CD cn cn cn x< x< CD CD CD cn cn cn -> ^ I ^ x< CD CD CD x< cn o-CD cn cn cn cn -o -O -O xl 3" 5" 5" 3" o o CD CD >< CD cn co CL CL CD CD x< *< x< CD CD CD cn cn CA >< x< V< CD CD CD CA CA CA • s i CO v< CD in cn cn c» •< •<" X<" ><" x<" V<" FOREST COVER VALLEY BOTTOM) WIDTH & ORIENTATION RIVER POST! ON & SHAPE VALLEY WALLS 0 £ m C D z q co > z m O o z > o i -m O < m m m x CO =! z Q CO m m m o o z Q C I o D CO o > TI m D m CD G) —1 CO o > o m 7i a co o > T J m suitable corridor configuration adjacent land configuration attaching to existant public space vistas and viewpoints wildlife viewing 1] habitat protection surface condition surface vegetation control poinst additional habitation & exchange movement w/i the community excursions between communities amenities enrichment basic parking & access "riverside enrichment surfacing/ multi- lane/ controlled use 3 ro _» "cs a> CD o CO §| a o 3 m CO CL CD 3 a 3" CD O O CO c I o CD CO c x< 8 O CO r H CO TJ m o o o m GO Q z o TJ m > CO c. DJ cr CD O CD CO CQ' 3 TJ ro CO o 3 CO CD CO CT OJ 3 7^ II 3 O 1—r CO s. 0J cr CD O m co CD z O cz o m m co D m Q O D m C / ) 3 Q) C CD O CD C " D O 13 Q. CD CO CQ' 3 O D m D D m co o O TI H O z 0) GO > p p B-CD 2 ! CD n o o p o o o 1-1 > H ! - « ; t f l o o o & Q O 3 CO c n CD MI C/2 ft) =5 r Du tn O CJ - T 3 1/5 3- * o g o S § l-t CD S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Exchange Nodes and Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover ^ ^ r aj& T ^ Slocan Park -Passmore Exchange Node Radius: 1,800 m Hit • *al& ™" w ' al* '.:.;-' Fluvial Terraces Map Extent is Equal to the Upper Limit of Glaciofluvial Terraces Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover Upland Terraces m Closed Forest • i Closed Forest with Houses Immature (Recent Logging) Open Forest Open Forest with Houses Non-Forested Non-Forested with Houses Agricultural Lowland Terraces and Floodplain H Closed Forest Open Forest Shrub Graminoid H i Agricultural ] RDCK Lotlines Hwy 6 - Secondary Roads Settlement Configuration: Exchange Entities public space or building • • commercial • i infrastructure transportation/power yard Settlement Configuration: Movement: The New Commons Corridor S Y M B O L O G Y comdor > 100m from both nver and highway corridor < 100m from nver, > 100m from highway Slocan Park - Passmore Radius: 1,800 m 1:3,500 Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 N A Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 19^ UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 1 Contour Interval 20 metd S l o c a n P a r k a n d P a ^ s s m o r e Slocan Park - Passmore Exchange Node Settlement Configuration Concept Plan ttL S l o c a n P a r k a n d P a s s m o r e I ^ B W i ' Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall. 2003 o 7! 1:3,500 N A Kilomoters 1 5 C T H I M I W V Slocan Park - Passmore Settlement Configuration Concept Plan Detail: The Corridor as Central Boulevard, Connecting Both Sides Slocan Park Passmore Settlement Configuration Concept Plan Detail: Silva Point to Passmore Slocan Park - Passmore Settlement Configuration Concept Plan Detail: North End of Slocan Park to Silva Point r p cr S cr P EC a- OQ ^ a- a. CD (7^* CD S ° ft) • C3 O S P x S CD HQ o o »-* S3 P O CD O o GO 3 CJQ S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n Exchange Nodes and Settlement in Relation to Forest Cover Winlaw Exchange Node Radius: 1,525 m Fluvial Terraces Map Extent is Equal ftp to the Upper Limit of Glaciofluvial Terraces S e t t l e m e n t C o n f i g u r a t i o n : M o v e m e n t « • » corridor > 100m from both river and highway = corridor < 100m from river, > 100m from highway = corridor > 100m from river, < 100 m from highway mining corridor < 100m from river and highway Hwy 6 - Secondary Roads Set t lement Conf igurat ion: E x c h a n g e Ent i t ies M public space or building commercial • • infrastructure transportation/power yard S e t t l e m e n t i n R e l a t i o n t o F o r e s t C o v e r Upland Terraces Lowland Terraces and Floodplain • • Closed Forest Closed Forest H i Closed Forest with Houses Open Forest HTT Immature (Recent Logging) Shrub Graminoid Open Forest • • Agricultural Open Forest with Houses Non-Forested Non-Forested with Houses mm Agricultural RDCK Lotlines 1 : 3 , 5 0 0 Map created by AAAnderson Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 N UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 UBC Landscape Architecture ^ C o n l o u r | n t e r v a | 2 0 m e t e r s April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 A L e b a h d o a n d W i n a w 1:5,000 N Thesis Analysis Document UBC Landscape Architecture April Anne Anderson, Fall, 2003 0 1 A Map created by AAAnderson Kilometers 2 Data Source: BC TRIM 1992 UTM, NAD 1983, Zone 11 C H > OD =5" "O l ' m — § o | j q > ° i I O —• o ?d 3 CD CD P 3 3 £ 3 g 3 8 Q CD ^3 CL P g £T CL OQ g CD I - J 5 ^ < P CD (=2 ^ 5-P